Detective/suspense genre is is loved by almost all moviegoers. Bollywood is going through an interesting phase right now as 4-5 detective films(Bobby Jasoos, Jagga Jasoos, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa) are going to hit screens in the next 12-13 months and compel viewers to use their grey cells in solving the mystery. And the phase commences with Samrat & Co, featuring Rajeev Khandelwal as the sleuth. It has loose ends but overall, makes for a great roller coaster ride!
The story of the movie: The spacious Mahendra Mansion in Shimla is rocked by a series of intriguing and inexplicable events. The head of the family, Mahendra Pratap Singh(Girish Karnad) gets deeply affected by it. Unable to see her father in this condition, Dimpy(Madalsa Sharma) comes to Mumbai to seek the help of the famous and sharp detective Samrat(Rajeev Khandelwal).
Samrat is extremely selective and chooses only the most challenging and twisted cases. He realizes that the Mahendra Mansion case will satisfy the detective in him and takes the plunge. As Samrat reaches the mansion and meets the family members of Mahendra, he realizes that a lot of secrets have been locked in the closet. Before he realizes, a murder takes place and Samrat goes all out to nab the killer.
One might not take an instant liking for Samrat & Co. The snowfall in intro scene looks very fake. Samrat’s entry in the fighting scene is a straight lift from Sherlock Holmes’ famous slo-mo fight sequence. Thankfully, the film gets on track once Dimpy meets Samrat and the latter reaches Shimla. There are more than dozen characters in the film but one won’t get confused even at a single juncture as to how are they related to one another. Having said that, few characters are needlessly added and contribute nothing to the plot or mystery.
But the film is engaging and the various mysterious things that keep on happening manage to keep viewers on the edge of the seats. Problem arises when the culprits are identified and their motives come to the fore. Some portions don’t seem justified absolutely.
Also, the manner in which Samrat’s hand to hand combat in the pre-climax culminates seems difficult to digest. However, the climax makes an impact and is definitely unpredictable. The finale in fact is without the dhamaka and comes across with subtleness and yet makes for a great watch.
Rajeev Khandelwal shines as Samrat. He looks absolutely convincing as the super-smart and sharp detective and its fun to see how he solves the mysteries using his acute powers of observation and intellect. In few scenes, he does get a bit filmy but that was the need of the script and hence no complaints out there.
The actor was brilliant in Table No 21 and Shaitan as well and here’s hoping he gets more such well-etched roles in future as well.
Gopal Datt(Chakradhar Panday aka CD) hams in a couple of scenes but is overall adorable and does a fine job as Samrat’s Watson! Madalsa Sharma looks charming and acts very sincerely. A talent to watch out for! Girish Karnad as always delivers a fine performance.
Priyanshu Chatterjee(Sanjay Singh) and Indraneil Sengupta(Vijay Singh) are quite good in their respective roles. Barkha Sengupta(Revati, Vijay’s wife) gets no scope and same goes for Sujata Sangamitra(Sunita, Sanjay’s wife). Shreya Narayan(Divya) doesn’t speak a word and yet makes a huge mark. Navin Prabhakar(Hari, the driver) is impressive.
Bhaumik Sampat(Inspector Khalid) provides nice support. Rajneish Duggal(Deepak) acts quite sophisticatedly. Puja Gupta(Shanti, the servant) is too loud. Smita Jaykar(Narayani ji, Singh’s neighbor) does well, especially in the second half. Ravi Jhankal(Puran Kaka) is fine in the most crucial scene of the film. Ram Gopal Bajaj(Satyadev Baba) makes a mark.
Music gets no scope in the film. Tequila Vakila however is quite foot tapping(although it’s high time Ganesh Acharya stops making special appearances in songs). Shukra Tera is lovely but arguably not needed. Fortunately, it’s finished off in a couple of minutes. Sandeep Shirodkar’s background score is lively and exhilarating and enhances impact in several scenes. Sanjay Malwankar’s cinematography is impressive. Action(Kaushal-Moses) gets over the top at places but makes for a great watch and doesn’t get gory. VFX, as mentioned above, is pathetic in the intro scene but in few places, it is outstanding.
Sanjay Masoomm’s dialogues are quite sharp and strongly worded and hence add to the impact and mystery. Kaushik Ghatak and Manish Shrivastava’s story has the right ingredients for a mystery. They do get inspired by Sherlock Holmes and arguably even Satyajit Ray’s Feluda but they ensure they don’t make any obvious rip-offs(except in the fight scene in the beginning, which isn’t a part of the mystery in the film anyways). Screenplay is also wonderful, especially the way the characters are sketched and the number of mysterious stuff thrown around. Only grouse is – it could have been slightly better in the second half when the suspense gets unveiled. Same goes for Kaushik Ghatak’s direction.
The film packs a punch in several scenes but few of the crucial scenes fail to look convincing. On the positive side, handing a mystery involving so many characters and not making it confusing is no easy feat and kudos to Kaushikda for the same. Also, there’s not an ounce of vulgarity and bloodshed in the film. Not the best effort but definitely a good try!
On the whole, Samrat & Co is an entertaining roller-coaster ride and serves as a decent suspense detective drama. It’s not without its share of blemishes and few sequences are unconvincing. However, performances are exemplary, especially Rajeev Khandelwal who rocks as the sharp-n-sexy sleuth. And the suspense is definitely unpredictable. If Revolver Rani doesn’t interest you this weekend, giving Samrat & Co a try would be no harm!
P.S.: I won’t be listing my favourite scenes as I don’t want to reveal anything of the film that might spoil viewers’ joy