Rahasya Hindi Movie
Don't we all like a perfect whodunit? A perfect ruthless murder mystery and engulfs you into it as it's twists and turns unfurl. Well, Rahasya promises to be exactly that.
An Agastha Christie style whodunit, Rahasya came into limelight as a film allegedly based on real life double murder case of Arushi and her house help Hemraj. What followed was enough hue and cry from Arushi's parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar who have been convicted for the crime. However, Rahasya smartly maneuvers itself immediately after establishing the main premise which does bear resemblance to the real life case, into a full-blown murder mystery waiting to be solved.
Sachin Mahajan (Ashish Vidyarthi) and his wife Aarti (Tisca Chopra), a doctor couple lead a plush and respectable life what with their two storied house in Mumbai. However, their smooth sailing life hits a sudden storm with the murder of their teenage daughter Ayesha who's dead body is found by their maid Rimi (Ashwini Kalsekar). Their servent Chetan goes missing too. Secrets and murky details of their lives start coming to fore as an investigation by CBI Officer Sunil Palaskar (Kay Kay Menon) kick starts. Who's the killer? The father? Mother? Servent? Maid? The more Sunil Palaskar digs, the more the plot tickens.
Filmmaker Manish Gupta who has films like The Stoneman Murders and Hostel to his credit keeps the suspense in the thriller intact all through the first half. The nail biting turn of events, the grim mood, the pace of the story, all of it keeps you at the edge of your seats. The film could've been a near perfect crime thriller however, the curse of the second half stings Gupta too and he loses his control of the plot. The film starts spiraling down and what follows is a cliched or a highly predictable climax making the film a big downer.
Also another drawback of the film is its runtime. A film which doesn't boast of the mediocrities of Bollywood cinema like songs, dances, forced romance, stunts, flying cars and chases sequences, is tad too long at 124 minutes. Moreover, the climax also leaves many things unexplained especially the way Sunil Palaskar nabs the culprit with no clear strong evidence against the person giving a slightly half-baked feel to the whodunit.
However, to give credit where its due, Gupta puts together a film that's stylish, slick, taut and gripping; in most parts. Faroukh Mistry's cinematography, Ranjit Barot's sinister background score elevate the experience of watching a crime thriller.
But what works the most in the favour of the film is the apt casting. There couldn't have been a more befitting role for Kay Kay Menon. The character does complete justice to his potential as an actor. Kay Kay is witty, stern, ruthless all at once and at all the right places. It's definitely a great lesson for many filmmakers including the recent Neeraj Pandey (Baby) to never undermine the potential of Kay Kay Menon's talent and waste a gem of an actor as him by roping him for miniscule roles.
To sum it up, Rahasya lies mostly on the shoulders of Kay Kay Menon. Watch it for a gripping first half and stupendous performance.
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