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Tuesday, July 1, 2025
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BOLLYWOOD MURDER 3
EDITOR'S PICK
`Murder
3`: Slick thriller that delivers knockout after slow start
Rating:
*** 1/2
If the truth be told, the essence of this neatly-packaged thriller about what
lies beneath is obtained in the second half where the whole philosophy of the
mirror-image and the reflection of the soul in the individual conscience is
given a walloping visual manifestation. Hats off to debutant director Vishesh
Bhatt for bringing to life that tricky zone which separates mirage from reality.
The film opens on a rather unpromising note. We see a sexy restaurant manager
(Sara Loren) take a drunken lout home. Just why she`s do anything so foolhardy
in today`s day and age of heightened sex crimes, is beyond logic. They are soon
in an intense relationship punctuated by bouts of monotonous pseudo-Sufiana
songs that add nothing to narrative momentum.
Suddenly mid-way through the narrative finds its bearings to strike a deep chord
within the plot`s heart and emerge with a cat-and-mouse game where the two
ladies, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren indulge in a cat-and-mouse game that
leaves the film`s official hero hopelessly marginalized.
While it would be unfair to give away the plot, suffice it to say that if you
are lucky enough to have not seen the original, this film would knock you out of
your seat. The entire drama is done in the style of a chamber-piece replete with
remarkably precise art decor detailing .
While Raju Singh`s background score adds to the aura of foreboding and, yes,
Sunil Patel`s cinematography is impeccably radiant it is Aditi Rao`s performance
as a woman trapped in a maze of her own suspicion who imparts a sense of
gamine-like fun to the inherent terror quotient of the drama.
Indeed, Aditi is the hero of "Murder 3" furnishing a sense of
foreboding to the kinetic goings-on. Sara Loren as the girl on the opposite side
of the mirror image has a fetching face and fairly expressive body... language!
But the talented Randeep Hooda`s drunken drawls and brooding machismo are now
getting repetitive. Time for a reinvention, Mr Hooda.
In terms of visual and emotional fluency and in connecting the supernatural
content to a compelling context, "Murder 3" moves far ahead of the
first and second instalments of the franchise. Mired in a mystique that
constantly unravels whispering dark secrets, the film marks an assured
directorial debut for Vishesh Bhatt.
A hot-shot fashion and wildlife photographer Vikram gets into a relationship with a waitress from a lounge, Nisha . She moves in with him in his palatial house outside of the city. The old world house, made decades ago is as beautiful as scary it is. It holds many secrets which Nisha is soon to unearth; of the life of the man who made it and of Vikram, who is dealing with the mysterious disappearance of his former girlfriend Roshni .Roshni is actually hiding in a secret room meant originally to protect Vikram. However , she forgets the Key to the room which is locked and the Key is picked up by Vikram`s new Girlfriend,Nisha. Nisha embarks on a Trail to find the Secret Room. She accidentally opens the Secret room and finds Roshni in a zombie like state inside. Roshni ,who now knows of Nisha`s affair with her exboyfriend stabs her to death. She then goes to a lonely place to find new love and contemplate upon what`s happened until the Police arrives and drives Roshni to Jail.
Special screening of film Murder 3 Stills