Raat Akeli Hai : corruption of conscience

 

 

Raat Akeli Hai : corruption of conscience

‘Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders’ unfolds as a twisted mystery around a series of gruesome murders and a slow burn investigation. Honey Trehan pulls of a complex and convoluted tale with a mammoth ensemble, but the result is not entirely satisfying.

Bansal Murders sees Inspector Jatil Yadav (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) deep neck into another twisted case where the entire family of the reputed Bansals gets massacred one fateful night.

The chief suspect here is one from their third generation - Aarav Bansal, a drug-addict, who has supposedly killed all his family members with a machete while covering their heads (because no one cuts his own family, for emotions sake!) fueled by a murderous rage.

Because of the high profile nature of the case, the pressure escalates to Yadav's senior, DGP Verma( Rajat Kapoor) who opts for a convenient closure with persuasion from another Bansal( Sanjay Kapoor) who runs a News channel , straight at loggerheads with Meera Bansal (Chitrangada Singh), a grieving mother and having dubious businesses and a fishy linkup with a spiritual guru (ma), played by Deepti Naval.

Before the motives are clearly established, Nawazuddin's Yadav throws new dimensions to the forensic expert, Dr Panicker ( Revathy) hinting at something sinister and not a very straightforward conclusion.

Underneath the mystery, there is a commentary on the unscrupulous and corrupt and rich people – the elite class who have been bulldozing the poor. But the rich and poor divide works at a superficial level and never gets under your skin. 

Honey Trehan pulls of a complex and convoluted tale with a mammoth ensemble, but the result is not entirely satisfying. Very few scenes are crafted with finesse and they hardly register an impact. Writing and the art design are much more competent.

I couldn't figure out what was Radhika Apte doing in the entire mess of affairs. Same for Ila Arun, serving a token presence as the mother of the no-nonsense, uncompromising cop leaning on Apte for occasional emotional solace.

Raat Akeli Hai remains as a middling exploration of the price of truth and the corruption of conscience.

 

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