No, this movie has nothing to do with the popular German series DARK, the setting of this Raat is literally shot in the labyrinth of darkness so I was tempted to call it desi dark. I don’t know why they have to shoot a murder mystery in dark night settings.
This is one of those whodunit category murder mystery where a murder takes place and each and every character around the scene seems to be the murderer and a smart cookie inspector like Hercule Poirot solves the case. Of late I have witnessed quite a few of these kinds of MMs like The Raikar Case, and Undekhi hence watching this akeli raat was a bit of overdose for me. It was the ensemble of a good cast which intrigued me to watch it (unfortunately I could find it binge-watch worthy, hence took almost 3-4 sitting to watch this lambi raat), Nawazuddin, Radhika Apte, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Ila Arun, Swanand Kirkire are few of the known faces associated with the film.
The plot setting is in a grand haveli of a rich and grand old patriarch Raghuveer Singh who kicks the bucket rather someone leaks his bucket (with a gunshot in the chest) on his Suhag raat day rather night. The case is assigned to Inspector Jatil played by Nawazuddin, he is as effortless as he usually is, but brings in nothing new to this act, we have seen him in Raees and Kahani. Radhika Apte is slowly metamorphosing into a new age Smita Patil, she revels in any role, here too she starts as the prime suspect and the young bride of the murdered old man and she is damn impressive. The veteran star Ila Arun steals the scene whenever she is in the frame, she plays the mother of Inspector Jatil who desperately wants to get his overage son to get married. The banter between mother and overgrown child Jatil gives the much-needed comic relief in the gloomy atmosphere. I am surprised to see talented lyricist Swanand Kirkire doing bits and pieces roles in many web series nowadays. Looks like he is not charging producers for his lyrics instead wants them to cast him in some minuscule role/s. Here too he has a small role with negligible importance.
Many unwanted subplots and characters are introduced which dampens the momentum while stretching the length of the movie to unbearable proportions. The predictable plot ends up in an Agatha Christi style set up where all characters gather, and a murderer is identified, and he spills some beans and a domino effect happens and a non-descript culprit emerges. (Since it is a murder mystery, I am trying my best to restrain myself).
Nowadays I have seen a trend of many casting directors are either casting themselves as actors or directing a movie. Here too the casting director Honey Trehan of hit projects like Talvaar, Delhi Belly & Udta Punjab is seen holding directors’ megaphone and tries to “Honey trap us”.
Movie with tighter editing and sans subplots would have become a more appealing product, however, one can still prefer it over the “Yaara”.
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