Wait, I am not accusing them of plagiarism or anything else of that sort. Try watching it and, 20 minutes into it, when you realize that a rich lord-like fellow got murdered and all the family members are equal suspects gives you the same vibe of Rian Johnson’s ‘Knives Out’ (2019). By the way, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is more like a modern version of ‘Hercule Poirot’, who keenly inspects everything objectively. But our ‘Inspector Jatil Yadav’ is more emotional, sensitive, insecure and he values the subjectivity of others.
There are many other investigative movies of this kind, but Raat Akeli Hai is unique in some aspects. Especially the rich alluring frames exemplarily captured by Pankaj Kumar, who has previously helmed the camera for movies like Ship of Thesus (2013), Haider (2015), and Tumbbad (2018).
The slow and melodramatic dialogues in some scenes elastically extended the length of those sequences. There is the iteration of information here and there too. I don’t want to spoil the fun for those who are yet to watch it, but I must say, I would have liked this movie more if they would have dropped the past between ‘Radha’ and ‘Jatil’. It clearly works well without it. But on the brighter side, at least ‘Jatil’ is learning something and has an arc between the past and the present.
(Spoilers Ahead)
He ends their first conversation with a dialogue that, “I am a cop, so take it from me. It’s a cruel world out there.” He ends there the last conversation with a pay-off dialogue for the former. “It’s a cruel world out there. I can’t do it alone.” Over the course of the total duration, his character grew taller than several of his insecurities and misconceptions about women.
Something else I loved a lot is such another arc, which is explored using the face cream. In a marriage function, in the beginning, Jatil’s mother searches for a bride for her son and shows around his photo. One girl denies and says Jatil is dark-skinned. This instance is used repeatedly to add the inferiority complex of Jatil and secretly he uses Fair and lovely anti-darkening face cream and hides it behind his mirror. Once we see him squeezing the almost empty bottle so hard to apply whatever that is left. Later we see him finding a new bottle, which his mother has bought and replaced to further infuriate Jatil. But in the last sequence, as he is able to overcome his complex now, he drops the face cream in the trash bin and heads out in his innate swag to woo Radha.
Raadhika Aapte and Nawazuddin Siddiqui are two stellar reasons to watch it. No, not just vested upon their shoulders, but the entire cast did their best. It seems director Honey Trehan was once a most sought after casting director, before switching his career and assisting stalwarts like Vishal Bhardwaj and Abhishek Chaubey. Raat Akeli Hai is not a must-watch investigative thriller, but if somebody is criticizing too much, then please don’t fall for that trap and miss it. Let’s hope Netflix will commission more such Indian projects.
.
He was institutionalised for 6yrs in a Film Institute, to forget about the 4yrs which an Engg college stole. Inveterate dreamer who dreams to utter Spielberg’s words, “I dream for a living.”
