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Release
date:
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November 3, 2017
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Director:
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Abhay Chopra
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Cast:
Language:
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Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha, Akshaye Khanna
Hindi
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Ittefaq is not a remake. Its basic inspiration has of
course come from the 1969 thriller of the same name directed by Yash Chopra,
starring Rajesh Khanna, Nanda and Iftekhar (which in turn drew on already
existing sources), but apart from a handful of building blocks, there is really
no resemblance between these two films.
Here’s what this
week’s release has in common with the original: a man accused of his wife's
murder escapes and takes a hostage in a house where another murder takes place.
The roles played by the lead trio nearly half a century back are here taken on
by Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna.
Malhotra is Vikram
Sethi, a bestselling UK-based author who is in Mumbai for the launch of his new
book. When we first encounter him, he is driving his car down a busy road while
a bunch of police vehicles give chase. He has an accident and disappears from
the scene in a severely injured condition. Through a chain of circumstances,
Vikram ends up accused of two murders, his alleged victims being his wife
Catherine Sethi and a man called Shekhar Sinha, the husband of a woman called
Maya Sinha (Sonakshi Sinha) in whose house he took refuge while hiding from the
police. Dev Verma (Akshaye Khanna), who is in
charge of the investigations, is given three days by his boss to solve the
case, due to the political pressure from the
UK government to let Vikram go since he is a UK citizen.
Director Abhay
Chopra’s Ittefaq (written by Chopra
with Shreyas Jain and Nikhil Mehrotra) has the audience and Dev grappling with
one question throughout its 107 minutes and 48 seconds running time: should we
believe Vikram or Maya’s version of events that took place in her house before
and after Vikram’s arrival? I did not arrive at an answer till the end, and
when the truth was finally revealed, it was not what I was expecting.
This is not to
suggest that this Ittefaq is an
oh-my-god-my-breath-just-stopped kind of whodunnit. One major irritant persists
throughout and robs the film of finesse. (Possible
spoiler ahead, please do not read the rest of this paragraph before watching
the film) Although we are told that Vikram is well-connected and that the
UK sarkar is pushing its Indian
counterpart to tighten the screws on the Mumbai police, we see no evidence of
this. Quite to the contrary, Vikram goes to the extent of speaking freely with
Dev without once asking for a lawyer or being advised by friends to do so. Also,
clearly merely in the interests of stretching the narrative across the
pre-determined three days of its length (rather than that one night in the
earlier Ittefaq), Dev takes two days
to get Vikram and Maya’s respective stories out of them in instalments during
interrogations, instead of extracting the complete story out of each at one go
and then cross questioning them. This defies logic since he is otherwise shown
to be a smart policeman who is often frustrated with his colleagues’ inefficiencies.
Further, the cocky confession from the otherwise level-headed killer in
the end, at a time when they could still have been booked for the crime, seems
uncharacteristic of them and appears to have
been timed to needlessly elevate the suspense in that climactic scene,
considering that the person could well have waited for a day or two to disclose
their secret without risk. (Spoiler
alert ends)
Still, Ittefaq has enough going for it to make
it an entertaining experience. Crucial to its effectiveness is the manner in
which it sustains interest levels from start to finish with its crisp
storytelling, Nitin Baid’s editing that walks a fine line between keeping the
narrative fast-paced and unhurried (it is just right), and the excellent
balance between silent stretches interspersed with background music.
Malhotra, Sinha and Khanna
deliver credible performances. And Michal Sebastian Luka’s camerawork replete
with close-ups of the three central characters, mostly in semi-lit spaces and
golden glows, heightens the sense of mystery and lends an air of realism to the
proceedings. The slip-ups by the police are believable since we are all well
acquainted with the state of Indian crime scene investigations (look no further
than the very public Aarushi Talwar murder case for evidence).
Ittefaq may not be perfect, but it is clever enough.
Bollywood rarely does thrillers well. This one is not brilliant, but it is fun
while it lasts.
Rating
(out of five stars): **3/4
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CBFC Rating (India):
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UA
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Running time:
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107 minutes 48 seconds
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This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/ittefaqofficial/
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