A crime thriller movie titled ‘Ittefaq‘ has been finally released today. The movie features Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha, and Akshaye Khanna in the lead roles. The movie is directed by Abhay Chopra and co-produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, Dharma Production and B R Studios. The movie ‘Ittefaq is an adaptation of the Yash Chopra’s 1969 movie of the same name featuring Rajesh Khanna, Nanda, and Madan Puri in the lead.
However, the movie is said to be not a remake of the 1969 movie Ittefaq. The makers of the movie have taken the inspiration from the movie and there is no resemblance between these two movies. In the movie, a man accuses his wife’s murder and he manages to escape from that place and he takes a hostage in a house where another murder takes place.
In the movie, Sidharth Malhotra is essaying the role of Vikram Sethi, a best selling UK-based author and he has come to Mumbai to launch his new book and over there we first encounter him. He is driving a car on a busy road later he realizes that there are a bunch of police vehicles are following him. He got so nervous that he met with an accident and from there he disappears from the scene in a very bad and an injured condition. There is a certain chain of circumstances that took place and Vikram ends up accused of two murders, his alleged victims were his wife Catherine Sethi and a man called Shekhar Sinha the husband of that woman called Maya Sinha (the role played by Sonakshi Sinha). That house belongs to Sonakshi in which Sidharth took a refuge when he was hiding from the police.
The policeman Dev Verma (the role essayed by Akshaye Khanna), he is the man who has been given in charge to solve the case within three days and the instructions have been given to him by his senior boss. As his boss was having a political pressure from the UK government that to let the Vikram go because he is a UK citizen. In the movie ‘Ittefaq’ the audience, as well as the Dev, are grappling with only one question throughout the movie and that is why they should believe Vikram or Maya’s version of events that took place in their house after and before Vikram’s arrival. They were not able to find the answers till the end and when the truth was finally revealed it was not what the whole audience was expecting.
There is one major problem in the movie and that is the movie ‘Ittefaq’ lacks the intensity. The lead actors Sonakshi Sinha and Sidharth Malhotra took a lot of time in adjusting to their surroundings. The one can easily remind of the Ram Gopal Verma’s psychological drama movie ‘Kaun’ and that movie mostly works only because of its lead cast. However, actress Sonakshi Sinha keeps on struggling with her part till the end while the actor Sidharth begins to hit the right notes after a while. The actor Akshaye Khanna played a great role in the movie he is only one who binds the movie together.
There are no songs in the movie which can easily distract you and the audience and the camera are kept on hovering over the one and the same location. The basic idea behind that is to provide the rear window and that will allow a glimpse of the action but as an audience, one can not easily understand its nature completely.
Then later we got to know that Vikram is well connected and that the Uk government is pushing the Indian government to tighten the screws of the Mumbai police and find the man who did all this. However, they did not see any evidence in the movie and Vikram goes to the extent and he spoke freely with the cop Dev without even asking for a lawyer or being adviced by friends to do so. Also, the interest of the stretching the narrative across the pre-determined three days of its length. The cop Dev almost took two days to take out the story out of both them and he did in an installment while during the interrogations and he took out the extracting complete story out of each other by asking them the cross-questioning them.
However, these all defies the logic because he is otherwise shown to be a smart policeman and he is often frustrated with all his colleague’s inefficiencies. In the movie, it has shown that many a time they have needlessly elevate the suspense in the movie and in the climactic scene and he is considering that the person could have waited for a day or two to disclose their secret without having any risk.
Still, the movie ‘Ittefaq’ has enough going for it and the makers of the movie have made an entertaining experience. There is a certain sort of manner that sustains interest levels from the start to its finish with its crip storytelling. The editing of the movie has been done by the Nitin Baid and he has given a line between keeping the narrative fast-paced and unhurried and moreover, he has given an excellent balance between silent stretches interspersed with the background music.
However, all the three actors in the movie, Sonakshi Sinha, Sidharth Malhotra, and Akshaye Khanna has given a credible performance in the movie and the camerawork which is done by the Michal Sebastian Luka has been replete with the close-ups of the three central characters and that too mostly in the semi-lit space and there are golden glows which lends air of realism of the proceedings. In the movie there are many slip-ups by the police are believable since we all are very well acquainted with the state of Indian crime scene investigation.
The movie ‘Ittefaq’ might not be perfect but it is clear enough and Bollywood rarely does thriller well. However, about the movie, we can not say that it is very good but the movie is a fun while it lasts.