MURDER 3 Movie Review
Rating: 2.5/5 stars (Two-and-a-half stars)
Star cast: Randeep Hooda, Sara Loren, Aditi Rao Hydari
It starts making any sense only after the interval, which, is like watching the whole movie all over again with a completely new perspective. Sure, it’s different, thrilling and entertaining to an extent, but with such an effete script, it hardly leaves a mark.
The film is about a hot-shot fashion and wildlife photographer, Vikram (Randeep Hooda) who gets into a relationship with a waitress from a lounge, Nisha (Sara Loren). She moves in with him in his palatial house outside of the city. The old world house, made decades ago, is as beautiful as scary it is. It holds many secrets which Nisha is soon to unearth; of the life of the man who made it and of Vikram, who is dealing with the mysterious disappearance of his former girlfriend Roshni (Aditi Rao Hydari).
Thankfully, it’s a relatively short film, with a run time of two hours. But till the interval you’ll find yourself searching for even the slightest of sense that the movie wishes to make. The plot seems stuck and the whole attempt of creating a scary drama around the washroom of a grand deserted house ends up being neither chilling nor thrilling. Every actor hams and each scene seems contrived. Come post interval, and it starts making sense of what the whole first half was about. It’s basically the curiosity that it generates which keeps you glued till the end. The first half then starts appearing like a poorly presented build-up. To be honest, it does get quite engaging in the second hour. However, it’s never too consuming, and the end is just too abrupt. First-time Director Vishesh Bhatt is competent as far as his treatment goes, but fails really to get the most out of either his actors or the situations he builds. As with all other Vishesh Films, the soundtrack is outstanding.
About the performances, as mentioned earlier, each one hams it up all the time. It’s only Aditi Rao Hydari, who even looks like putting up a commendable act. But Randeep Hooda disappoints with his terrible overplay. And as far as the debutant Sara Loren goes, she looks attractive, but just can’t act. She’s so wooden and monotone, it seems like she can't even act wet in a thunderstorm.
Tout ensemble, ‘Murder 3’ is a sappy entertainer, which can be watched only if you have plenty of free time.