Tips Films Ltd. and 12th Street Entertainment’s Gaslight (UA) is a murder mystery.
A wheelchair-bound Meesha (Sara Ali Khan) returns home after many years in a bid to make peace with her father, Ratan Sinh Gaikwad (Shataf Ahmed Figar). Her step-mother, Rukmani (Chitrangda Singh), receives her but strangely, her dad is missing. While Rukmani keeps insisting that her dad would return soon, Meesha gets the feeling that he has been murdered. She seeks the help of her dad’s PA, Kapil (Vikrant Massey). Soon, she realises that police officer Ashok (Rahul Dev) is very friendly to Rukmani. There’s also a doctor, Dr. Shekhawat (Shishir Sharma), who appears to be very close to Rukmani. There’s her dad’s relative, Rana (Akshay Oberoi), too. Who has murdered Ratan Sinh Gaikwad? Has he been murdered at all?
Neha Veena Sharma and Pavan Kirpalani have written a childish story and an equally kiddish screenplay, both of which are so poor that it is shocking, anybody could do such a shoddy job. Characters are hardly established, so much so that it is not even clear whether Meesha’s dad was a nice person or not. The twist in the tale about Meesha is so unexciting that it has almost no impact on the audience. Actually, the entire drama looks so convoluted that the viewers never once get involved in it, instead watching it unfold on the screen, without really being bothered about where it is headed. Even the revelation of the suspense is half-baked, and that’s putting it mildly. The film is completely devoid of light moments, romance and melodrama, and even the suspense element is very dull. Consequently, the audience couldn’t care less about who is the murderer. One major reason for viewers not being bothered to know who the murderer is is that the audience feels absolutely no empathy for Ratan Sinh Gaikwad. Why, the viewers don’t even know why they should root for Ratan Sinh Gaikwad, because there’s not even a single impactful scene showing him. Amit Mehta and Neha Veena Sharma’s dialogues are as poor as the story and screenplay.
Performances of all the actors are sub-standard, probably because of the terrible script. Sara Ali Khan tries to be earnest but succeeds only partially. Her performance is barely average. Chitrangda Singh is alright as Rukmani. Vikrant Massey does a fair job as Kapil but he is not effective enough in the climax. Akshay Oberoi is so-so in the role of Rana. Shataf Ahmed Figar gets almost no scope to perform as Meesha’s father. Rahul Dev delivers a listless performance as police inspector Ashok. Shishir Sharma is ordinary as Dr. Shekhawat. Manjiri Papula is alright. Others pass muster.
Pavan Kirpalani’s direction is pretty weak. He seems to have shot the entire film in the dark to create an aura of suspense but while that doesn’t happen, the minimal-lighting photography gets on the audience’s nerves. Gaurav Chatterji’s background music is routine. Ragul Herian Dharuman’s camerawork leaves a lot to be desired insofar as characters and happenings are not visible clearly. Hiralal Hansu Yadav’s action and stunt scenes are not very thrilling. Nikhil Kovale’s production designing and Ashish Naik’s art direction are ordinary. Chandan Arora’s editing is loose.
On the whole, Gaslight is a whodunit devoid of thrill or excitement. It’s good that it has been premiered on an OTT platform because it would’ve met with a disastrous fate at the box-office.
Released on 31-3-’23 on Disney+ Hotstar.