Amazon Prime Video, Abundantia Entertainment and Riddle Films Production’s Neeyat is a whodunit.
Ashish Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) has invited close friends for his birthday party at his castle in London. The guests include ex-girlfriend Noor (Dipannita Sharma Atwal), her husband, Dr. Sanjay Suri (Neeraj Kabi), their son, Ishaan (Madhav Deval), another girlfriend, Lisa (Shahana Goswami), and his soothsayer, Zara (Niki Walia). His brother-in-law, Jimmy Mistry (Rahul Bose), is also one of the guests. His niece, Sasha (Ishika Mehra), son Ryan (Shashank Arora), son’s girlfriend, Gigi (Prajakta Koli), are the other attendees. Kay (Amrita Puri), his PA, is also there. Event manager Tanveer (Danesh Razvi) promises to make the party memorable. CBI officer Mira Rao (Vidya Balan) also arrives at the castle.
Even as the celebrations are on, Ashish Kapoor leaves the castle in a huff and commits suicide by jumping off the cliff. Mira Rao, who was there to take Ashish Kapoor back to India for financial scams, begins investigation in the case as she is convinced, it was not a suicide but a murder case. Everyone is a suspect. But who is the murderer?
Anu Menon, Advaita Kala and Girvani Dhyani have written a story that starts on an interesting note. Since there are too many characters, it does get a bit confusing at places but that doesn’t take away from its otherwise engrossing nature. The screenplay, penned by Anu Menon, Priya Venkataraman, Advaita Kala and Girvani Dhyani, is quite nice but it gets boring at places, especially after interval. Actually, the audience is neither able to take sides nor get emotionally invested in the drama, because of which it does not get involved in the guessing game. In fact, it would be difficult for anyone to guess who has committed the murder because the screenplay does not involve the viewers in that sense. It is for this reason that there is no sense of achievement experienced by the viewers once the suspense is revealed. Kausar Munir’s dialogues are very effective.
Vidya Balan does a fine job as Mira Rao. She is as natural as natural can be. Ram Kapoor is good in the role of Ashish Kapoor. Rahul Bose is extremely entertaining as Jimmy Mistry and provides moments to laugh because of his brilliant acting. Neeraj Kabi lends lovely support as Dr. Sanjay Suri. Niki Walia performs ably as Zara. Shahana Goswami leaves a fine mark as Lisa. Amrita Puri is adequate as Kay. Dipannita Sharma Atwal is fair as Noor. Shashank Arora does a phenomenal job as Ryan. Prajakta Koli makes her presence felt as Gigi. Danesh Razvi is alright as Tanveer. Ishika Mehra provides fair support as Sasha. Madhav Deval is impressive in the role of Ishaan. Shefali Shah springs a wonderful surprise with a fine performance in a cameo appearance.
Anu Menon’s direction is fairly good. Like the subject, her narration is also meant more for the class audience. Mikey McCleary’s music is so-so but his background score is impactful. Kausar Munir’s lyrics are good. Andreas Neo’s cinematography is nice. Jamie B. Chambers’ action supervision is of a fine standard. Stacey Dickinson’s production designing is alright. Adam Moss’ editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Neeyat may be a well-made film with some lovely performances, but its box-office performance will be far from encouraging because such films, nowadays, are enjoyed on OTT platforms more than in cinemas. Lack of awareness about the film’s release is another dampener.
Released on 7-7-’23 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: very ordinary. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.