D Neev Films and Cinema Friday International’s One Day (UA) is the story of a retired judge and how he seeks to correct the wrongs he had done during the fag end of his career. The film is set in Ranchi.
Justice Tyagi (Anupam Kher) is a conscientious judge who realises that he has erred in a few judgements delivered at the fag end of his career due to evidence produced before him, which prompted him to pass those orders. After retirement, it is his endeavour to set the wrongs right. The incident that prompted him to punish those whom he had acquitted when they actually deserved to be pronounced guilty, was a tight slap which the mother of a wronged person had given him outside the courtroom.
Police inspector Satya Narayan Sharma (Kumud Mishra) is a family friend of Justice Tyagi.
One day, soon after attending the wedding of Justice Tyagi’s daughter, a doctor couple goes missing. Within a few days, a hotelier also goes missing. Police inspector Sharma and the police commissioner (Ehsan Khan) are unable to crack the cases. Since elections are approaching, local MP Rawat (Zakir Hussain), puts pressure on the police commissioner to solve the cases. So, special officer of the crime branch, Laxmi Rathi (Esha Gupta), is called in to do the needful. But even while she is investigating the cases, two more kidnappings take place.
Laxmi Rathi’s intelligent mind deciphers that all the kidnapped persons were those whom Justice Tyagi had acquitted. She also gets a few more leads in the case. What are they? Who is behind the abductions? Is there a common thread between those kidnapped? If so, what is it? What happens to Justice Tyagi?
Alaukik Rahi’s script is poor. The story about a judge seeking to set right the wrong judgements of his career has been so simplistically written that it looks kiddish. By showing that he sets out to do what he does, after being slapped by a lady dilutes his integrity because it appears as if he would not have thought of doing the unusual had it not been for the slap. The ease with which people are kidnapped makes it appear as if it’s routine stuff. Similarly, Laxmi Rathi’s investigations look very convenient. What was needed was excitement and thrill in her investigations but they are conspicuous by their absence. All in all, the drama does not have fire and, therefore, absolutely fails to involve the audience. Even the climax is as dull as it can get. Alaukik Rahi’s dialogues are commonplace.
Anupam Kher goes through his role quite mechanically, probably because of the weak script. Esha Gupta is miscast. The Bihari style of delivering dialogues neither goes with her personality nor with the modern costumes she wears. Kumud Mishra doesn’t have much to do to showcase his talent. He stands out in a few scenes only, but his earnestness is evident all through. Zarina Wahab has her moments. Zakir Hussain is ordinary as MP Rawat. Rajesh Sharma does a routine job as hotelier Pankaj Singh. Murali Sharma and Deepshikha Nagpal (as the doctor couple) have been wasted. Alok Pandey makes his presence felt as Afzal. Manoj Mishra is fair as Dilawar. Hema Sharma (in a special appearance), Jayaka Yagnik (as Pooja), Akram Ali Khan (as Rahul), master Shabd, baby Riddhi Thakur, Nilofar Gesawat (as Shalini) and Poonam Rane (as Rekha) are okay. Kashyap Barbhaya (as Shamim), Anusmriti Sarkar (as Shagufta), Jeeban Panda (as Sheikh), Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (as the lawyer), Mohaq Kansara (as Abdul), Ehsan Khan (as the police commissioner), Nasir Khan (as the lawyer), Saavi Chauhan (as Sonia), and Kavya Kiran and Monika Ravan (both in special appearances in song dances) provide routine support.
Ashok Nanda’s direction is dull and, like the script, it belongs to the 1980s. Music (Joy-Anjan, Vikrant-Parijat and Rishi Singh) is okay. Lyrics (Alaukik Rahi, Smita Kabra and Vinu Sangwan) are so-so. Choreography (by Ranju Varughese and Dev) is okay. Sanjoy Chowdhury’s background music is dull. Camerawork (by Inderjit Bansal and Arvind Singh) is fair. Dilip K. Yadav’s action and stunts are functional. Kartik B. Vidhatey’s art direction hardly deserves mention. Umashankar Mishra’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.
On the whole, One Day will meet with a disastrous fate at the ticket windows because it is devoid of entertainment and also fails at the concept level itself.
Released on 5-7-’19 at Inox Metro (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Yen Movies. Publicity: weak. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.