Murder 2

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yana Gupta, Prashant Narayanan, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sandeep Sikand, Shweta Kawatra

Director: Mohit Suri

Among the many sequels gracing the cinema halls over some weeks comes yet another sequel of the 2004 Anurag Basu directed Mallika Sherawat, Emraan Hashmi starrer superhit thriller Murder. Starring Emraan Hashmi yet again alongside the superhot Jacqueline Fernandez, Murder 2 has been in news for the bold scenes and the chartbusting music. So let's find out whether this film will work or not. Set in Goa, Murder 2 revolves around a former cop Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi) who is irreverent and earns his living doing odds jobs for pimps, gangsters etc. He is in a non-committed relation with a model Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez) who loves him too much but is lovelorn as he doesn't reciprocate. A certain pimp assigns him a task to find the call girls from his racquet who have gone missing over a few months. How Arjun's investigation to find the missing girls leads him to a serial killer Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan) is what forms the rest of the story.

Murder 2 can't quite exactly be called a sequel to the Anurag Basu directed predecessor. It has different characters, different setting and different storyline too. Unlike Murder, Murder 2 happens to be quite gory and spine chilling. The film appears to have drawn inspiration from Hollywood's slasher flick Hostel and has the same method of the multiple heinous assassinations. However, it is a little less grisly in comparison to the Hollywood flick. What may turn out to be a deterrent for the film is the faulty storyline. The manner in which the case of the missing call girls is handled is very sketchy filled with a lot of cinematic liberties taken by the filmmaker just to come to the conclusion. It is just the blend of thrill and erotica that might work with the audience. What also works in the film's favour is the short length which makes the story punchy and edgy and the acting of Prashant Narayanan. After a very long time there's come someone who's enacted the role of a villain with such finesse. His character of a neurotic killer is what outshines in the entire flick. Emraan Hashmi is his usual self. Jacqueline Fernandez is hot and looks at ease in the bold scenes with Emraan Hashmi. Overall, Murder 2 works in parts. It is edgy and spine chilling in some parts but faulty in others.The sequel to "Murder" is nothing like the first part of the frenetic franchise. And Jacqueline Fernandez who has been built up in "Murder 2" as the next Mallika Sherawat is nothing like the overrated Mallika....Thank God for that! Fernandez exudes an unbridled sunniness even when pouting in the bare minimum. Alas, she doesn't have much to do in "Murder 2" except swathe the dark drama in a spot of sunshine.

God knows this film about the devil-unleashed, surprisingly written by a woman (Shagufta Rafique) needs that little of sunshine. It is a desperately dark film. The characters are wretchedly unhappy. No matter which side of the moral line they are positioned they are standing screaming into the abyss that is suburban life. These people need serious help. This then, is the world Mahesh Bhatt has bequeathed to us. Take it and bleed it. Director Mohit Suri who earlier took us on a jolting trip through the world of prostitution, pimps and desperate cops in "Kalyug" takes the same route again. On this occasion the journey is far more ruthless and rigorously implemented to create horror repugnance and hatred for a word that we've created for coming generations.

In the typical Mahesh Bhatt style "Murder 2" doesn't waste time in back-projections and story build-up. He goes straight for the kill. With trenchant immediacy director Mohit Suri (back in "Kalyug" form after the misfire that was his last film "Crook") tells us the story of a psychopathic killer who kills prostitutes with the pleasure that makes your stomach churn and look anxiously towards the future about your daughter who is just stepping into the big wide world. Who knows if the man sitting next to her in the movie theatre is a closet-nutcase with a collection of hacksaws in his house, and not to carve up the Christmas turkey. Prashant Narayanan as the psychopath plays the character at such an even pitch he makes your blood freeze in fear and revulsion. Here's a man who could be that ghoul who butchered all those kids in the Nethra killings and then ate them up without a burp. The 'hero' in "Murder 2" is a burn-out suspended cop who makes money out of criminals, stays sullen and haunted throughout the film except when he goes for the kiss, and offers his girlfriend a wad of notes after making love. To buy the fridge, he says. Naturally the lady freezes.

Force of habit, we say. Hashmi has done this kind of a role repeatedly. The kissing and vigorous bedroom activities are quickly taken care of in the first 15 minutes. Wouldn't want the lovers of the serial kisser to feel they're being cheated in favour of the serial killer. The wacked-out killer in "Murder 2" doesn't eat his victims. He just cuts them down to sighs and groans and shrieks of pain and records their dying voices to get his rockers off The plot seems original. The narration is clenched and the characters driven by a desperate urge to assert themselves before death rings their doorbell. The savagery with which the college-going call girl (Sulagna Panigrahi) is brought to her gruesome death becomes a metaphor for the loss of innocence and the triumph of diabolism that is often garbed in designer labels these days.

"Murder 2" is not a pleasant film to view. The psychopath's killings are done in graphic detail. The storytelling offers no respite from the brutality. Most of the time we are looking at happenings that we would rather not see. But see, we must. "Murder 2" is a mirror of our amoral venomous times when no relationship is sacred anymore. Mohit Suri remains in command of the murky material and traumatized characters. While most episodes hold together in a riveting rhythm of life's most unsavoury truths, the sequences featuring Prashant Naraynan work better than the rest of the film. He lends the proceedings a credibility that is unsettling.In the past director Mohit Suri has told quite a few interesting stories. At such a young age, he is the only director to be enjoying one film of his release practically every year. However 'Murder 2' will certainly be one of his finest films till date as he takes further strides as a filmmaker. First and foremost he gets the story right and secondly, he injects enough moments in it that justify the franchise. Also, he lends a polished feel to the film technically as well by means of superb background score, striking cinematography and an overall dark look and feel.

The film's setting is Goa where women are either getting killed or disappearing for weeks. When ex-cop Emraan Hashmi investigates the cause behind this, he comes across a startling revelation about a psychopath (Prashant Narayanan) behind it all. While most films end at the culprit being caught and his confession closing the case, 'Murder 2' takes a different path altogether. The reason revealed behind all the killings is what makes 'Murder 2' different from other thrillers. What strikes one's attention at the very beginning is the fact that 'Murder 2' doesn't take even a minute to get to the point. You know that there is a transsexual who is after young women, mostly prostitutes. You also know his modus operandi and the place of crime. Also, you get a fair idea about the gruesome killings that would continue for many more days to come. However what makes 'Murder 2' interesting is the fact that while audience is constantly with the killer, it is the lead protagonist on a chase that makes the proceedings engaging.

Also, the very setting of the scene of murder is haunting to the core. So when a petite girl enters Prashant's den, you know for sure that she would be tormented. Also, when Prashant continues to hum along 'Bheege Hoth Tere', you know for sure that there is terror lurking somewhere out there. Moreover his chameleon like act where he makes conflicting statements, whether in front of women, Emraan or the cops makes one totally engrossed in the proceedings. On the other hand Emraan plays his part perfectly well for a man who doesn't believe in God, has a past of his own, isn't quite happy in life, doesn't like speaking too much and makes ferocious love to his woman. In fact at places one also finds traces of the character that he played in 'Awarapan', especially the part where he eventually makes peace with God. Jacqueline Fernandez provides quite eye candy moments as she is uninhibited in her body display. However since she isn't playing a happy character in the film, she doesn't really get those feel-good moments for herself that make for a quintessential Bollywood heroine.

Overall the film unfolds as a dramatic thriller and thankfully there are still quite a few individualistic scenes with various twists and turns that keep the thrilling element on right through the 2:10 hours duration. So whether it is Prashant tormenting women in his den, him and Emraan finally coming face to face, the scene at the police station, one of the girls in a hapless situation, Emraan's endeavour to collect clues, the scene at the temple and the psychological investigation all of these are etched in one's memories way after the film is through. This doesn't mean though that the film isn't without any blemishes whatsoever. The sob story sequence between Emraan and Jacqueline is totally pass� and doesn't add anything to the film's plot. The scenes featuring the girl who is trying to make her escape eat up a little more footage than needed. Moreover the episode featuring a 'hijra' politician starts off well but doesn't cut much ice towards its culmination. This is the time when there is some repetition too that sets in around Prashant's murderous ways. Also, music though good isn't really the highlight here and just fills in as a part of the narrative.

Dark and haunting - This is what describes the mood of 'Murder 2' which is definitely not for the faint hearted. In fact it won't be wrong to say that despite not belonging to the horror genre, it turns out to be far more disturbing than many so-called horror movies that have released in the recent past and have claimed to have brought a new idiom to the genre. So while one did expect sex and violence to form a major part of 'Murder 2', more so due to the franchise that it belongs to, the film throws in a surprise by not just boasting of a strong and a fresh new storyline but also some very strong performances.