Starring Vidya Balan in the lead role as a CBI officer, Neeyat has Rahul Bose, Ram Kapoor, Dipannita Sharma, Shashank Arora, Shahana Goswami, Prajakta Koli, Neeraj Kabi, and Amrita Puri. The film is jointly produced by Vikram Malhotra under Abundantia Entertainment along with Amazon Prime Video and released by Pen Marudhar Entertainment.
Plot
An exiled billionaire named Ashish Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) invites a bunch of people to his Scottish castle situated on a desolate island to celebrate his birthday. The guests include Jimmy Mistry (Rahul Bose), Noor Suri (Dipannita Sharma), and Rayan Kapoor (Shashank Arora) among others. Suddenly, during the night, Ashish mysteriously dies in what appears to be a suicide. Enters CBI officer Mira Rao (Vidya Balan) who investigates the case and tries to find out who killed him. The situation is tricky as each one of the guests had a valid reason to kill Ashish. The rest of the film follows Mira’s attempts in finding the answer.
Performances
Despite having a jam-packed cast of some really talented actors, the performance is not the best part of this film. Nearly everyone disappoints with their acting, as they are only able to react in awe to different situations. Most of the time it feels forced and cookie-cutter. But Vidya Balan shines like a beacon. She fully embodies the authority figure who has to be one step ahead of all the guests in order to find the truth.
There is a lot of restraint in her performance, which is the best part, as it’s easy for actors to go theatric while playing such characters. Dipannita Sharma is another silver lining of this whodunit. She beautifully plays the role of Noor Suri in the film. The rest of them, even the reliable actors like Ram Kapoor and Neeraj Kabi, disappoint in all measures.
Analysis
The film has been shot on a real island and on a real castle. But the cinematographer Andreas Neo did not use all the tools to masterfully capture the vast landscape. The camera doesn’t create any sense of claustrophobia needed for such one-location thrillers. The costumes of all the actors feel like lazy choices as there is nothing new in them.
The writing credit of Neeyat includes names like Anu Menon, Girvani Dhyani, Advaita Kala, and Priya Venkataraman. Among them, Advaita was also the co-writer of Vidya’s Kahaani, which is easily one of the best Bollywood thrillers. But in this case, the writing falls flat on its face. There is no sense of urgency, dread, or a ticking clock. Except, maybe the surprise ending. But that also feels like the writers came up with the ending first and wrote the story backward to reach that point.
There is nothing new in terms of music, done by Mickey McCleary. In terms of the technical front, Adam Moss’ editing is the only good thing. Anu, who also directed Vidya’s earlier outing Shakuntala Devi, fails to create a tightly-packed thriller that keeps the audiences at the edge of their seat.
Verdict
Neeyat is a bland whodunit thriller where Vidya Balan is the only saving grace. But even she cannot help this mediocre script that is filled with loopholes and occasional thrills. It tries really hard to ape Knives Out, but fails miserably.
Rating
Critic’s Rating: 2/5
Box Office Rating: 0.5/5
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