Unschuldig schuldig

My Wife's Murder is an extremely well made film. Directed by newcomer Jijy Philip (one of RGV's assistant), the film delves into the psyche of a murderer who kills his wife accidentally.

The story revolves around Ravi Patwardhan (Anil Kapoor) who is a middle class film editor. He has a wife Sheela (Suchitra Krishnamurthy) and two kids. He spends most of his time working away in his studio with his assistant, Reena (Nandana Sen). However, the reality of his home is way different than it seems. His wife is a nag who is constantly bickering and suspecting her husband of having an affair with his assistant. One day, the spat turns ugly and Ravi loses his cool, pushing Sheela which results in her hitting her head on a wooden carving of the bed and dying instantly. Faced with an unapologetic situation, Ravi is hesitant about calling the cops as he fears he might get arrested. And this will ruin his children's lives. Eventually, he decides to play hide-and-seek with the law until the inevitable occurs.

MWM is not a thrill-frill murder mystery. It' s a simply plain psychological film about a man who is unlucky on all fronts: be it personal or professional. The success of Philip as a director lies in the fact that how he managed to keep us glued to our seats despite a simple storytelling. He takes us into the mind of the troubled man and makes us feel his tensions, anxiety, excitement and helplessness. Under RGV'S tutelage, Philip has learned the ropes of direction pretty quickly and in most of the sequences you can catch glimpses of his mentor.

The film has a dark look and it really helps build the tension and suspense. The background score is also apt for the setting. Cinematography by P.S. Vinod is first-rate.

MWM totally belongs to Anil Kapoor. He sinks his teeth into the role of Ravi Patwardhan really well and delivers a fine performance. He is one of the underrated actors in Bollywood. MWM really helped him tap his potential as an actor to the fullest.

Boman Irani is another actor who deserves an equal amount of applause. He is likable as the cop hot on trail of Anil's character in the film. He is made to act more with his facial expression than mouthing dialogues and he does it pretty well.

Nandana Sen is passable as Reena. She gets more scope towards the second half though and she does it well.

Suchitra Krishnamurthy, despite a 15 minute role, ends up giving an award worthy performance. Her role as the nagging wife stays with you even after you walked out of the theater.

On the whole, MWM makes for an interesting watch. Go for it!

I saw Anil Kapoor in "Om Jai Jagdish", "Rishtey" and "Armaan", three movies that he excelled as an actor. If there are two Actors that have the range and the depth-that would be him and Urmila Matondkar. The title is misleading since the movie is more moralistic than a thriller-but there are some tense moments that I will not divulge. The Ravi's character should have had more background-we should have seen his good time and bad times with Suchitra instead I felt like I walked in late to the theatre and missed something. Boman Irani's character in the lines of "Columbo" with Peter Falk, fills the slower or less tensedull parts. Anil Kapoor is riveting to say the least. After AB, he is the finest actor to grace the Indian Screen. Yet another good movie by RMG Banner.

The title itself proves that it is not a typical bollywood movie. It comes from the factory of Ram gopal varma, for whom thinking unusually is usual. Even though the story-line is simple, the screenplay keeps the audience glued to their seats. The movie doesn't have even a single boring moment. Almost every frame is relevant to the story( though Boman Irani's personal life is shown, which may seem irrelevant, it IS relevant ).

The characters are well etched, especially those of Anil kapoor, Suchitra, Nandana sen and Boman Irani. The story is very realistic but for the climax, where it slightly deviates to the typical bollywood cliché.

Overall, the movie is really good. But it may not be a hit in the suburban and rural areas because of the inherent morbidity in the movie.

When Anil Kapoor will look down on his Bollywood's career lane, this work will remind him of the actor he always had in him.

This is one of those rare movies from Bollywood that remained completely honest to the genre. So different that if this was dubbed in English many including me would have considered it to be a Hollywood venture without having a moment of doubt, because you wouldn't find anything in it that is typical trademark of Bollywood like unnecessary inclusion of dance numbers, songs, desperate attempt to switch between genre to serve a good for nothing masala (spicy) stuff, and most importantly the running time.

Although every cast member gave their best not to forget Boman Irani who was slowly making his mark in the Indian film industry (now a well established brand), it was Anil Kapoor all the way who made this work so mesmerizing.

What worked: The movie is successful in regards to its tone and the flow of the movie. Despite the ups and downs in the narrative, the climate remains intact and engaging which makes it an interesting watch. The biggest strength of the movie has to be its simplicity as a result the story remained within the reach of an audience but also giving us option of interpretation. Overall, it's a fine watch

What did not work: The movie could have been much better had the writers took care of attendance to details. Also, the movie gets entangled and loses the tone in the final part of the movie making it a melodramatic average watch Final verdict: recommended for its tone