Raat Baaki Hai

#sanjuzzreviews

Based on a play Ballygunge 1990, the story of this whodunit unfolds in a single night with the murder of a bollywood actress, Dipanita Sharma on her engagement night. Her writer fiancee Anup Soni is the primary suspect as he absconds from the crime scene. Fate lands him at the doorstep of his ex-flame, Paoli Dam who gives him shelter for the night. Rahul Dev plays the part of a police officer on the roles of a high ranking politician asked to take charge of the case to save someone.

A great concept for a classic whodunit, great cast too.

Alas, the film falters in the execution department. A very linear narrative might work in a play, however it fails to create an impact here. It starts off with great promise but becomes very predictable in the end.

The are no adrenaline rush moment's as the film slowly moves towards a climax that makes you feel that something could've been better.

Rahul Dev , Anup Soni and Paoli Dam give sincere performances, but cannot translate a good play into a great film, thus making it a rather average watch.. Adios🙂

Barring Rahul Dev and the other cops, all performances are below par. Even from seasoned actors like Anup Soni.

Can be a 1-time watch if you have nothing else to do.

Just from the synopsis of the movie, its easy to identify who the killer is.

Anup Soni and Paoli Dam are good.

Adapted from a popular play called "Ballygunge 1990" directed by Atul Satya Koushik, Raat Baaki Hai is the tale of one fateful night in the lives of Vasuki (Paoli Dam) and Kartik (Anup Soni), two estranged lovers who happen to meet by chance after a gap of 12 years. Kartik and Vani (Dipannita Sharma), a top actress get engaged the same night at a plush hotel in Rajasthan and the former is too heavily drunk to carry himself through the night. Unfortunately, the bride to be is soon found murdered with the throat slit apart in her suite. Inspector Rajesh Ahlawat (Rahul Dev) begins his investigation and gradually gets to work out the progress of the crime, only until a point where the CCTV camera footage goes missing.

In the interim, Kartik is on the run realising the gravitas of the situation and lands up in Vasuki's mansion, as if by chance. She claims that she is happily married to Raja Sujan Singh, the owner of the mansion and the hotel for the past 12 years since separating from Kartik. She makes Kartik comfortable and asks him to wait for the Raja to return to rid him of his immediate problem. As the night proceeds, matters get a little complicated as beans are spilled and Kartik is in for some strange surprise.

Raat Baaki Hai is languid, low key and short (89 minutes). It could have been taut and slick, but fails in execution as the ending is somewhat underwhelming although unpredictable. Paoli Dam is effective, but doesn't find too much support from the others. The settings are plush and rich and the proceedings are palpable.

Review By Kamal K

Zee5 brings yet another murder mystery where a leading bollywood actress is found dead on her engagement night. Police officer incharge need to solve this case within a night as he doesn't want the matter to get escalated.

Overall, this story seems good and sounds interesting on paper but when it translated on celluloid it goes astray. The movie does opens up in a promising note and the suspense is well maintained where you start your guessing game on. Sooner it fizzles down as you can guess the killer from miles apart. After which you could just wait to prove yourself right.

Rahul Dev is impressive as the no-nonsense cop Ahlawat whose character has shades of grey from the beginning, and yet, he leaves no stone upturned to find the truth. Annup Soni convincingly depicted the anxiousness his character goes through. Paoli Dam is looking elegantand she makes her presence felt as Vasuki. Instead of just focusing on her appearance and that perfectly draped saree, the film would have worked remarkably better had it delved deeper into Dam's character.

The climax has some unpredictable bends in the road which are interesting to watch. Overall, this 89 minutes suspense-thriller is quite unexciting and a dull watch.