The Stoneman Murders

For a long time I thought The Stoneman Murders was a investigative documentary of some sort by NDTV – because I always saw the ads only on the news channels. And the ads only showed some guy shrouded in a blanket, about to smash someone with a big stone. It was only later that I saw Kay Kay Menon and Arbaaz Khan in the promos and realized it was a proper movie.

But the big question about each movie - is it a proper/watchable movie ? Answer - Hell yeah !! It might be small budget and without any catchy item songs (there is one mandatory dance-bar song, but its eminently forgettable) – but it's a very involving and riveting thriller. Of course, it manages to trip itself up when it uncovers the mystery man – it's a time honored Hindi movie tradition (Raaz etc) after all !! But since it's the last 10 minutes of the movie, you can easily skip that part in your mind and remember its engrossing moments.

As the movie title and the trailers announce – its about the gruesome Stoneman (or 'Pattharmaar') serial killings in Bombay in 1983 – whose identity remains a mystery till date. According to google, this is the only serial-killer case in India that was never solved – not even a definitive arrest !! Director Manish Gupta claims that there was no way a crime like this was unsolved – there must have been a massive cover-up afterwards. Now I am not in a position to verify if this is just a publicity gimmick or he actually believes that – but it definitely adds to the enjoyment of the movie.

The Stoneman Murders has Kay Kay Menon playing inspector Sanjay - his now-regular characterization of a man with an inflated self-belief, aggression and a liking for violence (Sarkar, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Life in a Metro, Via Darjeeling and many more). I guess it goes without saying that he does that role pretty well. The movie begins with inspector Sanjay getting suspended from the police force for a accidental custodial death, right when the Stoneman kills his first victim. As the bodies pile up, he gets permission from a sympathetic senior Satam (Vikram Gokhale) to pursue a secret parallel investigation on his own. Sanjay latches on to the thin hope that cracking the case before the police department does, might be his only chance of getting back into the force ... and mobilizes his underground network of informers for clues. But the killer doesn't give himself up easily and that is what the story is all about.

With a perfect accompanying background score that heightens the terse moments and shot mostly at nighttime Mumbai streets, The Stoneman Murders is a very intelligent cat-and-mouse game between the renegade cop and the mystery killer. The director/script-writer have come up with a very realistic & engrossing story – and I cant tell you more about the narrative without giving away some of the mystery. There are scary moments throughout the movie, and there were times I forgot to chew the popcorn in my mouth as I cringed inwardly about the gory death awaiting the pavement-dweller.

However, the director cant match this suspense buildup with the final expose of the Stoneman – and the identity of the killer is rather underwhelming. That spoils what is otherwise a perfect suspense movie. But even with the stinky ending, The Stoneman Murders is entertaining as hell, especially at just 1 hour 40 min runtime and hence deserves a watch

I regularly review movies at http://bombaycinephile.blogspot.com

The Stoneman Murders is a neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Manish Gupta. The film stars Kay Kay Menon, Arbaaz Khan, Late Vikram Gokhale, Rukhsaar Rehman and Virendra Saxena.

Mumbai of 1980s is terrorised by a serial killer who ruthlessly kills pavement dwellers in their sleep. A suspended police officer then decides to step in and conduct an investigation on his own.

When you are directing a murder mystery you should be careful that the viewers shouldn't get any hint to guess the killer and the director successfully achieves in this (although the director gives some very subtle hints about the killer and reason of the murders), the motive of the murder should get cleared only in the end and the director gets success in this also and the murder mystery should make the viewers hooked and the director also gets success in this but some loogical loopholes and some missing dots makes the film little disappointing.

The plot of the film is taken from the murder spree of 1980s in Mumbai (Then Bombay) which was never resolved but in the film the director with the help of cinematic liberty gave the motive behind the murders and also the name of the killer.

The execution of the film is good and most of the time the film will keep you hooked. The acting in the film was good to average with Kay Kay Menon, Vikram Gokhle and Virender Saxena was impressive. Arbaaz Khan was average and Rukhsaar Rehman was disappointing.

Screenplay of the film was gripping and will keep you hooked to know who is the murderer and what is the motive behind the murders. Climax of the film was little disappointing and could've been more crisped.

Overall a good thriller film and should watch once.

The Stoneman Murders is an engaging thriller based on the real-life incident of serial killings by a ruthless killer dubbed as the "Stoneman". It takes place in the city of Mumbai, where serial killings are taking place at a rapid pace. Taking its premise from those incidents and referring to media coverage of the case, writer-director Manish Gupta constructs a screenplay that is derived from hard facts where available, and imagination to fill in the gaps.

"The Stoneman Murders" reveals the horrifying secret, like a proper murder mystery should, right at the end. The narrative is linear and non-fussy, the story-telling direct, peppered with some truly chilling moments. The gathering of forensic evidence, the photographs of the corpses, and the sifting that follows is classic detective territory, and the director does a good job of keeping it simple, but keeping it going. Kay Kay Menon takes the film to the heights with his remarkable performance. Arbaaz Khan is good to watch. Vikram Gokhale and Rukhsar are okay. Rest of the cast is average.

On the whole, ʽThe Stoneman Murdersʼ is the finest thriller churned out on Bollywood scene ever. Itʼs an appealing film to watch.

Excellent Movie. Everybody acted very well in the movie. Songs and BGM in the movie were not so good. The movie was so interesting and thrilling. Not even a single scene was boring. The movie was not so lengthy and lagging which was a main highlight of the movie. There were no unwanted scenes and the movie concentrated more on thrilling and investigating scenes that made the movie more interesting and thrilling. The movie was not boring at all. The lead actors rocked the movie by their performance. One of the best thriller movies. Excellent Movie.

For me movies are all about art, acting & the quality of story. In earlier times there were plays, adaptions of epics on stage, adaptions of succcessful novels also which were all so artistic to watch live. With time & slowly stage plays giving way to movie halls then multiplexes & now even our drawing rooms. The essence of the stage where acting, art & story are still intact. Everybody be it the rich or poor, young or the old wants to spend time watching something good for his / her time. The very fact somebody wants to spend time & money on something it has to be worthy of the art. This is where Stoneman murders scores high, the movie has all the ingredients of a good urban mystrey thriller, it is not slow paced, it moves quickly & mostly shot in the dark streets of Bombay. The movie really transports you to the 1980s, I was in Bombay at that time so I could really feel the real portrayal of the city. Acting of all actors were good, none outclassing the other. Manish Gupta the director has few good movies to his credit, I watched this & Rahasya in both the movies I could see he has a very good editing ability. In many thrillers I have noticed the editing or story gives way & the movie looks a bit flat on the plot. Some of the things look unrealistic but in this everything looks real. It is time we value actors not stars like in stage shows where people used to value the actors. Stars are celebrities they hardly know how to portray realistically on screen.

Stoneman murders is a must watch movie, hope I find few more thrillers like this to watch on free time.