Minus 31: The Nagpur Files

Saw this one on Prime, and it exceeded my expectations.

Other than the fact that this film is a murder mystery with COVID in its backdrop, I really liked how it deals with the mundaneness of life.

For instance, period. The cop has missed her cycle and the stress of it is pretty evident. You are literally confronted with a blood stain. I haven't seen a Bollywood movie do that. The intriguing bit is how this cop's character starts relating with the missing girl over this seemingly trivial issue. Also, the father-daughter relationship is too hard hitting.

Obviously, there were some gaping holes - like the victim's wife. Didn't understand her motivation/intention. Could've been etched in a better way. Whereas the victim's brother-in-law is hilarious. And so is the lead's love interest. It was refreshing to watch a bald guy, ie. The famous "Rabish", play a charming, harmless alcoholic who is trying to woo his senior.

The best past is the music. Undoubtedly very very new for Bollywood. And also the subtlety of rage arising from caste discrimination.

Worth a watch.

What a waste of 2 hours of my life! Please save yourself some time and skip this movie. Not much of a story, crime or any mystery. The story development and the connections shown are very odd and off. There is no center of the story and the ending is very flat for a mystery movie. Writers must have had covid or were drunk when they were writing this story. Even the protagonists progression in the story or behaviour was very odd and not connected to the main story.

Main story could have been developed much better than how they tried to portray in the last half of the movie. Developing the suspense took very long that the ending was very abrupt, if there is any suspense at all. This movie could have been made better with quality crews.

This seems to be the film first of the director. Taking that as the limitation, I would rate the film as worth a watch. The characters are real. The relationships have been developed in a manner most organic. The leading lady has done an excellent job, her steadfastness juxtaposed with and contrasted by her vulnerability. Other characters are more cardboard cutouts, and one wishes that they could have been developed better. Raghuvir Yadav as her father is believable though, but I would credit that to his superior acting skills.

On the flip side, the film suffers from a few issues. Cliched roleplays - youngsters and their ambitions being one. Most importantly, the murder angle does not find a resolution that is satisfactory. That is the major pitfall in a film that promised so much but flattered to deceive.

The pandemic showed us a vastly different stretch of life-one marked by isolation, fear, uncertainty, and a redefinition of our daily routines-unlike anything we had experienced in our otherwise predictable, fast-paced world. This profound shift in human behavior, relationships, and societal structures created a rare and compelling backdrop for storytelling. For filmmakers and writers, this period offered a fertile ground to explore new emotions, dynamics, and realities that could powerfully resonate with audiences. Yet, surprisingly, the film industry has largely underutilized this unique moment in history. Minus 31, however, stands out as a refreshing exception. It boldly steps into this uncharted territory, using the pandemic not just as a backdrop, but as a meaningful context to craft a story that feels authentic, timely, and emotionally layered.

Low-quality choreography cashed on the theme of COVID-19 with a clueless plot, using only cremation footage as a medium for mockery of the Indians, a huge waste of time and resources.

It's a wannabe movie, the director may have felt proud and thought what a revolution of a movie he had made, but in reality, it's the kind of disappointment one father can feel after seeing his boy doing mujra on TikTok.

Overall, it's entirely a shameless scam, who knows, maybe Hawala, just created a random film to convert some money in its name.

The authorities should inspect the entire industry about how they operate and make money when nobody even bothers to see even trailers of movies like these.