Samay: When Time Strikes

Samay .... saw this movie on TV long back but the gripping, unusual climax and Sushmita playing ACP to a tee, imprinted this movie on my mind forever.

The opening scene with VERTIGO played on large screen is definitely appropriate message ... this is a thriller of Hitchcockian genre. However, one gets this feeling only as movie progresses with 3 unique murders and a serial killer on loose. All the characters, whether lead or supporting cast, are well established within the flow. Inspite of so many characters getting introduced, not even for a moment story seems diverging from the main plot. In fact, each murder just adds another progression, as depicted through Pokemon levels. Big round of applause to the director for such a commendable job. Climax is spine chilling making this movie not just thriller but horrifying as well. I find this change appreciating. One cannot always expect goody goody end.

Music is well placed in the narration. There are just two songs: 1.)An item number, introducing 2nd victim and 2.)A short song establishing last victim, which audience realize only during the climax. Apart from this, regular background from day-to-day life fills in for most of the background score which gives a realistic touch to the plot.

Coming on to characters, Sushmita as ACP Malvika is awesome. She brilliantly portrays a hard-core cop who always maintains her composure but at the same time like any other human has flaws/weaknesses. Her interrogation style reflects her intelligence and alertness. Jackie Shroff, the antagonist very well tests her composure in the climax by slowly revealing his cold-blooded nature. Sushant Singh as ACP's assistant (Inspector Satya), Dinesh Lamba as Sub-Inspector Rafique and Rajesh Khera as Doc make a perfect team, equally involved and working hard to solve the mystery.

Got to know that this movie received national award for editing .... undoubtedly it deserves one.

Finally, Samay is indeed an all-time watchable thriller.

This is one of the best crime thrillers I have ever seen. It definitely has to be Sushmita Sen's best film her acting was also good usually she cannot act. Her role as a police officer really did suit her. She is better off like that because she is not very glamorous and she can't act in romantic roles. There is only one song in the film called Laila Laila... which was put in a very sensible way, it doe's not have any couples dancing around trees in Switzerland. It was about an actress who was shooting her music video; the song & cinematography were both terrific. Ending was quite sad but it was very clever and unexpected. A lot of people said that it is inspired from Seven, I've not seen it but I am 200% sure that Samay will turn out to better than Seven although it is one of the top 250 IMDb movies. The film is very similar to the CID programme on Sony Entertainment Television Asia. Overall Samay: When Time Strikes is one of my most favourite movies!

Though this movie is a lot like another English (Hollywood) movie, for Bollywood cinemas, it's an excellent improvement on their usual stock. Excellent direction & use of lighting.

No love-interest & not much deviation from the plot keeps the viewer at the edge of the seat, right till the end of the movie.

All in all, an excellent movie I recommend to everyone.

This is a movie where director grabs audience in mystery right from the shot one.It starts with the murder of a famous businessman and then a series of murders follows it. The interesting part is that each murder has some clues left behind which are left for police cop(brilliantly played by sushmita sen) to solve. Unlike other bollywood films audience gets an opportunity to go on a parallel journey with her on murder trail and director intelligently introduces twists here and there to thicken the plot.

The performances are brilliant especially by Sushmita Sen and Sushant Singh. Sushant Singh has again come out with a balanced performance as an assistant of Sushmita Sen and his fans of "Jungle" and "The legend of Bhagat Singh" won't regret this one. But the surprise package of film is Sushmita Sen who perfectly essays the role of a cop and has given a balanced performance.The time has come when Bollywood film makers start considering her seriously beyond dance numbers.The only weak point in film is that the end is a bit too hasty . A movie worth watching for those looking beyond Bollywood family dramas. My recommendation is 7/10

'Samay' is one of the best movies of 2003. It stars the beauty queen Sushmita Sen in one of the most meaningful roles of her career. She plays the role of an intelligent cop who is assigned the task of solving the murder of a wealthy businessman. She begins to unearth every clues linking her to the killer.

But before she could solve the mystery of the businessman's homicide, another murder takes place. This time a leading actress of the film industry has been murdered. To make matters worse, a famous contact-killer of the city has also been killed.

Each murder follows an interesting pattern-the first victim was killed at 12, the second at 3 and the third at 6. And each victim had a defective eyesight with a power of -2. Will Sush be able to stop the killer from carrying out one more crime with impunity or will she fail? The movie is extremely interesting right from the beginning. This is the first movie I have seen that doesn't follow the usual routine of useless songs and dance numbers. There is only one song in the movie, 'Laila Laila' but it was necessary to establish the moves of the second victim before she was murdered.

'Samay' scores in almost every department. Cinematography was good and the editing was well-paced. The supporting casts were equally good as the lead cast. Sushant Singh was competitive and so were Dinesh Lamba and Rajesh Khera.

As mentioned above, with 'Samay' Sushmita should easily win the critical acclaim that she has longed for from the beginning of her career. She was competitive throughout the movie. No actress can match her given the role of a smart and diligent cop in the movie.

The only thing that I don't like in the movie is the climax which was heavy and unsatisfactory.

Despite an unsatisfactory ending, watch 'Samay' for pure entertainment.

I rate it 8/10.