Madyahnapu Hatya Review

Ram Gopal Varma is a unique director in the annals of Indian film history. He has his own idiom and grammar to filmmaking. His avowed intention of making a movie is to satisfy himself. Fine if the audience like it. Too bad if the audience don't like it.

Madyahnapu Hatya is a strange film much like the man himself. It takes guts to make such a movie at a time when most of them are about five songs, six fights, a few comedy sequences and, if possible, a small story in between.

This crime thriller is not a conventional whodunit. If you are looking for that kind of suspense, then there will be disappointment. But it holds your interest overall through a simple and linear narration.

Ravi  (J D Chakravarthi), a media man, is a yuppie kind of person saddled with a vixen of a wife Lakshmi (Aamani). The strident-talking and suspicious Lakshmi drives Ravi to desperation. Lakshmi cannot stand Ravi's assistant, the svelte Nikita (Priyanka) though Ravi is loyal to his wife. Because of Priyanka, Ravi and Lakshmi have several fights, and in one of them, he kills her. He also disposes off the body and says that she has gone missing.

But when Lakshmi's father files a police complaint and when they get down to investigation, the truth unfolds.

A movie of this sort derives its strength from the screenplay. But Varma (Chakravarthi too) has not done his best. He sometimes let the tempo sag a bit. Yet, he comes up with some inspiring stuff. He is also guilty of letting some ambiguity into Chakri's characterization.

But there is nothing ambiguous about Chakri's performance. He gives his best. Shorn of his usual fuzzy hair, he looks very much a harassed husband and then as a man on with a truth to hide. Priyanka looks lissome and cool; but does not have much to do. Aamani is perfect as the boorish wife.

The music, though loud at times, gives the right touches. Photography by Chota K Naidu is first rate and so is the editing of Bhanoday.

To appreciate Madyahnapu Hatya, a bit of discernment is needed.

And that in the final analysis may be Varma's failure.