'My Wife's Murder' could have well been titled 'Ek Hi Bhool'. Because this is what the lead protagonist Ravi Patwardhan now would be regretting for his entire lifetime after 'accidentally' murdering his wife. The way you start feeling for the character long after the movie's show is over confirms the stranglehold the writer and the director have over the movie. That's because you don't remember names like Ram Gopal Verma and Anil Kapoor after the movie is through. You remember just one name - Ravi Patwardhan.
Welcome Jijy Philip [director] and Atul Sabharwal [writer] to the BIG world of Bollywood. These whiz kids prove that a song less drama'cum'thriller can be told quite effectively even in less than 100 minutes duration. Though towards the end, viewer feels that there could have been more of chills and thrills, what needs to be remembered is that MWM is more of a dramatic portrayal of the mind of a man who has lost his wife in a freak incident and is now on a run, rather than a 'whodunit'!!
Ravi Patwardhan [Anil Kapoor] is a sad man. His life revolves around his recording studio, partly due to his being a work alcoholic and partly due to his reluctance to be at home with his wife. Reason? His wife Sheila [Suchitra Krishnamurthy] always a ready excuse for a fight with anyone and everyone. If one thought that it's only to do with her husband whom she suspects of going around with his pretty London returned assistant Reena [Nandana Sen], then that's not so. Because she nags her children [for reading comic books over school books] and maid [for coming late for work] as much as Ravi [for leaving his soap in the bucket after bath]!
This is the reason why Ravi chooses to ignore and carries on with life until things turn really ugly one day. They exchange slaps with each other [obviously after Sheila's provocation], only to end with Ravi returning a heavy blow that results in Sheila hitting the ground and dying instantaneously due to head injuries.
Ravi is shocked and as an average middle class man on the street thinks of calling the police. But due to the fear of police not believing his version of the accident and accusing him as the murderer instead, he plans to break a law! He chooses to dispose of the body and from here on starts his tryst with the law on the wrong side.
He manages to get rid of the body but soon the needle of suspicion is firmly on his direction with the entry of inspector Tejpal Randhawa [Boman Irani]. Time and again, Ravi is on the verge of breaking down and telling the cops the truth. But his pillar of support is Reena who conitues to support him, much to the displeasure of her live-in partner Raj [Rajesh Tandon].
Not a history-sheeter to begin with, Ravi is clueless about what to do next. To add to that, he has nightmares and gets shocked by any slight noise. In the meanwhile he also has to take care of his kids while trying his best to cope up with his high pressure job. A man caught truly in an immense psychological trauma, he goes through the worst days of his life....!
In terms of the basic storyline, MWM doesn't go the typical way with the man feeling guilty about his act and getting nostalgic for his wife. Instead it delves into the tensions that he goes through for the sheer reason that it was a mere accident rather than a murder! While the first half is breezy due to drama unfolding at a rapid pace, what with the characters being set in first 10 minutes, murder committed in the 15th minute and cops suspecting him in 40 minutes time. But in second half, the focus moves towards Ravi and Reena trying to cover up the crime by eliminating proofs and telling lies. While these sequences too keep you glued to the screen, one wishes if the narration could have been a little more exciting.
In terms of the movie's ti
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