Neeyat Movie Review: A Cosy Murder with Vidya Balan as Sherlock-Meets-Miss Marple

Director: Anu Menon

Writers: Anu Menon, Advaita Kala, Girvani Dhyani

Cast: Vidya Balan, Ram Kapoor, Neeraj Kabi, Rahul Bose, Danesh Razvi

Although director Anu Menon and two others are credited for the story of Neeyat, Agatha Christie and Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies cast a long shadow over this mystery in which Vidya Balan finds herself investigating the murder of a fugitive Indian entrepreneur. There’s also a resemblance with a film from Balan’s own filmography, but to name names would be to give away spoilers, so let’s just say that Neeyat is not a film from which anyone should expect originality. Instead, see this film as a patchwork quilt made from scraps from other stories and settle into the comforts of the cosy mystery genre. 

Ashish Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) is a flashy, bearded millionaire who might just remind some of the fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya. He — by which we mean Ashish, not Mallya —  has a neatly barbered beard, a booming laugh and the aura of a party animal. When we meet Ashish, he pulls off an entry that would probably make Karan Johar feel warm and fuzzy. A helicopter brings Ashish home to the castle he owns in a remote part of Scotland. Instead of being met with Jaya Bachchan holding a puja thali, Ashish is greeted by a fresh-faced event manager who assures him everything is in place despite the forecast of a terrible storm later in the day.     

Highgrave Castle (yes, the name does indeed foreshadow the fate of more than one character) is going to host the people closest to Ashish on the occasion of his birthday. The guest list includes the Suris, who are family friends; Ashish’s tarot card reader, Zara (Niki Walia); his girlfriend Lisa (Shahana Goswami); his son Ryan (Shashank Arora) and his girlfriend Gigi (Prajakta Koli). We’re introduced to all the guests early on in Neeyat, through the eyes of Tanveer (Danish Razvi), the event manager. Tanveer tosses us details about each guest with gossipy flair. For instance, Ryan is a cokehead, Gigi may not be who she seems, Sanjay Suri (Neeraj Kabi) is deeply in Ashish’s debt and his wife Noor (Dipannita Sharma) is Ashish’s ex-lover. “How do you know all this?” asks a member of Ashish’s household staff. “Because I’m good at my job,” Tanveer replies, cracking a grin that has a whiff of wickedness to it. 

Soon after everyone congregates at Highgrave Castle, the storm comes barrelling in, thus putting in place the dark and stormy night that has been a beloved cliché of pulpy crime fiction. It is, to quote Sanjay Suri, “prima fishy” (he meant prima facie, but the mispronunciation makes the phrase so much more fitting). With the one bridge that connects the castle to the rest of the world being closed, Ashish and his guests are cocooned in Highgrave Castle. Despite this, there’s a late entrant to Ashish’s party: The unsmiling Mira (Balan) who sticks out like a sore thumb because, in her sweater and coat, she’s definitely not dressed for a party. Ashish is taken aback at the sight of Mira, but collects himself quickly to welcome her, telling his assistant that Mira is his special guest. At the dinner table, Ashish tells everyone that he intends to surrender and cooperate with the Indian government’s investigation into his financial scandal. He also discloses that Mira is from the Central Bureau of Investigation and part of the team that will arrest Ashish and take him back to India.

Almost every person at the table is financially dependent upon Ashish and his decision drops on them like a bomb. They praise Ashish for taking this courageous step, but when Ashish’s body is found on the rocks, below the cliff near Highgrave Castle, everyone becomes a suspect because each guest seems to have had a motive to kill Ashish. It falls upon Mira to figure out who Ashish’s murderer is and she has one night to complete this task. As the night becomes darker and stormier, so does the mood in the castle.  

Cosy murder mysteries like Neeyat need to be set in worlds that feel complete in themselves and immersive. They need the story to move at a steady trot so that the audience doesn’t have time to notice the loopholes in the plot. Additionally, there should be a cast of characters who are so intriguing and fun to watch that the audience won’t nitpick about details. Invariably, the contest is between the detective and the audience — who will guess the killer first? Who will sift through the clues and conceits hidden in plain sight to figure out the person with the most compelling motive? Neeyat has some of the basics in place with Highgrave Castle, which feels like a high-end hotel, and its cast of fantastic actors. Balan is clearly enjoying herself in a role that, for once, lets her play a character who is deadpan. Without falling back upon her dazzling smile and bubbly comedic skills, Balan gives us a detective who is partly the modern Sherlock, partly Miss Marple, and as much of a mystery as the case she’s solving. Kapoor as Ashish is delightful as the cunning businessman who is pushed to a corner. Combining bombast and menace, Ashish reveals unexpected aspects almost every time he is on screen, making him an intriguing counterpoint to Mira who is unwaveringly steady as the watchful introvert.

Unfortunately, the writing doesn’t give the other actors much to do beyond behaving like red herrings. In most cases, the characters are written to have as much dynamism as a cardboard cutout. Almost everyone in Neeyat subscribes unapologetically to a stereotype. For instance, Goswami is the wide-eyed bimbo; Amrita Puri is the devoted assistant; Rahul Bose plays Ashish’s brother in-law who is gay and therefore leers at young men and wears glow-in-the-dark “party” socks. Sometimes, the clichés are cute, like when Sanjay’s aspiring-filmmaker son says of Ashish, “AK Chachu mere guru the (AK Uncle was my guru). After Christopher Nolan.” Neeyat needed many more moments like this one. Instead, the laughs come from watching people being ridiculous. Performances like Bose’s tip over to the caricaturish in a way that feels inept rather than deliberate. Actors like Kabi and Shashank Arora are wasted by the script that starts slow and post-interval, abandons all pretence of logic and coherence. When each character’s behaviour is ultimately explained, Neeyat reveals itself to be leaning heavily on contrivance and coincidences. Even if you haven’t read a single mystery by Agatha Christie, chances are you’ll anticipate the final twist (and reveal) in the film.

Still, the best part of Neeyat comes at the end, when it turns out that this entire film is effectively the backstory for a new crime solving duo. Considering the wonderful cameo that comes in the film’s final scenes, it seems there’s a strong chance of a sequel to Neeyat. If that does happen, let’s hope that originality is prioritised and the writing gets a little more attention.