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MUMBAI:
Murder 3 is a usual Bhatt brand of film. Expect romance,
passion, adultery, betrayal, crime and, often, good music. For want
of titles as well as to avoid labouring to find one, the film is
titled Murder 3 though, as one eventually discovers, is a misnomer.
The film is a legit version of the Colombian film, La Cara Oculta
(English title: The Hidden Face).
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Producer:
Mukesh Bhatt.
Director: Vishesh Bhatt.
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sara Loren,
Rajesh Shringarpure, Shekhar Shukla, Bugs Bhargava.
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Randeep
Hooda is a renowned wildlife photographer in South Africa. One fine
day, a top agency in India invites him to shoot fashion photographs!
What caused this desperate situation in the Indian fashion photography
scene is left to the viewer's imagination. Hooda arrives with his
girlfriend, Aditi Rao Hydari, in tow. She can't think of a life
without him and chucks her career in South Africa.
Hooda
loves to be close to nature. He acquires a palatial villa away from
the crowds, settles down with Hydari and gets on with his work.
He loves Hydari immensely but is not averse to other affairs on
the side. Hydari, with her woman's instincts, sniffs his proximity
to a hair stylist but Hooda tackles her nagging by showing more
affection every time. That is when Hydari learns of a hidden vault,
a safe room in the villa from the time of its previous owner. It
was built by the owner during the freedom struggle to escape mobs
in case of trouble. Considering it was made in the 1940s, the vault
is a marvel of technology. It has one way glasses, speakers with
the whole villa bugged and is safe enough to survive for a long
period without the outside world finding out.
Desperate
to check Hooda's love for her, Hydari decides to hide in the vault.
She shoots her departing message on a camera that she is leaving
for good and leaves a note for Hooda. She watches as Hooda walks
into the villa with her favourite white roses, notices the note
and is devastated to watch her message. Hydari is convinced Hooda
loves her truly after watching his plight and now wants to come
out of the vault and surprise him. Sadly for her, in the hurry to
hide, she has dropped the key outside.
Hooda
has taken to drinking and drowning his sorrows in alcohol. On one
such binge at a bar, totally knocked out of senses, he is noticed
by a staffer, Sara Loren. She develops sympathy for him which turns
into love and soon she replaces Hydari in Hooda's bed, oblivious
to the fact that they are being watched from behind the glass. However,
Loren's stay at the villa is not pleasant. There is an eerie feeling
all around, sudden power outages and suspicious sounds from plumbing.
Meanwhile,
the police, Shekhar Shukla and Rajesh Shringarpure, are searching
for the missing Hydari with their prime suspect being Hooda. Shringarpure
has a rather personal interest in the case and for doubting Hooda
since Loren has been his love since college, albeit one sided. There
are no other characters in the story and hence no scope for red
herrings.
It
should have been an easy enough task to adapt a foreign film but
the problem starts with casting of Hooda as the lead man. Even though
he wears an aura of mystery, in most parts he has to romance three
girls which needed a romantic image. Dressing him up with a wig
for straight hair does not help take away his hard face. The script
makes the second half repeat most scenes of the first half. Vishesh
Bhatt's direction needs much honing yet: an investigating officer,
Shringarpure, is armed like a sharpshooter; a picnic spread looks
like a small utility store, and so on. Music looks like a continuation
of past scores and lacks appeal. Of the two, Hydari has the better
part and does well while Loren is passable.
Murder
3 is a no go at the box office.
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