A Simple Murder review :Twisty, witty & dark

 

What: A dark crime comedy OTT web series starring Priya Anand, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Amit Sial and Sushant Singh by Sachin Pathak.

A Simple Murder Synopsis

Manish (Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub) is struggling to get finance for his start-up venture. Due to his poor financial condition his love of life Priya (Priya Anand) is working for an event company and is unhappy with her life. In a surprise turn of events, Manish gets involved in a goof up that involves a murder, crores of money, two hitmen, a politician and a series of gameplay, betrayal and test of faith and morality.

OTT web series A Simple Murder review

Rangbaaz Phirse fame Sachin Pathak moves from Rajasthan to Delhi and switches gear from Prakash Jha to kinda Guy Ritche, Tarantino types in this dark black comedy thriller.

Though Sachin doesn’t break any new ground in this dark comedy thriller. The story by Akhilesh Jaiswal and Prateek Payodhi is more of a love, crime, sin and redemption sort of a saga that is nicely interweaved and properly cast dark comedy that delights the audience in its corkscrew plotting and lighter tone. It also sans the obsession with blood and gore that is normally seen in crime web series.

However, Sachin Pathak’s sincere attempts to pull this into the de noir category fails by a margin which can be improved with more diligence.

Performances

An all-round showcase of high calibre is displayed here.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Manish is perfect. Bringing refined naturalism to his character and role as the honest lover torn by faith and fate. After the movie Sameer (2017) Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub gets a major role of the protagonist and the actor excels.

Priya Anand is excellent in maintaining the fine balance between innocence and greed.

Amit Sial is a delight with his innovative nuances.

Sushant Singh steals the frame whenever he appears and gives a terrific performance.

Yashpal Sharma is brilliant.

Vikram Kochar is outstanding.

Gopal Datt deserves special mention for his comic innovations.

Ayaz Khan is very good.

Solid support comes from Ankur Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Vinay Verma, Aleena Khan & Vedika Dutt.

This review will be incomplete without the mention of Durgesh Kumar as the waiter who is just brilliant.

Technical

S. Bharathwaaj’s cinematography captures the swinging moods in day and night very effectively.

Editing by Parikshhit Jha is good. Action by Sunil Rodrigues is engaging. Background score by Karsh Kale is a major plus.

Flaws in A Simple Murder review

Director Sachin Pathak and writers, Akhilesh Jaiswal and Prateek Payodhi make good use of that mouse in the beginning but suddenly during the mid-way, the mouse fails to navigate/instigate some turns. Could have been more humorous, the characterisation of Ankur Pandey is flat.

Scene that should be deleted at once

The peeing scene

Bottom line

Though Sachin Pathak next after Rangbaaz Phirse just misses to grab the de noir cap, this dark comedy crime thriller - A Simple Murder is an interestingly weaved story of interesting characters caught in the web of need, greed, sin and guilt, powered by some amazing performances.