Another gift from Ramu's Factory of Innovation. Review on My Wife's Murder

Film Review: My Wife’s Murder

Director: Jijy Philip

Producer: Ram Gopal Varma, Anil Kapoor

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Nandana Sen, Suchitra Kapoor

This is another product of Ramu’s( Ram Gopal Verma) factory ( which gave us Raat,kaun, Darna mana hai, Main Madhuri Dixit banana Chahti hoon, Company, satya, etc ) but as usual Ramu has again gifted us an unusual film which is really “hatke”. The USP of Ramu lies in constant innovation and differentiation. The film dares to take you on a journey which is different from chiffon clad dancing plastic beauties, out-of-earth dramas, unnecessary item-numbers and n numbers of repeated themes. It looks like a part cut from a real life story which actually sends tremors of real life horrors in our spines.

Its story of a noble man caught in exceptionally unfavorable circumstances. Though there is no suspense as is expected in movies having murder as background its more exciting as it gives a different direction of experience i.e. accidental murder. In fact I doubt whether such a case could be termed as murder altogether.

A short tour of story goes like this. Ravi Patwardhan (played by Anil Kapur ) a video film editor, a married man with 2 kids is living a hell life with his constantly nagging wife sheela ( Suchitra krishnamurthi). She bothers him, shouts at him, taunts him; in short mentally torture him in all possible ways ho. He handles him as calmly as possible by avoiding confrontation with her and try to explain her. The main matter of illogical botheration for her is her husband’s beautiful subordinate reena ( nandana sen ) in his studio. With such a beautiful subordinate and that too in a office where nobody else is there except these two, anybody would get tempted, but ravi is completely faithful to his wife. On reena’s part she has a great respect for ravi. But still his wife will throw baseless allegations against him. But enough is enough. One fine day they have heated talk and exchanges of slaps and reena is dead accidently. Now fearing future of children expecting that he will be get jailed for murder charge ravi tries to hide the accident. He put the corpse in a box, takes it in reena’s car and throws it in a secluded place.

But hard luck is not over. A tough inspector tejpal ( played by Bomman Irani) has doubt on ravi. Ravi tells everything to Reena and reena tries to save him by telling lie to police. Now ravi runs with his children as grip of police tightens against him. Reena has a boyfriend and this all mess also creates a mess in there love life. Finally police catches him.

Story sounds very plain with no challenge, twists and suspense. But the treatment of script is very beautiful augmented by realistic performances especially by Anil kapur and Bomman irani. For this role Anil kapur has taken lots of pains which includes cycling 20 kms to the sets to actually get tired and look weary. He remained unshaven for days like aamir did for Mangal Pandey. Even though he left smoking to make smoking scenes realistic he started. And above all he is a fine and experienced actor. The result is reflected in the film which is one of the best performances of his life.

Bomman Irani has also matured into a versatile actor who has handle all kinds of roles. His dialogue delivery is very natural and it goes in tune with his body language. Suchitra’s reentry after a long time ( last performance as I remember in kabhi haan kabhi na ) is a pleasant surprise. She looks perfect in small but role of nagging wife. Reena looks gorgeous even with very simple dressups. She is brimming with talent following the tradition of benagli actresses like rakhi, aparna sen, sharmila tagore

Even very short lived characters like bai ( working woman ) , sheela’s parents, tejpal’s wife are perfectly characterized.

Kids have also played there part maturely. In most of the films director could not ensure this and kids end up saying dialogues which look like they have by-hearted iot like a parrot.

The script grips you slowly and you can feel the pressure yourself. Viewers full sympathy lies with ravi and they will like to save him on any cost. Background music helps in building that tension. Cinematography is also inline with demands of story. Good camera angles with excellent lights and shades combinations are used. Art direction give you the feel of a very common’s man’s lifestyle and environment. Hero doesn’t looks heroic but a next door’s gentleman and here lies the success of whole team. You will feel that anybody could get into such a situation. Viewer can identify with the characters. And above all I am amazed by the direction of Jijy who has debuted from this film. A big relief is this is not a copy of any Hollywood movie. To conceive an original product like this needs courage and guts for which I respect ramu’s camp most.

Film is without song which adds to its credibility.

There are lots of small incidents which makes film interesting and credible. Like tejpal’s satirical commenting on “live-in” relation of reena with her boyfriend, tejpal’s learning about nagging of wife from his own wife and applying it to the case, establishing the character of sheela by showing her fighting not only with her husband but also with bai and scolding her children, reena’s following ravi’s all habits including smoking showing her extreme faith and devotion for him

Overall film presents a great feast to logical senses of viewers with a fulfillment unless he is expecting some light moments or some other genre from the movie. The grip of film is tight and gives no relief to a viewer which is required in this genre of films.