Hardly about half an hour into Neeyat one is instantly reminded of businessman and fugitive Vijay Mallya, who is currently in the UK, busy dodging extradition by Indian authorities. Ram Kapoor's character AK (Ashish Kapoor) is similarly crafted—he is a wealthy Indian businessman who takes refuge in his palatial castle in the UK while facing extradition charges for financial crimes back in India.
In the UK he lives in uber luxury, while back home close to 10,000 employees working for him have gone unpaid for months on end and seven of them have committed suicide. One of those seven happen to be Vidya Balan's partner and now he must be be avenged for it. This is the story but it isn't so direct and in your face. Anu Menon, co-writer and director of Four More Shots, Shakuntala Devi has created a multi-layered narrative which has all the ingredients of a mystery thriller and is neatly packaged as a revenge drama that unfolds gradually, thereby keeping the viewer hooked to the film throughout.
Set in an isolated castle, Neeyat can also be viewed as an imaginary tale around 'all that would transpire if Mallya was ever to declare himself bankrupt, surrender himself to the authorities...and would he really?'
So here is Ashish Kapoor in his majestic mansion abroad, hosting a few of his close ones on his birthday party. Among the attendees is a CBI officer Mira Rao from India who's come over to help him with extradition. Next is his mind reader, his son and the latter's girlfriend, AK's own girlfriend, his brother-in-law, his daughter from his late first wife and close friends. The party begins and what follows is the most uninventive, stereotypical Hindi film trope—the lights go out. That sets the stage for more drama. A cat is killed, soon AK is found to have jumped off a cliff and killed himself, two more deaths follow and an eerie fear surrounds the mansion. 'One among us is the killer,' says someone. Balan's character as Meera Rao decides to investigate and everyone falls in line to her commands. From here the film begins to throw up one twist after the other - is Balan really the CBI cop she claims to be? Did AK really die by suicide or was it all staged? And who is Kay and what is her motive? All these and more questions are answered one by one, as the film moves at a rhythmic pace. Now, if only we had a fast film that moved at a racy pace, we'd have had a winner in Neeyat.
Right at the end the film drops a googly - revealing it won't be fair. So go check it out for yourself. Neeyat is a definite one-time watch. Having said that, you will be reminded of multiple films you've watched before—think Knives Out, Kahaani, and more. Neeyat is interesting but could have been made spicier, meatier and gripping with a taut screenplay and carefully sketched out characters. In this film, everyone who's invited over to AK's party, that is all the characters that make up the film, are either frustrated, greedy, infidels, deeply miserable and vengeful. Somehow surprisingly, nobody in the film is a happy soul. As if to declare that all rich people have some deep frustrations and such is the life of the rich! If as an audience, we'd have been served some happy times as well, may be Neeyat could have been worth a second time watch, too.
Movie: Neeyat
Director: Anu Menon
Cast: Vidya Balan, Ram Kapoor, Amrita Puri, Rahul Bose, Shahana Goswami, Neeraj Kabi, Shashank Arora, Prajakta Koli, Niki Walia, Danesh Razvi, Dipannita Sharma
Rating: 3/5
