Ittefaq Movie Review: A Worthy Whodunit

In 1969, Yash Chopra had helmed a suspense thriller named Ittefaq, which had been a first of its kind back then because of its pace, treatment and lack of songs. Decades later, a remake of the film released today, but does the new version prove to be as good as the original? Read on…

The film starts off with celebrated novelist Vikram Sethi (Sidharth Malhotra) being chased on the streets of Mumbai for the alleged murder of his wife Catherine. Vikram takes shelter in a house, only to suspect that the sole occupant Maya (Sonakshi Sinha) may have murdered her husband Shekhar.

However, Maya has a different story to tell and she claims that Vikram forced his way into her house and killed her husband after a struggle. Crack investigator Dev (Akshaye Khanna) has to figure out who is the killer.

The trailer of the film had made me quite curious and being a fan of suspense thrillers, I was quite excited to see the film and I must say that the flick didn’t let me down at all, as far as the thrill element was concerned. Sidharth and Sonakshi have done a decent job, but it is Akshaye Khanna as the wry cop Dev, who shines in every scene that he is a part of.

The film is taut and pacy and the narrative is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. I don’t remember watching a thriller as good as this after Kahaani and this film will surely be a treat for fans of the suspense genre. The film also has little touches (like the flickering light in the interrogation room) that enhance the plot. Another department worth mentioning is the cinematography. DOP Michael Luka has done masterful work with his camera and the cinematography is easily one of the highlights of the film.

Like in any good whodunit, it is tough to guess the culprit till the director chooses to reveal the twist and we are thankful to the makers of the film for dishing out a juicy suspense. However, on the flip side, the narrative is also laced with forced humour, which doesn’t really achieve anything. We agree that the makers may have felt the need for some light moments in the otherwise dark narrative, but the humour sure could have been better.

Nevertheless, for fans of whodunits, Ittefaq would not be a disappointment at all…