critic's rating: 3.0/5

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Akshaye Khanna, Sonakshi Sinha

Director: Abhay Chopra

Quick take: Solid and surprising thriller

Rating: 3 stars

Whodunits are a rare sight in Hindi cinema, rarer still are good ones. Ittefaq, a more ‘inspired by’ rather than ‘remake of’ Yash Chopra's cult classic of the same name, is just as taut as the original. Like the original, the 2017 version makes a few mistakes along the way. But in the end, this film has enough guile and twists to entertain even the hard-core thriller buff.

The story in director Abhay Chopra's reimagining of Yash Chopra's and BR Chopra's classic is quite different. The basic premise is similar, a man on the run suspected for the murder of his wife, takes shelter in the house of a woman who has her own bag of secrets. In addition to the double murder charges, the new Ittefaq throws in a third angle of a suicide case that's also linked to the protagonist Vikram Sethi (Sidharth Malhotra). So over an hour and forty five minutes, the viewers and the investigating officer Dev (Akshaye Khanna) are left guessing who's the killer. Vikram has his side of the story while Maya (Sonakshi Sinha) has her own.

The writing makes good with the tweak in premise, the third angle of suicide makes things complex and that's good enough to give the viewer something to think about. In an industry that prides itself on leave your brains behind kind of entertainment, a smart and thinking man's thriller comes as a pleasant surprise. The only problem is, at times Ittefaq isn't as detailed and methodical as it should be. Inspector Dev is the voice of reasoning and logic in this story. But his actions aren't always as smart as his character is supposed to be. In particular, he records the statements of Vikram and Maya over several conversations spanning 3 days. That's a major flaw, but thankfully not as major as yesteryear police character specialist Iftekhar asking the face palm question “Mrs Jagmohan koun hain?” The Ittefaq screenplay stumbles on a few occasions but it does so without actually affecting the proceedings. Despite its minor stutters the film keeps a tight grip on the suspense and the climactic twist really does throw up a surprise. The most seasoned thriller experts though, will see the final twist coming.

Apart from solid cinematography and editing, Ittefaq also benefits from three solid performances. Akshaye Khanna, Sidharth Malhotra and Sonakshi Sinha are all super effective in their performances. Akshaye has the most detailed role, he's the one who asks the questions, listens to the story's multiple accounts and arrives at all the logical conclusions. He's no Sherlock Holmes, but he is a smart and interesting cop. Sidharth and Sonakshi both have many distinct shades to their characters, depending on who's narrating the story and that gives both actors lots of room to impress and improvise.

Ittefaq is a solid modern whodunit. It looks as slick as any Hollywood production. Even with its mistakes, the crime mystery manages to impress with its logical and clinical writing. There's no way you'll be able to easy guess the outcome here, not even when you've watched the original. In all fairness its not the type of thriller that blows your mind, but it is the kind of mystery drama that builds loads of intrigue and leaves you with a pleasant dash of surprise.

Trailer : Ittefaq