Set in the UK, we see Nusrat (Aditi Rao Hydari) running in a forest from someone, as the scene cuts to an injured Mira Kapoor (Parineeti Chopra) waiting for her train to arrive. Through flashback, we understand Mira is a lawyer married to Shekhar (Avinash Tiwary). Some goons threaten her to withdraw a case we know nothing about.
As things proceed, the story explores Mira turning into a high-functioning alcoholic. What leads her to choose the path of self-destruction? Amid this, the story introduces a couple of new characters in Nusrat’s psychiatrist Dr Hamid (Tota Roy Chowdhury), her husband Anand (Shamaun Ahmed) & Officer Kaur (Kirti Kulhari). Nusrat goes missing, and going by the usual rules of whodunit thrillers, everyone is a suspect. This is the spoiler-free limit to give you a hint of why you need to go in without knowing anything.
Few things work very strongly in favour of the film, and performances are one of them. For me, Parineeti Chopra has always been Hasee Toh Phasee’s Meeta, but I strongly feel Mira is soon going to replace that. All thanks to Pratap Borhade’s make-up, the messy kohl-eyed, ‘always wearing dark shades’ look helped Parineeti to get a grip of her character.
Pari wears Mira as her uniform, delivering an impeccable performance. From a compelling ‘fear face’ to an explosion of emotions in a scene where she reveals the twist to a certain character, in the end, she gets every shade of grey on-point. From Meeta to Mira – from a self-healing scientist to an almost self-destructive lawyer/lover, this should add another benchmark in her filmography.
Starting from Aditi Rao Hydari to Kirti Kulhari, Avinash Tiwary and Tota Roy Chowdhury – the supporting cast packs so many solid performers and all of them have already proved how they could act well. But this film acts as a well-laid platform, where all of them get at least one scene just to portray how well they can do if given a chance.
Aditi’s Mehrunissa in Padmaavat will always remain one of the most underrated performances of our time. She has always been a good actress, and she sticks to the basics without crossing the line of ‘method acting’.
All said and done; this makes it to the rare list of ‘movie remakes that weren’t a blunder. It does what a thriller should do, along with some notables add-ons. All three women (and a very talented Avinash Tiwary) individually add a lot to the already breath-clasping story. Highly recommended!
Rating: 7/10