The Great Indian Murder (2022) Review :
Are you a fan of Murder mysteries? Do you find yourself capable enough to predict the twist and yet find something unpredictable at the end? If yes, then Disney+ Hotstar's latest offering The Great Indian Murder is eligible to fit in your watchlist, but not with high expectations. The Great Indian Murder serves as an webseries adaptation to Vikas Swarup's famous novel 'Six Suspects' and most certainly remains faithful to its soul. It bores you little in the middle portion owing to its Marathon runtime, but then it has enough shocking moments stored in for the climax, which again, aren't fulfilling but quite confusing with unending twists. Spoiling any sort of suspense here would be like another crime, unless you have read the Novel, so better not reveal anything here.
The entire plot of this murder mystery revolves around unanswered questions. How does an investigation shape when there are new suspects at every step and no way to find the right ones? Will the criminal be brought to justice, or will the detective spin further into a web of lies? Or everything you have seen so far was just a delusion to keep you away from the main secret? The Great Indian Murder is full of questions and every episode leaves you with new questions. The series is about Vicky Rai, a cunning, greedy and womanizer 32-year-old owner of the Rai Group of Industries and son of the Home Minister of Chhattisgarh, Jagannath Rai. Vicky Rai gets murdered in cold blood in a party thrown by him to celebrate his acquittal in a rape and murder case of two Shelter Home girls. Six suspects surrounding his murder come under the radar of the investigating officers DCP Sudha Bhardwaj and Suraj Yadav of Central Bureau of Investigation. Post the first two episodes, The Great Indian Murder explores the entire background of every single suspect in every single episode until we reach the final ninth one.
The Great Indian Murder has a big cast and thankfully it provides enough screentime to all the pivotal characters without having them dragged unnecessarily. Jatin Goswami has a Major presence in the first three episodes and he presents Vicky Rai in such manners that you start hating him very quickly. The first scene with Paoli Dam, and you know this guy is a true evil. His expressions, dialogue delivery and attitude everything says so. Paoli Dam looks damn hot in that first scene and just two minutes later we see the actor coming out of her. Them she disappears. Once Pratik Gandhi and Richa Chadha enter the picture, they take over the show, and how. Truly, in bossy manners. A special mention to Shashank Arora and Raghubir Yadav who have stood out as show-stealers and have eaten up others, whoever appeared alongside them in those individual frames. Amey Wagh plays a very interesting character of a journalist and you wish to see him more than anyone else. Hopefully, we'll see it in the next season. Ashutosh Rana, Mani PR and Sharib Hashmi have done considerably well with their roles.
Writers Vijay Maurya, Puneet Sharma and Tigmanshu Dhulia have adapted the novel in good manners but they surely could have trimmed it better. It's the pace of its screenplay which makes the difference as we know the pace matters a lot when it comes to crime investigation thrillers. The middle portion of the series is slow and causes a few naps as well. Once you survive that part, you are in for a thrilling ride in the last episode.
Dhulia, as a director, understands the motive and the overall craft very well but he isn't flawless. There are some moments which look unnecessary or better say useless, especially the spiral maze structure of the narrative. You keep circulating round and round only to find the first station again as the destination. It does irritate you a bit, but as mentioned earlier, it has enough ammunition stored for the climax and so it fires it all exactly when it is needed. All said and done, in short, The Great Indian Murder isn't GREAT as it should have been, it's a strictly average product and i don't know if it may or may not satisfy your penchant of watching murder mysteries.
RATING - 5/10*
