The majority of Bengali thrillers made in West Bengal except Feluda & Byomkesh are quite bland and predictable. The murderer gets revealed in the beginning; with either with the face kept out of focus or not shown but all focus being on the murderer's tattoo or some kind of mannerism or the murder weapon even murderer's birthmark, the whole investigation only circles around finding out that. The motive of any character gets cleared out so early that the only person scratching his/her head till climax is the investigator in the movie/series. By that time, the audience gets busy texting, internet surfing or even kissing in the corner seat of the last row. So it was quite clear to me that whatever we can produce, the thriller is not our cup of tea. Even more tragic in the case of the Bengali OTT platforms is when someone gets lured by the trailer. The editor was good so was the trailer but that doesn't do anything to work out a weak screenplay.
This one, I mean, Murder in the Hills, after decades, made me watch till the end of the last episode because even if a Feluda-trained mind could find some scattered patterns and identify some probable murderers, here the plot remains unclear till the climax. And that's very unlikely of any Bengali thriller made out of an original storyline and screenplay, as I can't remember any such in quite a long time. Though the concept is a bit old-styled that is already said at the beginning of the series: "Revenge is the best dish better served cold". The only thing which took out some marks from the screenplay is two very coincidental discoveries though those didn't prove to be that crucial as they didn't spoil the mystery and climax in any way. So, in all respect, we have finally got a Bengali thriller made in West Bengal after quite a long time. And Darjeeling comes as the bonus; neither through unnecessary jump-cuts of Mall, Glenary's, Revolver, Toy train, tea-gardens, spiraling roads nor through long shots of Kanchanjungha; but its people. That's a joy to watch. In nutshell, it is a commendable job done.
