Raat Akeli Hai review: Simply brilliant!

Raat Akeli Hai

Director: Honey Trehan

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte

Streaming on: Netflix

It’s completely dark at night. Two headlights flash and a car approaches from the background to the foreground on a curvy road in an extreme WIDE shot. I wonder how fantastic this shot would have looked on the big screen in theatres. That’s how Honey Trehan grabs your eyeballs in his directorial debut Raat Akeli Hai and keeps you hooked throughout the film. The film is a murder mystery taking place at a zamindar’s mahal (palace) Uttar Pradesh. An unconventional cop is at the helm of solving this ‘tedha’ case.

Watch the Raat Akeli Hai trailer:

Nawazuddin Siddiqui (in sublime form) plays this cop named Jatil Yadav. His birth name was Jatin. A spelling mistake in the birth certificate made it Jatil (means difficult). He has been living with the name and his personal complexes throughout his life. Jatil is aging and wants to get married to a girl with decent manners and decent looks. He himself is conscious about his looks. He uses fairness cream which he hides behind the mirror. Jatil Yadav is surely the most unique cop I’ve seen on screen.

Also read: Omerta review: Rajkummar Wow!

He has the nose of a bloodhound; smells what others can’t. He’s intrigued by the murdered zamindar’s wife Radha (Radhika Apte). He tells her that he’ll help her if she’s being falsely accused of his murder but he won’t spare her if she is indeed the murderer. Strangely enough, I was neither sympathizing towards the killed nor curious to know the killer. Was simply absorbing the cinematic world created by Trehan and his team.

Raat Akeli Hai is a story rooted in India but the film’s treatment is quite Indo-Western. Much like that seen in films by Vishal Bhardwaj and his former longtime associate Abhishek Chaubey (Ishqiya, Sonchiriya). Chaubey serves as the Supervising Producer on this film. The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP in association with Chaubey and Trehan’s MacGuffin Pictures.

Also read: Shakuntala Devi review: A delightful film; Vidya kasam!

Trehan is an ace casting director and in his directorial debut he brings out splendid performances from all the actors. From seasoned Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte to the relatively newbies Nishant Dahiya and Shivani Raghuvanshi. There are also brief but superb performances by Ila Arun as Jatil’s mother, Swanand Kirkire as the deceased brother-in-law, Aditya Srivastava as an independent political leader, Shweta Tripathi as a muted wife, and Tigmanshu Dhulia as a senior cop.

Also read: Lootcase review: Could have been more fun

Nothing of this could have been possible without an engaging screenplay, layered characters, and flavorful dialogue written by Smita Singh. The material on paper is executed for screen brilliantly by Trehan’s direction, DOP Pankaj Kumar’s picturesque framing, A. Sreekar Prasad’s sharp editing and Karan Kulkarni’s dramatic background score. The drama is slow burn and keeps unfolding smoothly. Go with the flow and enjoy Raat Akeli Hai.