Ittefaq movie review: The coincidence with an unforeseen twist is decent, if not exceptional

Directed By: Abhay Chopra
Produced By: Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, Gauri Khan, Renu Ravi Chopra, Hiroo Yash Johar
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha, Akshaye Khanna
Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3/5

In 1969, a murder mystery named ‘Ittefaq’ had released in theatres which starred Rajesh Khanna, Nanda and Bindu in lead roles. The movie wasn’t a huge success but surely had you on the edge of your seats till the end. Cut to 2017, a movie with the same name releases, but the premise is different this time, and so are the characters. So, does it manage to live up to the expectations? Will all the no marketing and no spoilers campaign bear fruit? Read on our movie review to discover how the movie pans out.

The movie kicks off with a gritty chase sequence as a famous novelist from UK, Vikram Sethi (Sidharth Malhotra) is on the run while the cops chase him. He meets with an accident and coincidentally takes shelter in a married woman’s house named Maya Sinha (Sonakshi Sinha), who seems quite suspicious according to him. She gets him arrested and soon we discover that he is charged with two murders, one of his wife Catherine and the other of lawyer Shekhar Sinha, husband of Maya Sinha. Akshaye Khanna as inspector Dev is given the huge responsibility of cracking this high – profile case. As he interrogates Vikram and Maya, he comes across two different versions of the murders. So, as the plot unfolds we are introduced to another story, that of a girl’s suicide due to Vikram’s novel. Enough mysteries to provide you for a nail-biting experience ,huh!

As soon as you are on the verge of decoding the real murderer in the second half, there comes a major turning point, an unexpected one. Clearly, with several logical twists and turns the story isn’t as easy to predict as you would have imagined. Coming to the performances, Sidharth and Sonakshi are good but it’s Akshaye Khanna who takes the cake. His unintentional one liners at moments least expected provide a sense of relief to this suspense saga. Plus, the fun element in the form of the fun banter between him and his junior cops at the crime scene suggests that the movie doesn’t intend to take itself too seriously which works in its favour. The dark settings and the loud but very thought out background score help create a sense of thrill to the plot. However, if you compare it to the original then you may be slightly disappointed. The twist is unexpected in the second half which is the highlight, but it lacks the wow factor needed for a nail-biting murder mystery. So, on a parting note, this coincidence of events takes its own sweet time, but doesn’t score completely in terms of the real suspense. Go watch to know the real murderer and stay away from the spoilers.

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