Murder Mubarak (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – During a murder investigation, a non-traditional police officer turns a spotlight on an array of suspects. He steps into their world as an outsider, only to find there is so much more than what meets the eye.

My Take – Indeed, whodunits continue to be the flavor of the season as Netflix serves its latest in the form of this Homi Adajania (Cocktail, Finding Fanny) directorial with a cast that includes the likes of Dimple Kapadia, Karisma Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Sara Ali Khan, Vijay Varma, Sanjay Kapoor, among others.

Based on the 2021 novel Club You To Death written by author Anuja Chauhan, the film pays great homage to the famous Agatha Christie styled murder mysteries with an Indian version of a peculiar Poirot-esque detective played here by Pankaj Tripathi.

All the while walking a tightrope between executing a fairly complicated murder mystery with the right amount of satirical elements, as it delivers an age old commentary on the insider-outsider divide, both warmly and sharply, particularly taking sly digs against privilege, vanity and the hollow bubble the rich represent.

Sure, it probably would have worked better as a miniseries purely because of the necessity of length, and amount of characters it introduces (and then discards), but all said and done, it is essential made fun by its set of finely picked actors, many of whom who seem utterly comfortable in their luxury surroundings, and in perfect sync with the spirit of the genre, who hold together a plot that frequently jumps from laugh-out-loud moments to intimate observations of relationships.

The story follows ACP Bhavani Singh (Pankaj Tripathi), who along with his trusty sidekick Sub Inspector Padam Kumar (Priyank Tiwary), are hauled in from their roadside chaat stall to investigate the death of Leo Matthews (Aashim Gulati), a brawny Zumba trainer, at the elite and an upscale Royal Delhi Club.

Though the incident is initially sought to be dismissed as a gym accident, but being a seasoned police investigator Bhavani Singh sniffs foul play and decides that there is more here than meets the eye. Moving the needle of suspicion on everyone.

Particularly, Rannvijay Singh (Sanjay Kapoor), the broke ex-royal who takes left-overs home under the guise of giving to the poor; Shehnaaz Noorani (Karisma Kapoor), the B-grade heroine of C-grade films; the always tipsy, wonderfully named Cookie Katoch (Dimple Kapadia) who sips on tequila-and-beetroot, while sculpting on the side, the perfectly-attired Roshni Batra (Tisca Chopra) who loves her drug addicted son Yash Batra (Suhail Nayyar) to no limits.

There are others in the list too, the background players, which includes the plump, sniffy club manager Devendra Bhatti (Deven Bhojani), Ganga (Tara Alisha Berry) who works in the club’s beauty parlor and of course, Guppie Ram (Brijendra Kala), the cat-loving old server who’s not quite all there nowadays.

The cop receives unsolicited help from members of the club like Bambi (Sara Ali Khan), the ditsy Todi girl, trailing a string of admirers and a dead husband in her wake, and an activist-lawyer Akash “Kaashi” Dogra (Vijay Varma), lovers who parted ways years ago for reasons unknown. The investigation opens a can of worms which wriggle quite deliciously under the weight of Bhavani’s deceptively benign eye, and his sharp understanding of human nature.

Hilariously, the death with which the story kicks off isn’t the only one that occurs in the film. There are three others along the way – a murder committed in the past, a suspected suicide in the present, and a tragic accident involving a pet.

Adapted for the screen by writers Gazal Dhaliwal (Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga) and Suprotim Sengupta the film presents a gallery comprising of bigmouths, hunks, voyeurs, socialites, predators and lovers, each of whom is on Bhavani’s list of suspects, all working around a dash of blackmail and old secrets. Whodunits are a highly functional genre because of the revelation-after-revelation structure that they need to proceed and complicate the business end of the knot.

Thankfully, director Homi Adajania keeps them light here. By intertwining romantic elements, the narrative add layers of complexity in the film, exploring not only the puzzle of a crime but also the intricacies of human relationships.

The only complain I have with the writing is that sometimes it misfires, making obvious points with the attempted finesse that comes with subtlety, including the stretched tirade about communism and class commentary that Kaashi’s mother (Grusha Kapoor) doles out. The caricature portrayals of a group of shallow and materialistic Delhi elite is cringe mostly, yet its delightful to watch the actors imbues the characters with such a heightened farcical flair.

And as expected, it ends with the usual denouement, which is a tad heavy with exposition than I would have preferred. But it does wrap the mystery satisfyingly, even if not shockingly.

Performances wise, Pankaj Tripathi‘s effortless turn keeps the film in a steady rhythm. Vijay Varma keeps it simple and supple as he plays a man who is ill at ease with all the ostentation around him. Sara Ali Khan does a decent job switching between being a seductress and a woman with her share of secrets.

As part of the ensemble cast, Dimple Kapadia, Karisma Kapoor, Tisca Chopra and Sanjay Kapoor play their parts with just the right mix of playfulness and intensity. In other roles, Brijendra Kala, Suhail Nayyar, Aashim Gulati, Deven Bhojani, Tara Alisha Berry and Varun Mitra are also quite effective. On the whole, ‘Murder Mubarak’ is a cozy whodunit anchored by entertaining performances.