Language: Hindi.
Director: Abhay Chopra
Writers: Abhay Chopra, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Mehrotra
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Akshaye Khanna, Sonakshi Sinha.
Genre: Mystery | Thriller.
Imdb: Ittefaq (2017)
Streaming on Netflix.
Ittefaq is a Bollywood investigation thriller movie directed by Abhay Chopra. It is an adaptation of a film with the same name, produced by BR Chopra under his BR Films banner & directed by Yash Chopra in 1969. The film unfolds through a crime scene and 3 Characters, Culprit, Witness and an investigating officer. The Film utilizes Rashomon effect for storytelling.
For every crime, there will be 3 versions of the story. The Witness’s version, the Culprit’s version and The Truth. But the truth will be revealed only through the first two versions. But it is difficult to arrive at the truth if any one of the versions is set-up or framed. That is where co-incidence and of course the brilliance of the investigating officer plays a major role.
Two murder cases were alleged on Vikram Sethi played by Sidharth Malhotra. But he disagrees and alleges Maya ( Sonakshi Sinha) as the culprit to one of the cases. However, both of them convince the investigating officer Dev (Akshay Khanna) with their versions. He closes the case after finding out the culprit but when he rethinks about the case eventually, he forms a notion that he had misinterpreted the case all along. The film ends at finding an answer to whether justice was served or if infact Dev had misinterpreted the whole scenario.
Both Sidharth and Sonakshi have been criticized for their acting before. But both of them were exceptional with their performances. Akshay Khanna has done a stellar performance as the Investigating Officer. Even though it was a rough and tough role, he was excellent with his acting. The film excludes most of the typical Bollywood clichés. It has only one song which is a titular song. Neither the protagonists, nor their actions are glorified. The film misleads its audience frequently by unfolding 2 versions. Background music plays an important role in the film.
Overall It is a must-watch thriller with good direction and top-notch acting. Even though it is an adaptation, the director dealt with it remarkably.
Verdict: 6/7 Stars.
Brilliant.
Trivia:
Fawad Khan was originally cast to play the role of main protagonist, but Sidharth Malhotra replaced him after ongoing India/Pakistan conflict over the Kashmir region led for a call to ban all Pakistani actors from Indian films.
Shah Rukh Khan was to play the character of the detective (Akshay Khanna’s role), but opted out to work on Fan (2016) and Raees (2017).
The shooting of the movie was completed in 50 days non-stop schedule.
The original film was directed by the iconic Yash Chopra who was known for romantic movies at that time in 1969, but that film was a path breaker for him. This 2017 film also a milestone for Akshay Khanna who was then known for romantic roles.
- Abhay got a promising director award but he is yet to make his second film even though he belongs to a film producer family.
- Generally, movies with good critical reception and box office results, change the career of their actors. But this film didn’t make any such changes as both Sidharth and Sonakshi became more selective and gradually out of the league.
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