Kill-joy

Nonika Singh

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A film on a serial killer and you sit on the edge, all agog with anticipation, bracing yourself for bagful of chills and thrills. Alas, Mrs Serial Killer, currently streaming on Netflix, is anything but even remotely thrilling or exciting. On paper, the concept of a wife simulating the murder for which her husband has been caught may have sounded innovative, even intriguing and tantalising. But as the film, directed by Shirish Kunder, unfolds, it is more comic and not by design or by conscious intent but default!

Early on, we learn that the husband, a renowned doctor Dr Mrityunjoy “Joy” Mukerjee (Manoj Bajpayee) has been caught for a series of murders. The wife Sona (Jacqueline Fernandez), like all good and unsuspecting wives believes he is innocent. Thus begins her tryst to save him, which takes viewers through a torturous rather than tortuous twists and turns. She kidnaps a young single pregnant girl Anushka Tiwari. Together they play some mind games and lines like,“I can outstare you psycho…. ” reflect not just the haplessness of our heroine, but us as viewers. The fact that the lovely Jacqueline Fernandez, not quite known for her acting chops, is steering the narrative doesn’t help and is only one among its many failings. Sure, we get it, she is no smart ass who can smell a rat, even if it is dead and out there under her nose. The problem is not that she is meant to dumb down her part. But, here the whole film is dumbing you down. Right from characterisations who have no meat to their parts to the serial killer’s motives, to the rather insipid backstories; little makes sense or is even fun.

Certainly, the cast boasts of fine actors like Manoj Bajpayee and Mohit Raina. Both are cruelly wasted in parts that neither behove their talent or stature. Bajpayee does try to induce some gravitas into his part, but fails miserably. The script and the director are truly unkind to handsome Raina playing the cop. The only actor who stands out is Aamir Khan’s niece, Zayn Marie Khan as Anushka. Despite being gagged and strapped to a bed for most of the run-time, she does manage to grab a few eyeballs.

The same, however, can’t be said about the film which flounders from the word go. While attention to detailing has clearly been thrown out of the window; imagine a battery of local people following the investigation team and ludicrousness of it all truly takes the cake in the climax. ‘I am losing my patience,’ when Manoj Bajpayee utters the same, he could well be echoing the sentiments of viewers, only we have already lost it by then. Comedy, romance, tragedy; he spells out genres and we can’t quite figure out which one fits here. “I love comedy…” he eggs his captive to share the joke. While we are not letting you into the secret of this no-brainer whodunit, one secret we must share is; the joke, dear viewers, is clearly on us.

So, lockdown times might be desperate times, but don’t resort to the ultimate desperate act. Our advice is crystal clear; refrain from watching Mrs Serial Killer.While thrills are certainly not guaranteed, it offers no insights either, least of all into the mind of the killer. And how skewed is its socio-psychological perception meter can be gauged from the dialogue, which tells us it’s odd for a single woman to meet a gynaecologist. Ouch… and we are wincing not just from the pain of watching this. So what can be more insufferable? The possibility of a sequel; you bet, the anti-climax does leave room for the same, even if this one allows no leeway to make it even a one-time watch.

nonikasingh@tribunemail.com