A Simple Murder

The way the dynamics between characters shift in the new Sony LIV original series, A Simple Murder, is the one thing that makes it appealing. The series ends with Vijay Raaz’s voice over giving us an assurance that there will be a season 2 and just like Mismatched, I think A Simple Murder will also need a second season to make the whole story look compelling for the viewers. With some exciting characters in its narrative, I would say this three and half hour long series has its share of moments to keep you interested.

Manish is this young man who aspires to begin a startup and is looking for investors. His wife Richa has given up on him, and for her, everything is money, and she will do anything to get that. At one point, when Manish went to meet an investor for his startup, a comedy of errors happens, and he ends up becoming a hitman who has to kill the daughter of a powerful politician. The money on offer creates a dilemma in Manish’s mind and what happens after is what we see in the series.

As I said, there are certain character arcs here that do keep you interested in this series. A Simple Murder, in some ways, felt similar to the recently released Lootcase. Lootcase was a comedy, and this one wasn’t entirely a laughter riot. Yes, it does have its share of laugh-out-loud moments, but somewhere towards the end, we end up thinking about each character. Manish is feeling bad for a person who, at one point, was trying to kill him. Richa, the gold digger, also becomes a character who might have a credible reason for her obsession for money over everything else. And Santosh, played by Amit Sial, was one quirky antagonist who might get a separate fanbase.

In the series’s initial bits, there is a forceful feel to the narrative to get into that black comedy space. Every character here is unclean, and A Simple Murder is like a series of betrayals. You will have to wait patiently for at least two episodes to get into that quirky space of this black comedy. And by the time we sort of feel that we are all set to know these characters in-depth, it almost reaches its conclusion. Thus this series created by Sachin Pathak excites you on a character exploration level but can’t give you the same excitement when you think about the plot.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Manish makes the character that believable loser, and his performance towards the end kind of adds an emotional layer to that character. Priya Anand was a convincing choice as the money-obsessed Richa and what I felt good about the writing of that character was that it wasn’t a character added to provide titillating fun to the viewer. Sushant Singh, as the slow-spoken hitman, was hilarious in his scenes. That slapping scene in the Bar cracked me up completely. The chemistry between him and Zeeshan Ayyub was also fun to watch. My personal favorite among all the characters was the Ghazal fan Santosh, played by Amit Sial. The easiness in Santosh’s modus operandi and his genuine sadness for losing his lover make him an original character, and Sial pulled it off in a charming way.

A Simple Murder is engaging for sure. If the character creation aspect of movies and series’ fascinates you as a viewer, this one from Sachin Pathak will surely impress you in some areas. Somewhere the aspiration to be a black comedy weakened the intensity of the thriller element in the story.

Telegram Channel