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What is the maximum you have ever done for your greed? Be it for anything. Ever thought of murdering someone? Or cheating on your partner? Or worse, killing them? A Special Murder is a dark comedy that does not pretend to be one. Add to that, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub finally headlining a project and getting what he deserves is a small victory every fan must celebrate. Also, Sony Liv deserves a pat on the back for not releasing a single SINGLE bad original show since it’s launch in India and it is yet another victory.
Cast: Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Priya Anand, Sushant Singh, Amit Sial, Yashpal Sharma, Ayaz Khan, Gopal Datt and Vikram Kochhar.
A Simple Murder Review: What’s It About?
Defining the premise of this show is equal to giving out spoilers. On that note, the summary below is what I received from the makers. Thank me for not ruining it for you.
A Simple Murder is a multi-strand dark comedy in which greed becomes the factor that drives the characters to entangle in a chain of events. Some fed up with their mundane life, some trying to achieve more, some wanting to secure their future, while some are just sucked into this mess by their greed.
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A Simple Murder Review: What Works:
While watching thrillers/dark comedies and especially after a few top-notch ones (likes of Delhi Belly & Andhadhun) we as the audience have become much aware and self-proclaimed detectives. To find out that Kajol is the killer in Gupt (don’t tell me that was a spoiler) isn’t a herculean of a task now as it was back then.
Why am I talking about all this? Because A Simple Murder director Sachin Pathak and his team of writers including Akhilesh Jaiswal and Prateek Payodhi are aware of that fact. They also respect it and don’t really waste time in guess who’s the killer format. Instead, they take the Andhadhun way. First episode and you are well aware of what you are getting into and who these randomly connected people are. No secrets, nothing hidden (something is, but not like a huge reveal). What remains then? Well, you got to watch the show and trust me, there is a lot to unfold.
The writers are or maybe subconsciously are inspired by Sriram Raghavan’s style of writing. So to so that a few plot points will remind you of the filmmaker last craze ride Andhadhun. Like there was a blind rabbit, we have a rat here, who actually does all the blunder (pakka, last spoiler).
What the writing in A Simple Murder takes ahead is the imagination. The world that the makers create is close to real but not completely real. Here is a mafia disguised as priest running a contract killing web and has a legit call centre to trace his targets. Or a close to a dumb policeman in the centre of this all. These things give layers to the entire narrative.
Another highlight of this vehicle is also its casting. Especially the men. As said earlier, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub is finally the hero, and I am happy about that. Zeeshan plays a good for nothing; even his luck is certified bad, guy with ease. From the first scene, he makes you hate him, setting the tone for the self-discovery that he coincidentally sets on. The man knows his job and does it just right.
Amit Sial who we last saw as a no-nonsense cop in Mirzapur 2, takes a 360-degree turn and is a contract killer here who does Shayari. If you are still not convinced how amazing an actor this man is, I can’t help.
Gopal Datt is also here, playing a cop who steps on the evidence, touches it with bare hands and gives out confidential details to the bad man himself. While this is a highly unbelievable trajectory, Datt sells it and how. Sushant Singh and Ayaz Khan also play their parts convincingly.
A Simple Murder Review: What Doesn’t Work?
The rat does play one of the most pivotal characters in the show, we are even watching everything from his POV, but then the layer is forgotten for a brief period, and it is quite visible.
Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Priya Anand play Manish and Richa. I understand all others in the dichotomy are bad men of various degrees, and looking out for their families makes no sense. But what about Manish and Richa. Where are their families, why no one on Earth is bothered about them?
Priya Anand has put in a lot of efforts but doesn’t reach the heights that Zeeshan, Yashpal, and Amit take the acting performances to.
Also, the set design is one huge reason why I could not invest myself entirely in the show. The sense of realism or the fact that the spaces are lived in were highly missing. Maybe the camera work also has a lot to do with it.
A Simple Murder Review: Last Words:
It is very few times that we get to actually watch Dark Comedies when the makers are selling them with the tag. A Simple Murder is one of those. Don’t miss out on this one, you might regret. By the way, there is a season 2 too.
