MISSING

Anand Pandit Motion Pictures, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Manoj Bajpayee Productions Pvt. Ltd., Friday Filmworks and Abundantia Entertainment’s Missing (UA) is a suspense thriller.

A couple, Sushant Dubey (Manoj Bajpayee) and Aparna (Tabu), check in into a beach resort in Mauritius with daughter Titli, on a holiday-cum-work trip. Titli gets kidnapped on the first night itself. Aparna is distraught and telephones the police even though a more composed Sushant has dissuaded her from calling the police.

Investigating officer Ramkhilawan Buddhu (Anu Kapoor) of the Mauritius Police feels that there is something which the couple is trying to hide during investigations and questioning. Is Sushant talking lies or is Aparna the liar? Who has kidnapped Titli?

Mukul Abhyankar has written a suspense story which has some moments of intrigue but once the suspense of Titli becomes somewhat clear to the audiences, the only question that remains in their minds is: why? Even though the viewers sense the truth about Titli, the revelation is made in the end only – that’s not the most desirable way of penning a suspense drama. Mukul Abhyankar’s screenplay has flashes of intrigue and thrill but they are few and far between. Two points which are giveaways are: the behaviour of both, Aparna and Sushant, is not exactly what one expects when one’s daughter has gone missing, and so, the audience understands quite early on that there is something amiss here; secondly, the police investigation is often so laidback and slow-paced that the viewers are even more convinced that there is something that’s being hidden from them. Frankly, the audience and the police officials ought to have been on the same side but the police investigations give the audience the feeling that the police were aware of the truth – which, of course, is not the case! In other words, the screenplay is not too well written. Even otherwise, a suspense thriller is best enjoyed when the pace is super-fast and the audience doesn’t get time to think but in this case, the viewers have all the time in the world to let their minds wander. Resultantly, the viewers think not just what the writer would want them to think but a lot more than that. The climax is not very convincing and doesn’t leave the audience satisfied enough. Of course, some turns and twists do come as shocks but they are not enough for a suspense thriller. Mukul Abhyankar’s dialogues are alright.

Manoj Bajpayee is good, generally speaking, but to see such a fine actor overacting in some scenes is not a very good thing. He goes overboard in some scenes. Tabu’s performance is nice but even her acting in some scenes gives the impression that she was in a hurry to complete them. Anu Kapoor is effective as police officer Ramkhilawan Buddhu but that’s only when he doesn’t overact. Rajesh Jais (as police officer Ganga Narayan) and Ashu Sharma (as police officer Nandlal) lend fair support. Priyanka Setia (as Naina, the receptionist on night duty) provides excellent support. Shruti Gupta (as the receptionist on day duty) makes her presence felt. Navin Kaushik is nice as the hotel manager. Kali Prasad is okay as the suspicious guest at the resort. Others are alright.

Mukul Abhyankar’s direction is fair. M.M. Kreem’s music and background score are okay. Lyrics (Manoj Muntashir) are good. Sudeep Chatterjee’s cinematography is lovely. Sets (Aariz Naqvi) are appropriate. Shree Narayan Singh’s editing is impactful.

On the whole, Missing has very limited appeal and given its low promotion and slow start, it will go largely unnoticed.