Raat Akeli Hai 2 is watchable, but considering the strength of its predecessor, it could have been more engaging, with a greater sense of urgency and a sharper, cleverer story, notes Mayur Sanap.
Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders opens on an unsettling note.
A group of crows is shown falling dead to the ground, and a pig’s head lies on a blood-stained floor.
A woman named Meera witnesses this disturbing sight.
This chilling sequence ominously foreshadows the events in the narrative.
Soon a violent crime takes place in a palatial mansion, where six members of the Bansal family are killed with a machete.
Meera Bansal (played by Chitrangda Singh) survives the attack and becomes the only eyewitness to the massacre of her family.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui appears as Inspector Jatil Yadav, who lives up to his name as someone with a sharp knack for complex cases, as established in the first Raat Akeli Hai.
As he dive deeper into the case, he figures out the family’s complicated past and its many members, setting up a range of characters in the story.
True to the spirit of a whodunit, everyone is potentially a suspect, and everyone might actually be guilty.
First things first, The Bansal Murders isn’t as sharp as its predecessor, but still stands as an engaging standalone film, with a murder mystery that keeps you interested throughout.
Director Honey Trehan and Writer Smita Singh once again spin a dark, layered story within a detective framework that, like the first film, also carries a morality tale.
As the case turns into a media sensation, sensational headlines branding it the ‘Bansal Hatyakand‘ fuel rumours of black magic, prompting people to draw their own conclusions.
At the same time, the investigating officer faces growing pressure, with those around him insisting he is overthinking the case instead of wrapping it up based on what appears to be obvious evidence.
‘Mil bhi jaaye, toh kisiko kya padi hain sach ki?‘, a dejected Inspector Yadav tells his fiancé Radha (Radhika Apte).
Radha carries forward the emotional thread from the first film and has grown from someone once questioned into a woman who is grounded in love and stability.
This is an interesting character and had the potential for more development, but the film explores it at a very surface level.
Raat Akeli Hai also makes some odd choices, particularly with Yadav’s mother (played by a lively Ila Arun), who serves as an unnecessary comic relief that only breaks the tension of the intense drama.
The rest of the cast, such as Rajat Kapoor as a senior officer, Revathi as a forensic scientist, and Akhilendra Mishra as a subordinate, adds some texture, but there’s little excitement around their characters.
Among the star-studded ensemble, the biggest letdown is the underuse of actors like Deepti Naval as the godwoman Geeta Vora and Sanjay Kapoor as the sharp-tongued journalist Rajesh Chand Bansal, whose talents feel largely wasted.
At times, the story feels a bit rushed, leaving some characters and plot points underexplored. You can’t help but feel this film might have worked better as a miniseries.
What remains most pleasurable about Raat Akeli Hai 2 is seeing Nawazuddin Siddiqui at the centre of a gripping case. He isn’t a Hercule Poirot or Benoit Blanc, but his cleverness and eye for detail make him a relatable and likable protagonist.
Overall, Raat Akeli Hai 2 is watchable, but considering the strength of its predecessor, it could have been more engaging, with a greater sense of urgency and a sharper, cleverer story.
But yes, if Jatil Yadav returns for another adventure, I would gladly take this ride again.
Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders streams on Netflix.
