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Weak Bollywood avatar of Hollywood mystery

Last Updated 26 February 2021, 19:24 IST

Parineeti Chopra is the girl on the train, we know. But the movie is more about the girls who are not on the train. And their boys.

By the time the suburban service finishes its run, viewers are left with a few murders and a dozen suspects trying to cover their tracks. From one unfaithful lover to the next, the cheat game unravels mostly through the windows of Parineeti’s train. And boy, what a sharp vision she has!

The whodunnit manages some thrills as long as it remains the story of “the girl” on the train. But then, it carries the burden of the Hollywood original, which again is based on a novel. So when there are already two originals, it becomes obligatory to try some desi twists... They might have worked if they hadn’t stuck out like a sore thumb.

Here, the plots and motives are so far-fetched that it feels like Parineeti is holding together two engines headed for opposite poles. She is a lawyer after all, equipped to invent some extra pieces to fix the puzzle.

While Parineeti tries in all earnestness to get her alcoholic act together, she is weighed down by the expectations of a role that also requires her to suffer from short-term amnesia and break every mirror in sight. Here, the best supporting actor award goes to Smeared Kohl.

Meanwhile, Aditi Rao Hydari seems to be perpetually lounging on the balcony, inviting all potential voyeurs. And it helps that Parineeti has a great pair of eyes. Which also brings into the picture investigating officer Kirti Kulhari, trying too hard to sniff out something significant.

The men in the story are just passable. Avinash Tiwary, a good actor otherwise, doesn’t get a chance to impress.

Train or not, it’s always the wrong destination here.

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(Published 26 February 2021, 19:24 IST)

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