Tag Archives: Vishwak Sen

HIT: The Second Case

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HIT1 introduced us to the Homicide Intervention Team and investigator Vikram Rudraraju, and I was hopeful that HIT2 would reveal more of his back story. But instead we have a completely different case, in Vizag this time instead of Telangana area, and a new investigator Krishna Dev (Adivi Sesh). I didn’t enjoy this film as much as the first one and I definitely missed Vishwak Sen, but HIT2 has a few suspenseful moments and the investigation twists keep the film interesting.

The action takes place in Vizag where Krishna Dev (aka KD) has a new boss, DGP Nageswara Rao (Rao Ramesh), but not much excitement in his cases which he describes as being committed by stupid criminals. In the opening sequence he solves a murder in just a few minutes, much like the beginning of HIT1 where just a few clues allow for some major jumps in investigation and an easy solve of the case. At the start of the film, KD also asks his girlfriend Aarya (Meenakshi Chaudhary) to move in with him, and again, everything is smooth and easy. She moves in, her mother (the excellent Dhaasshyam Geetha Bhascker) comes to stay and even though she does not approve of the live-in arrangement, doesn’t cause any major arguments. The romance mainly plays out in a song and Aarya seems to only be added to the film to give KD another potential victim to try and protect. Just to make this even more obvious, Aarya quickly falls pregnant, giving KD another reason to keep her safe. There is little passion or emotion between the two and generally KD seems rather cold to everyone, which makes this part of the story seem rather clinical and formulaic. Basically, there is a murder, clues are left behind and KD works to put everything together and find the killer. The addition of Aarya and her unborn baby should have been the key relationship to add emotion and drama, but there just isn’t much warmth here.

The second case starts when a young woman is found murdered at a bar, and KD is brought in to investigate. Her head, torso and limbs have all been severed, and although the head is immediately identified as the bar manager, Sanjana (Anu Varna), forensic investigation reveals that the torso and limbs belong to different women. KD has not only to find the killer, but also needs to identify the other victims, with only a bite mark, a club stamp and some shoe prints as clues.

Still following the beats of the first film, KD has a potential antagonist to work with and this time it’s his subordinate Varsha (Komalee Prasad). The pair apparently have history (although the specifics aren’t revealed) and on learning of her appointment to his team, KD immediately tells her she annoys him and quickly dismisses her. But aside from ignoring Varsha for most of the first half, there is no significant friction between the two and Varsha copes well with her arrogant boss. Abhilash (Maganti Srinath) who was Vikram’s rival in the first film appears here as well, visiting Vizag to get some help with a case in Hyderabad. There are links back to HIT1 and some of the events with Vikram, giving some hope that perhaps Vikram’s story will get some resolution in subsequent films.

There is little suspense in the investigation until the second half, when KD and Varsha find a potential link and start to discover the identities of the other victims. They find a suspect and there is an encounter scene which ramps up the tension while Sanjana’s friend Rajitha (Divya Narni) and Aarya are both threatened by the killer, adding to KD’s problems. But the finale is a bit of a let down, with a protracted torture scene and plenty of blood and gore that still doesn’t pack much of a punch. Perhaps it’s the contrived fight scene at the start, or rather formulaic denouement, but the only character I was worried about during all the bloodshed was KD’s dog Max, who has a fairly significant role to play at the end.

Part of the problem I had with the film was the character of KD who appears arrogant and entitled for much of the first half. His behaviour to Varsha is particularly obnoxious without having any backstory to account for his attitude. KD also seems to treat Aarya like a possession, and for all his modern theory about wanting to live together before marriage to check that they are suited, it all comes across as tediously superficial. There is little warmth to their ‘romance’ and Aarya could have been replaced by any other possible victim for KD to react in much the same way. Adivi Sen is fine in the role of KD, but the character is just quite unlikeable, which makes it difficult to care about what is happening. Komalee Prasad fares better as Varsha and gets to show that she can be a good investigator when given the chance. Hopefully she will return in the third case.

Another oddity is the character of DGP Nageswara Rao who seems to think he’s in an American cop show. He’s antagonistic towards JD, tries to hush up various parts of the case and generally seems corrupt, but without having any rationale behind any of his actions. It’s an odd note in an otherwise fairly straightforward police procedural, and I’m really not sure what Sailesh Kolanu was aiming for. Also incredibly frustrating is a number of written clues that appear onscreen without any subtitles. There is a message left behind for JD and clues in newspapers, but these are all written in Telugu and while JD does discuss them with his colleagues, they don’t talk about what they say. While eventually it’s possible to work out what is going on, it’s annoying not to be able to understand what some of the key pieces of the puzzle actually are.

While HIT2 definitely benefits from Sailesh Kolanu’s experience making the first, the story here isn’t as gripping or the characters as immediately sympathetic. It’s still a fairly solid drama and I have hopes that the third case will be the best yet. 3½ stars.

HIT (2020)

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Sailesh Kolanu’s film Hit is a procedural crime drama that focuses more on the flawed investigator at the heart of the story rather than on the victim or the crime itself. It’s an interesting concept, but unfortunately isn’t backed up by enough suspense to overcome the rather pedestrian nature of the investigation. However, the addition of plentiful scientific procedures and a large field of suspects does keep the film engaging, while Vishwak Sen is good as the police investigator with a traumatic past.

HIT stands for Homicide Intervention Team, the department where Vikram (Vishwak Sen) works despite both his therapist and his girlfriend Neha (Ruhani Sharma) advising him to take some time off. There are frequent brief flashbacks to some traumatic moments in Vikram’s life, most often when he is confronted by fire, suggesting that he has some form of PTSD which threatens to derail his career if left unchecked. The film starts with the disappearance of a young female student, Preethi (Sahithi) after her car breaks down by the side of the road. The last person to see her is Police Officer Ibrahim (Murali Sharma) who lets Preethi use his phone to contact her father. When he drives past in the other direction he notices her speaking to someone in a dark blue car, and assumes it’s her father, but later realises his mistake when Preethi’s parents come to report her missing.

Neha is involved in Preethi’s case and when she also goes missing, investigating Preethi’s disappearance is the only way Vikram can get involved in the case. With the help of his trusty sidekick Rohit (Chaitanya Sagiraju) Vikram throws himself into the investigation, risking his job and potentially his sanity, as he desperately searches for Neha.

The film throws around a lot of scientific techniques, and in a very CSI-like fashion DNA tests come back immediately and pictures can be ‘de-pixilated’ to reveal more detail that was initially apparent. While this is interesting, it starts to become a little monotonous and repetitive, particularly when there are also the repeated flashbacks to the same 2 scenes that cause Vikram’s distress. In fact, much of the investigation feels like a TV series as Vikram sniffs, tastes and tests his way towards an answer. All that’s missing is the white-coated lab technician with an attitude! Instead we have Vikram’s rival who is initially tasked with finding Neha, but whose dislike of Vikram threatens to derail the entire investigation. Vikram also runs into difficulties with the head of HIT who appreciates Vikram’s intelligence but is intolerant of his maverick tendencies. What works well here is Vikram’s obvious frustration, and his careful and calculated methodology in working through the few clues he has. With each small snippet of information the investigation moves slowly but inexorably forward, while still leaving plenty of questions unanswered.

There are numerous red herrings thrown into the mix, but the final answer is a bit of a let-down, coming out of the blue and without any real build-up. The reason behind the abductions seems too inconsequential to be the cause of such an elaborate plan, and the characterisations of the key players up until that point also mean that the reveal doesn’t ring completely true.

Vishwak Sen is excellent as a smart investigator trying to deal with PTSD. At times his blanking out at key moments is a little overdone, but for the most part he is believable in the role. His romance with Neha is less successful, perhaps because the couple has little time together, but also because Neha’s dialogue with Vikram is generally stilted and unrealistic. A conversation where Neha asks Vikram to take time off and says she is worried about him is incredibly awkward and seems nothing at all like the concern someone really would feel for their lover in this type of situation. Vikram’s responses also appear rather off in this scene and perhaps this is why the entire search for Neha feels more like an intellectual puzzle that Vikram must solve rather than a race against time to save his lover. Indeed, neither Ruhani Sharma nor Sahithi have enough time on screen to make much impact, but Hari Teja has a better realised role and she is excellent as Preethi’s neighbour Sheela who is one of the main suspects in the disappearance.

The film also suffers from poor subtitling, with some terrible spelling mistakes and poor grammar which definitely does not help create any suspense. However Garry BH’s editing is first class and S. Manikandan adds atmosphere through good use of camera angles and lighting. As I was watching I kept thinking that HIT would be great as a web series where Sailesh Kolanu could have spent more time delving into the psychology of each character as the investigation brought them under the spotlight. The development of Vikram’s character is where the story really comes together well and adding more background about each suspect’s motivations would have helped create additional suspense. However, the end of the film does set up the plot for Case #2 (this was Case #1) so hopefully there will be some more detailed character development in the sequel. Despite its flaws, HIT has much to recommend it. There are some clever ideas here and while the idea of a flawed protagonist isn’t novel, the treatment here is different to most Telugu thrillers.  Despite the disappointing reveal, the performances are good and the story engaging, particularly at the start of the second half. HIT is well worth catching in the cinemas, and I will definitely be looking out for Case #2.