Movie: HIT
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Wall Poster Cinema
Cast: Vishwak Sen, Ruhani Sharma, Chaitanya Sagiraju, Brahmaji, Bhanu Chander, Murali Sharma, and others
Music: Vivek Sagar
Cinematography: S Manikandan
Editor: Garry BH
Art: Avinash Kolla
Producer: Prashanti Tipirneni
Written and Directed by: Sailesh Kolanu
Release date: Feb 28, 2020
Natural Star Nani presented ‘Awe’ which won critical acclaim and his second production is ‘HIT’. The trailer has already intrigued the audience and the promotions have been great.
So does this film live up to all the buzz it has created? Let’s analyze.
Story:
Vikram (Vishwak Sen), a police officer who is good at the investigation process is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
As an officer of the police unit HIT – Homicide Intervention Team, he comes to know about a teenage girl Preeti’s missing case. Similarly, his girlfriend also goes missing.
He believes the two cases are interlinked but his higher officer refuses to hand over the case of his girlfriend Neha (Ruhani Sharma), a forensic expert to him because his emotions may run over intelligence here. He voluntarily takes up the Preeti case.
Who is behind these abductions? Will Vikram crack the puzzle?
Artistes’ Performances:
This is Vishwak Sen’s show all the way. His intense act is the main highlight. He has carried the mood throughout.
Ruhani Sharma in a brief role is neat.
Debutant Chaitanya Sagiraju who played Vishwak’s partner in the investigation has done a neat job.
Strangely, Murali Sharma gets a minuscule role. Bhanu Chander, Brahmaji and Hari Teja have carried the roles with ease.
Technical Excellence:
The technical team has succeeded in creating the mood required for this thriller with excellent outputs. Cinematography, sound design, and background music are at the first-rate.
Production values are good. Editing should have been crisp post-interval.
Highlights:
Vishwak Sen
First half
Background score
Drawback:
Dampening Twist
Typical thriller elements
Excessive use of investigation jargon
Analysis
Investigative dramas, serial killer movies, edge-of-the-seat suspenseful movies have slowly found the ground in the Telugu film industry. Of late, such movies are being regularly made. ‘HIT’ falls in the genre of investigative thriller. HIT stands for Homicide Intervention Team.
The film begins interestingly in a classical style of thrillers by establishing the premise without much fuss.
A girl gets kidnapped, the protagonist takes up the investigation – this is a classic setup. The hero going through post-traumatic stress is the novelty factor here. Something had happened in the protagonist’s past and he’s haunted by those incidents.
What is that past that keeps giving him nightmares? We never come to know the reason because this is reserved as the big reveal for the possible sequel. But this angle has suited well for Vishwak Sen, who has an off-screen image of aggressive personality. Thus, the director has played his cards well by placing the right setup.
The investigation process is also handled differently, in a more clinical way. This has helped further elevating the mood of the movie. Since the story is set in and around the Outer Ring Road of Hyderabad, it has also given a new dimension that is hitherto unexplored.
With each suspect proving to be innocent, the hero reaches to the dead-end in the case. This process is established neatly Though there are flashbacks of hero-heroine romance, intercuts of a past incident, the movie rivetingly focuses on the missing cases.
But when the movie reaches the climax portion to reveal the big twist, this is where the film completely goes off the track. The twist and the motive for the culprit are not at all convincing. It also raises many logical questions about the first half. This has entirely spoiled the mood.
The makers have planned the sequel to it at the scripting stage itself, thus many elements have remained unanswered. This has also become a negative factor and mood-killer.
Moreover, by entirely focusing on suspects and crossing them in the end, the story seems not moving further and doing rounds and rounds.
All in all, this thriller has succeeded in maintaining the right mood and keeping us glued to the screens for the most part but misses the target in the end.
Bottom-line: HIT and Run