Hindi
Murder 3: Poor direction, faulty casting
MUMBAI: Murder 3 is a usual Bhatt brand of film. Expect romance, passion, adultery, betrayal, crime and, often, good music. For want of titles as well as to avoid labouring to find one, the film is titled Murder 3 though, as one eventually discovers, is a misnomer. The film is a legit version of the Colombian film, La Cara Oculta (English title: The Hidden Face)
Producer: Mukesh Bhatt.
Director: Vishesh Bhatt.
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sara Loren, Rajesh Shringarpure, Shekhar Shukla, Bugs Bhargava.
Randeep Hooda is a renowned wildlife photographer in South Africa. One fine day, a top agency in India invites him to shoot fashion photographs! What caused this desperate situation in the Indian fashion photography scene is left to the viewer‘s imagination. Hooda arrives with his girlfriend, Aditi Rao Hydari, in tow. She can‘t think of a life without him and chucks her career in South Africa.
Hooda loves to be close to nature. He acquires a palatial villa away from the crowds, settles down with Hydari and gets on with his work. He loves Hydari immensely but is not averse to other affairs on the side. Hydari, with her woman‘s instincts, sniffs his proximity to a hair stylist but Hooda tackles her nagging by showing more affection every time. That is when Hydari learns of a hidden vault, a safe room in the villa from the time of its previous owner. It was built by the owner during the freedom struggle to escape mobs in case of trouble. Considering it was made in the 1940s, the vault is a marvel of technology. It has one way glasses, speakers with the whole villa bugged and is safe enough to survive for a long period without the outside world finding out.
Desperate to check Hooda‘s love for her, Hydari decides to hide in the vault. She shoots her departing message on a camera that she is leaving for good and leaves a note for Hooda. She watches as Hooda walks into the villa with her favourite white roses, notices the note and is devastated to watch her message. Hydari is convinced Hooda loves her truly after watching his plight and now wants to come out of the vault and surprise him. Sadly for her, in the hurry to hide, she has dropped the key outside.
Hooda has taken to drinking and drowning his sorrows in alcohol. On one such binge at a bar, totally knocked out of senses, he is noticed by a staffer, Sara Loren. She develops sympathy for him which turns into love and soon she replaces Hydari in Hooda‘s bed, oblivious to the fact that they are being watched from behind the glass. However, Loren‘s stay at the villa is not pleasant. There is an eerie feeling all around, sudden power outages and suspicious sounds from plumbing.
Meanwhile, the police, Shekhar Shukla and Rajesh Shringarpure, are searching for the missing Hydari with their prime suspect being Hooda. Shringarpure has a rather personal interest in the case and for doubting Hooda since Loren has been his love since college, albeit one sided. There are no other characters in the story and hence no scope for red herrings.
It should have been an easy enough task to adapt a foreign film but the problem starts with casting of Hooda as the lead man. Even though he wears an aura of mystery, in most parts he has to romance three girls which needed a romantic image. Dressing him up with a wig for straight hair does not help take away his hard face. The script makes the second half repeat most scenes of the first half. Vishesh Bhatt‘s direction needs much honing yet: an investigating officer, Shringarpure, is armed like a sharpshooter; a picnic spread looks like a small utility store, and so on. Music looks like a continuation of past scores and lacks appeal. Of the two, Hydari has the better part and does well while Loren is passable.
Murder 3 is a no go at the box office.
Hindi
Dhurandhar 2 trouble: BMC moves to blacklist Aditya Dhar’s B62 Studios
Blacklist move follows torch, drone and permit violations; producers lean on a legal workaround
MUMBAI: Mumbai’s civic bosses have turned up the heat on a big-ticket sequel. The BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) has moved to blacklist Aditya Dhar’s B62 Studios after a string of safety and permit breaches during the shoot in Mumbai. The message is blunt. Flout the rules, forfeit the privileges.
Officials cite repeated violations, including lit torches in a high-security heritage zone, a drone flown without clearance, location changes, a terrace used without permits, and two generator vans run without approvals. Mumbai Police stepped in during a night shoot in the Fort precinct, seizing five mashals and warning the crew to avoid flammable props. A separate case was filed at MRA Marg Police Station against location manager Rinku Rajpal Valmiki for flying a drone without permission.
The civic playbook is escalating. A-ward officials have recommended blacklisting the studio from the state’s single-window filming portal, forfeiting a Rs 25,000 deposit and imposing a Rs 1 lakh penalty. The deputy municipal commissioner has cleared the proposal for action, with notices to follow.
Yet the production’s pulse remains steady. A source close to the unit says filming continues and the March 19 release, timed for Eid, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi, remains intact. Co-producer Jio Studios can route fresh permissions through an unblacklisted applicant, a loophole that keeps cameras rolling even if named applicants are barred. The ban bites, but it does not block.
The film, starring Ranveer Singh, arrives with commercial heft. The previous instalment minted over Rs 1,300 crore worldwide, sharpening the incentive to stay on schedule. The sequel also faces competition from Toxic: A Fairytale for Grownups by Geethu Mohandas, headlined by Yash.
For now, the crackdown raises compliance costs, not curtains. Permits can be rerouted, penalties paid and shoots rescheduled. In Mumbai’s film economy, the show rarely stops. It simply finds a new entry point and races to make its date.
