Murder at Teesri Manzil 302
Director: Navneet Baj Saini
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Ranvir Shorey, Deepal Shaw, Lucky Ali
It is amazing to watch Irrfan Khan come alive on screen about 20 months after he died, in April 2020. He is compelling as Shekar Sahyogi, a handyman in Navneet Baj Saini’s ZEE5 thriller, Murder at Teesri Manzil 302. One who can just about fix anything, he gets an odd request one day when Deepal Shaw’s Maya Diwan walks into his awfully untidy apartment. She wants him to kidnap her and get a fat ransom from her businessman husband, Abhishek. And, Shekar walks into a neatly woven web without realising that he is being pushed into a deadly game.
Shot in the exotic locales of Bangkok and Pattaya, the film had remained in the cans for 14 years, and it is not clear why it chose to emerge now. Obviously, the direction and execution seem somewhat outdated, and it is not surprising that the thriller should face obstacles when its pace is broken by songs and dances. Totally needless.
Also, the work makes a caricature of its two Thai police officers – one of them played by Lucky Ali – and they appear like buffoons, who have been called in to investigate the disappearance of Abhishek’s (Ranvir Shorey, last seen in 420 IPC as a prosecution lawyer) wife. He comes across as a pompous, conceited guy, and plays the character with a lot of conviction.
However, Murder at Teesri Manzil 302 (which lifts at least one defining scene from the 1966 Vijay Anand helmed, Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh starrer Teesri Manzil) undoubtedly belongs to Irrfan, and we really miss an extraordinary actor like him with his boyish smile, impish charm and an amazingly expressive face.
