The story of the movie: Raman (Neil Bhoopalam) and Jayanti (Palomi Ghosh) decide to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary with their friends. They book a bungalow in Himachal Pradesh where they are joined by Raman’s friend-cum-business partner Sohrab Handa (Vinay Pathak), Sohrab’s wife Isha (Koel Purie), Sohrab’s father (M K Raina), Sohrab’s disturbed brother Arun (Chandrachoor Rai), Jayanti’s sister Suman (Sadiya Siddiqui), Suman’s husband Sandeep (Sharat Katariya), Suman’s son Rohan, Madhavan (Ranvir Shorey), Madhavan’s love interest Nazia (Kankana Chakraborty), Kumar (Danish Hussain), Kumar’s wife Naina (Waluscha De Sousa), Raman’s psychologist friend Chandra (Rajat Kapoor) and Vidya (Mallika Singh), a nurse who takes care of Sohrab’s father. Sohrab is known for his acidic tongue and soon, he begins to argue and even get rude with everyone. At night, a murder takes place and everyone is a suspect. Inspector Afzal Qureshi (Saurabh Shukla) comes to investigate.
Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa begins with the murder scene and all the characters are quickly introduced. It’s only in the flashback portions that one gets to understand who is who and their dynamic with each other. The first half is more on the funny side and is quite gripping. The intermission point is very arresting. Post-interval, the film drops as the investigation takes centre stage which is not as fun as the banter we see in the party. The finale is unpredictable and very novel.
Speaking of performances, Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa belongs to Vinay Pathak. He is incredible and completely dominates the show. He has given several awesome performances but this one is arguably his second best after Bheja Fry. Koel Purie leaves a mark especially in scenes where she refuses to accept reality. Neil Bhoopalam is dependable as always. Palomi Ghosh is terrific and here’s hoping she does many more films. Sharat Katariya (director of Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Sui Dhaaga) is an actor to watch out for. Rajat Kapoor is very likeable. His scene where he analyses the guests is too good. Chandrachoor Rai and M K Raina play difficult characters with ease. Ranvir Shorey, Sadiya Siddiqui, Danish Hussain and Waluscha De Sousa are fine. Kankana Chakraborty is decent while Saurabh Shukla makes his presence felt. Saurabh Nayyar (Satya; caretaker) and Mallika Singh are okay.
Sagar Desai‘s music is okay. The background score is much better. Rafey Mehmood‘s cinematography is neat and yet, adds to the drama. Meenal Agarwal‘s production design is appropriate. Darshan Jalan and Manish Tiwari‘s costumes are straight out of life. Suresh Pai‘s editing is slick.
Rajat Kapoor‘s story is quite good. Rajat Kapoor‘s screenplay is captivating and very easy to understand. Rajat Kapoor‘s dialogues are praiseworthy, especially the ones mouthed by Vinay Pathak.
Rajat Kapoor‘s direction is uncomplicated. Also, it’s a challenge to bring out such a murder mystery when Knives Out, Neeyat and Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley are fresh in the minds of the viewers. But Rajat’s execution and writing stand out on several aspects. To begin with, Sohrab Handa’s mere personality is enough reason for his loved ones to finish him. Secondly, the psychological angle is not present as prominently in the aforementioned films.
On the flipside, the second half is a bit weak. The back stories of the characters could have been fleshed out a little better. The scenario is such that the audience will feel that they know the characters and yet, they don’t know them that well. Also, not all tracks sum up in the end.
On the whole, Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa is a great whodunit that stands out from the recent films in this genre like Knives Out, Neeyat etc thanks to the writing, the suspense and of course, Vinay Pathak’s outstanding performance. Here’s hoping it gets a chance to score in the cinemas.
My rating – *** ½ out of 5!