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Samay
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'Samay'

By ApunKaChoice Bureau
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Debutant director Robby Grewal makes a good start of his career in Bollywood with a murder-mystery movie Samay that has Sushmita Sen in the lead playing a super cop.

The movie starts with the murder of a famous industrialist, 34-year-old Kapil Sharma. The case to solve the murder goes to Assistant Commissioner of Police Malvika Chauhan (Sushmita Sen) and her assistant Satya (Sushant Singh). But the two, despite the best of their efforts, cannot find any clue – there are no fingerprints, no signs of struggle nor any motive for the crime. All this makes them believe that they are dealing with a well-planned killer who is really dangerous.

Although

initial investigations lead the trail to Kapil's friend Raghu Kotian (who was having an affair with the victim's wife and was present at the scene around the time of the crime), Malvika is convinced that the killer is someone else.

Even before the investigations gather pace, another murder takes place. The victim is India's best actress Ritika, who is murdered in the makeup room of her movie set. Suspicions point finger to Ritika’s co-star actor Rocky, but Malvika doesn't buy this argument either. She senses some connection between the two murders.

Soon, Malvika realizes she is being secretly pursued. A few chases through Mumbai's crowded streets and slums later, the cops land at the country's most popular contract killer Suleiman Bhai's hideout, only to find him dead.

Malvika now gets convinced that the same person has committed all the three murders. Each killing was done so cleanly and with such perfect timing. Moreover, the killer has been purposely leaving behind just enough clues to keep the cops on the hunt. She realizes that the killer is challenging them to catch him.

Malvika faces the task of hunting out the killer before dead count goes up.

Samay-When Time Strikes is different from Bollywood’s usual kitsch. The film’s story moves on a single track without veering off into any side romance or slapstick comedy. Even the protagonist’s search leading her to various clues and evidences look very realistic. Grewal slowly involves a viewer more and more as the scattered pieces of murder mystery come together and takes the trail closer to the real killer.

Some of the sequences in the film are quite well executed. Like the scene where the cops surround and enter Suleiman Bhai's hideout in a slum area.

But the movie is not void of flaws. The climax of Samay, for instance, is a complete letdown when a viewer feels that the director has not tied all the loose ends of this mystery.

The film has two songs composed by Sandeep Chowta, of which Laaila is easy on ears.

Sushmita Sen fits well into the role of a hardened cop. She gives out the impression of a duty-bound ACP who will even go to the extent of laying her life on line to catch the killer. Sushant Singh too gives a noticeable performance as Sush’s colleague and friend who is always shoulder-to-shoulder with her in the investigation.

On the whole, Samay is a good entertainer that will appeal to selected viewers who don’t always dig mushy romances and senseless naach gaana in films. However, movie’s climax is a let down.

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