Movie review: Detective Naani

Seventy-five year old Naani is independent,spirited,and a barrel of fun. She’s put an obnoxious son’s behaviour behind her,and is helping look after her grandson. She also minds her divorced daughter’s little girl.

The two grandkids and Bruno the dog are her faithful companions as she goes about cracking the case of a missing little girl,with aplomb,leaving the local CID red-faced.

‘Detective Naani’ could have been a perfect summer hols film: what better than a cuddly-but-sharp Miss Marple like figure,a couple of smart children,and a bunch of teenagers all fighting for good over evil?

Ava Mukherjee,who plays the spunky naani,is good at her job; the kids are smart but not irritatingly precocious,and the bad guys,who preside over a gang of child-lifters,are suitably dislikable.

But the story-telling needed to have been much crisper. And at two hours twenty minutes,it is way too long to keep short attention spans fully engaged.