Saali Mohabbat movie review: Radhika Apte, Divyenndu can’t save a predictable murder-mystery

From the beginning, Saali Mohabbat feels like an expansion of that original idea, and I settled in for a spicy story of men and women and the thing that happens between them. The film wastes no time in laying out its wares in fictional Fursatganj, a picturesque hill town simmering with intrigue: the appearance of a good-looking cousin named Shalu (Sauraseni Maitra) whom seedhi-saadhi housewife Smita (Radhika Apte) is very happy to see, creates ripples in her relationship with husband Pankaj (Anshumaan Pushkar).

Soon enough, things begin unravelling. Lying seems to come naturally to humans, and everyone is an expert: the trio playing ring-around-the-roses around each other, hiding feelings while illicit passion mounts, the patni pretending all is well, the pati blustering through, and the woh smiling sweetly through it all.

It turns out that Pankaj is deep in debt, and he needs to return the very specific amount of ‘77 lakhs, 55 thousand’ to local hood Gajendra Bhaiyya (Anurag Kashyap), or he will be in serious danger, quite unaware that real risk of life and limb is coming from a wholly unexpected quarter. And then it happens, something the film is priming us for: not one, but two murders most foul, which bright-eyed cop Ratan Pandit (Divyenndu) gets busy solving.

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While there’s enough frisson in the set-up, with Maitra signalling desire and availability well enough, the film doesn’t sustain it all the way through. Kashyap’s gangster, togged out in outlandish outfits and dark glasses, minding an overweight boy called Monto, feels like a misfit in this gharelu murder-mystery. And while it’s good to see Radhika Apte after a gap, she doesn’t have the required guile, even with a little bit of help from an unlikely sympathiser (Sharaat Saxena).

This is the kind of film that should leave you chilled, but the beats are familiar, you can see the climactic twist coming a mile off.

Saali Mohabbat movie cast: Radhika Apte, Divyenndu, Anshumaan Pushkar, Sauraseni Maitra, Anurag Kashyap, Sharat Saxena
Saali Mohabbat movie director: Tisca Chopra
Saali Mohabbat movie rating: Two stars