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3.0/5
HIT: The First Case is a detailed police procedural. You’ll get to know what all policemen do to solve murder cases. You’ll be glad to know that they have a forensic lab to match anything that the FBI has, and that too, in Jaipur. You’ll come to know how a polygraph test is taken and how a narco analysis is performed. It’ll increase your general knowledge for sure. Director Dr. Sailesh Kolanu has reimagined his own Telugu film, of the same name, with minor changes. While the original was set in Telangana, here the action shifts to Jaipur. Like in the original, here too we meet a genius police officer, Vikram (Rajkummar Rao), belonging to the Homicide Intervention Team (HIT), who is suffering from PTSD because of something that happened in his past. He keeps seeing flashes of the past tragedy, and the sight of fire kind of paralyses him. All this is affecting his work. His girlfriend, Neha (Sanya Malhotra), who is an officer with the forensics department, tells him to take a break for the sake of everyone. His colleagues, even his shrink, advise him to do the same. Feeling that he’s being alienated, he runs off to his ancestral home in the mountains. After two months of isolation, he learns that Neha has disappeared and comes back to handle the matter. A few days ago, another girl disappeared as well, and Neha was investigating the case. Thinking that both the cases are related, he begins to look into the earlier case as well, and all sorts of secrets come tumbling out.
The director tries to keep you on your toes throughout. The suspects include a suspended police officer, Ibrahim (Milind Gunaji), who was the last person who saw the girl, a divorcee (Shilpa Shukla), who is too much bothered about society’s alienation of her; and even the girl’s parents, when it’s learnt she’d been adopted. While the police chief (Dalip Tahil) is more or less in his favour, Vikram finds himself at loggerheads with another HIT officer (Jatin Goswami). Several red herrings later, he chances upon the reason behind the disappearance of both the girls. By this time, the proceedings have become so convoluted that the viewer has lost most of his interest.
The film is lopsided, to say the least. While it does apprise us about the inner workings of a police investigation, it’s filled with characters that are so one-dimensional that they might as well be mannequins. There’s no justification for the friction between Vikram and his colleague. We have no idea why Shilpa Shukla’s character behaved the way she did, and the reason behind another colleague’s behaviour too boggles the mind. Sanya Malhotra is absent for most of the film. They could have at least shown her predicament from her point of view, but we don’t get that at all.
Sanya Malhotra shines like a ray of sunshine in this otherwise bleak film. She shares a palpable chemistry with Rajkummar Rao, and we wish there was more of her to see in the film. It’s all set for a sequel, so hopefully we’ll see her in a better role in the next film. Rajkummar Rao has the habit of rising above the constraints of the script, and he does it again in this film. He’s a method actor and brings all his craft into play here, playing a grief-stricken, angst-filled cop with every ounce of creativity in his possession. He’s the best thing about the film and keeps you invested in the project through sheer dint of effort.
Trailer : HIT: The First Case
Renuka Vyavahare, July 15, 2022, 12:30 PM IST
3.0/5
Story: Haunted by flashes of a tragic past, HIT (Homicide Intervention Team) detective Vikram (Rajkummar Rao) is forced to keep his personal battles aside as two women go missing under mysterious circumstances. College girl Preeti disappears after her car breaks down on a Jaipur highway and Vikram’s girlfriend, forensic analyst Neha (Sanya Malhotra) is nowhere to be seen either. Are the two cases connected and who’s the culprit?
Two years after Sailesh Kolanu made the Telugu original by the same name, he remakes his film in Hindi with different set of actors and location. Instead of Telangana, the police procedural now plays out in Rajasthan. Kolanu retains the character names, even the story except for an alteration in the climax. Given how quickly spoilers can get leaked for whodunits, this was an obvious modification. Vikram’s past trauma hasn’t been revealed here so expect more sequels to this story.
HIT evades stereotypes to a huge extent but also succumbs to it. A melodious love song for instance, has to be followed by something tragic happening to the lead actress. The treatment is no-nonsense and sincere but that doesn’t translate to a nail-biting, gritty thriller. The film is more of an unhurried, meandering crime mystery with an intriguing build-up but an unrewarding payoff. The tension mounts as we settle into Kolanu’s chaotic world. However, the story fails to tie up the loose ends and events leading to the big reveal don’t quite add up. With multiple suspects at play, the motive of the one guilty feels ludicrous and far-fetched. The puerile climax lets down the unpredictability established in the first half and the gay track is grossly misused.
Aerial shots of the highway, ambiguous glances, Vikram’s anxiety and his toxic relationship with an insecure co-worker (Jatin Goswami) add heft to the proceedings. Rajkummar Rao lends gravitas to the dawdling crime mystery. He has the ability to elevate a scrambled script and he does that here as well. He ensures you are on his team despite the misfires. HIT is more of a hit-and-miss.
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