Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa

Rajat Kapoor has made something genuinely unsettling here, a murder mystery that prioritizes the suffocating accumulation of secrets over the mechanics of plot. By trapping his ensemble in a confined space, he builds psychological pressure that conventional thrillers can only dream of achieving. Vinay Pathak delivers the kind of performance that reminds you why understatement matters—his restrained work becomes the film's beating heart, communicating volumes through pauses and averted gazes. The dialogue feels lived-in rather than constructed, probing the darker territories of loyalty and love with a refreshing authenticity that elevates this well beyond routine genre fare.

The problem is that Kapoor's restraint, his greatest strength, ultimately becomes his undoing. He constructs considerable tension throughout the first two hours, only to deflate it in a final act that opts for emotional introspection over narrative satisfaction. The film abandons the conventions of a proper thriller—not as clever deconstruction, but as outright capitulation. Viewers expecting reversals and payoffs will feel cheated; those invested in the slow-burn character work might find it rewarding, but that's a narrow audience. Kapoor has made something that works as neither fish nor fowl, a film more interested in what festers beneath politeness than in delivering the thrills it promises.

Rating: 6/10