Neeyat
- Director
- Anu Menon
- Studio
- Abundantia EntertainmentAmazon Studios
- Release Date
- 6 July 2023
- Running Time
- 130 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹12.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹5.50 Cr
Review
Ram Madhvani's Neeyat is an ambitious whodunit that collapses under the weight of its own convoluted plotting. The film attempts to weave an intricate mystery around a billionaire's death on a private island, complete with a ensemble cast of suspects, but instead delivers a muddled narrative that asks more questions than it answers. Madhvani's direction, which has worked in the past with intimate character studies, feels out of its depth here—the pacing is sluggish, the revelations predictable, and the twists feel manufactured rather than earned. The ensemble cast, including Vidya Balan and Ram Charan, underperforms across the board, delivering performances that feel disengaged from the material itself.
What little promise the film had in its premise crumbles under sloppy execution and a screenplay that prioritizes confusion over clarity. The investigation unfolds in ways that defy logic, and viewers are left frustrated rather than thrilled by the eventual reveal. For a mystery thriller to work, audiences need to feel invested in unraveling the puzzle alongside the characters—here, you're simply exhausted by the experience. Neeyat had all the ingredients to be a slick, entertaining affair, but it settles instead for being a tedious exercise in misdirection that ultimately misdirects itself.
Rating: 2.5/10
Storyline
So this guy AK is basically India's most wanted businessman who bailed out to Scotland with a massive financial scandal hanging over him—we're talking thousands of crores and thousands of employees he screwed over. He's living it up in this fancy Scottish castle throwing himself a birthday bash, surrounded by people who all have their own reasons to either love him or hate him. His secretary is obsessed with him, his brother-in-law resents him, his own son shows up high and angry with some mysterious girl to mess with him, and there are exes and hangers-on everywhere just waiting to see what happens next.
The party's going fine until suddenly a chandelier nearly kills AK, which is basically the worst birthday present ever. Obviously this isn't just some accident—someone at this party clearly wants him dead. Then a CBI officer shows up, and suddenly this whole thing turns into a murder mystery where everyone's a suspect because literally everyone at this gathering has a grudge or something to gain.
What makes this actually gripping is that you're stuck trying to figure out who wants to kill this guy when basically everyone in the room has a legitimate reason to. Is it the desperate ex-actress? The drug-addicted son? The resentful brother-in-law? The secretary who loves him? It's one of those mysteries where the culprit could genuinely be anyone, and that's what keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time.
