Neeyat Review: This Vidya Balan-starrer tests the patience of even the most patient moviegoers

Neeyat Movie Review Rating: 2.5/5

With Abundantia Entertainment and Amazon Prime’s Neeyat, National Film Award-winning actress Vidya Balan returns to theatres after a long gap of four years as her last few films – Shakuntala Devi, Sherni, and Jalsa – released directly on Amazon Prime Video. All three films received terrific response from critics and audiences alike. Neeyat also marks Balan’s second collaboration with director Anu Menon after Shakuntala Devi and fourth collaboration with producer Vikram Malhotra after Shakuntala Devi, Sherni, and Jalsa. BollywoodMDB reviewer has seen the film and here’s what he has to say about the same. Read the detailed review of Neeyat only on BollywoodMDB before booking your tickets.

STORY: Ashish Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) is an exiled billionaire who borrowed a huge amount of money from several Indian banks and fled to the United States. He throws a lavish birthday party at his sprawling Scottish castle and invites his brother-in-law Jimmy Mistry (Rahul Bose), his son Ryan (Shashank Arora) and Ryan’s girlfriend Gigi (Prajakta Kohli), his best friends and couple Sanjay and Noor Suri (Neeraj Kabi and Dipannita Sharma), his current love Lisa (Shahana Goswami) and niece Sasha (Ishika Mehra) along with tarot card reader Zara (Niki Walia), his personal assistant Kay (Amrita Puri) and the event manager for the night Tanveer (Danesh Rizvi). AK had no idea that it was going to be his last birthday celebration. Once he is found murdered, all his family and friends are prime suspects, each with a motive to kill him. CBI Officer Mira Rao has been entrusted with the responsibility of solving the murder case and bringing the murderer to the book. What happens next forms the crux of the story.

HIGHS & LOWS: Nobody was expecting anything from Neeyat, which hits cinemas today with zero promotions. The film has Vidya Balan, Neeraj Kabi, Rahul Bose, Shahana Goswami, Shashank Arora, Niki Walia, Amrita Singh, Ram Kapoor, and Prajakta Kohli on the ensemble cast, yet there is not a single performance or scene which you will remember once you walk out of the theatre. All of them try hard but none succeeds in whipping up a performance that stands out, not even Vidya Balan. She is considered one of the finest actresses of Indian cinema, but she fails to weave her magic in Neeyat. Much of it has to do with the way her character has been written. It is one-dimensional and has no arc. And who designed her look in the film? It makes her look so dull. In a nutshell, her talent is completely neglected in this lame whodunnit. In the presence of so many actors, it is impossible to figure out what is going on. There simply is not enough freshness in the script to warrant thrill and excitement. This hodgepodge of a mystery thriller is one to skip.

FINAL VERDICT: Director Anu Menon tries to give an international touch to her whodunit drama, but in the absence of a strong plotline and performances, the film just suffers from wobbly dramatic tension and lands nowhere. Even Vidya Balan, who is known for riding several women-centric films on her shoulder, fails to uplift the film with her talent. I am going with 2.5 stars.

Watch Neeyat trailer:

MOVIE CREDITS:

Banner: Abundantia Entertainment, Amazon Prime

Director: Anu Menon

Cast: Vidya Balan, Ram Kapoor, Rahul Bose, Dipannita Sharma, Shashank Arora, Shahana Goswami, Neeraj Kabi, Amrita Puri

Runtime: 130 Minutes