HIT: The First Case hits the jackpot with Rajkummar Rao.
Nothing escapes his discerning eye. Nothing comes in our way of admiring it, applauds Sukanya Verma.
Rajkummar Rao can make anybody look inadequate around him.
It’s this inexplicable power he wields on screen that jumps out extra in roles of complexity and authority.
I found this mesmeric attribute of his artistry at peak power in HIT: The First Case.
This is not to say his co-actors are a lesser lot (overshadowed maybe) but merely a wholehearted appreciation for his oneness with the character he essays.
As Vikram, one of the top dogs at Jaipur's Homicide Intervention Team aka HIT inspiring the movie’s title, Rao deep dives into the psyche of a damaged detective traumatised by a tragedy from his past whilst coping with a crisis threatening his present.
Sailesh Kolanu's absorbing remake of his 2020 Telugu thriller of the same name is as much a portrait of a man on the edge as it is a suspenseful police procedural.
Unlike the usual whodunit where the stage is set for numerous suspects and a slew of red herrings, Vikram's investigation unfolds like a journey into the unknown where every scene leads to new faces and figuring their connection to a young woman's disappearance around the same time as his girlfriend's (Sanya Malhotra) in a direct or roundabout way.
Too bad Malhotra doesn't get much screen time in HIT.
Guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to see Rao and her sizzle in tandem in another movie.
Over the course of his slow-burn inquiry, HIT: The First Case draws us to Vikram's strengths and weaknesses.
Full of hunches, impulses, a super nose and raw aggression, his geeky know-how on science and specifics is stuff of Sherlock.
But fire is his kryptonite.
We also get a sense of Vikram's person and politics across opinions on child labour, slut-shaming and homophobia at various points in the story.
Nothing about his morality feels manufactured under Sailesh Kolanu's thoughtful direction, in Newton-speak, no imandaari ka ghamand.
Slickly shot by Cinematographer S Manikandan, it's exciting to see Jaipur in a non-touristy light.
All through its many sequences of chases and crime, Pink City has never looked more dangerous.
There's a slyness in Kolanu's method where suggesting prejudices proves far more effective than saying it aloud -- a cop called Ibrahim (Milind Gunaji appears in good form) is subject to punishment but Vikram's methods and madness go largely unnoticed.
A lot of judgement is left for the viewer to read in between the lines.
Despite the refined aesthetic, a nervous energy envelops HIT's potholed writing and hazy chronology of events amplified by feverishly edited shots of Vikram crumbling bit by bit under the burden of overlapping images of loss.
Some portions are plain clumsy or unnecessary. Like the schoolboy quarrels between Vikram and a constantly grudging colleague (Jatin Goswami). Or meekly picturised scenes of justice demanding college protestors.
Some continuity glitches too. Rao is clean shaven in one scene, sporting a beard in next. And muffled abuses in the audio interrupt the momentum of its storytelling.
But my biggest grievance is Shilpa Shukla's character.
It is no spoiler when I say I am still scratching my head over it.
Unlike Vikram's history of torment, which HIT so often revisits in fits and bursts yet resists describing in detail, she is someone it doesn't even bother clarifying about.
A remake should ideally fix the loopholes of its original, but all HIT does is twist the ending.
It's an upgrade from the first one, I'll admit.
The big reveal is bold but awkwardly carried out.
For us to buy in something so utterly out-of-the-blue, the blow must feel brutal and mind boggling.
HIT: The First Case misses that mark once again.
But it hit the jackpot with Rajkummar Rao. Nothing escapes his discerning eye. Nothing comes in our way of admiring it.
