A seaside mansion, the suspicious death of a rich man and many with a motive to kill him, all present under his roof– and there’s the template for a classic Agatha Christie-style murder mystery.
Directed by Saumitra Singh, from Abhi Raj Sharma’s script, House Of Lies, lines up the suspects quickly– since they are all within reach–but is still sluggish and dull. When Albert Pinto (Rituraj K. Singh) is found dead in his library, an investigator from Mumbai arrives—Rajveer Singh (Sanjay Kapoor) to look into it, though the man was not particularly rich or famous. Accompanying him is a local sub inspector Hiten Paintal), and a silent man carrying an old-fashioned tape recorder and ear phones – in this digital age! Snapping at their heels is an impatient officer (Simran Kaur Suri) from the enforcement directorate, who is after a small fortune in cryptocurrency and periodically shrieks, “Where is the money? Who has the money?”
Pinto’s wife, Ragini (Ssmilly Suri) does not seem to be very affected by his death; his brother Anthony (Girish Sharma), constantly swigs from a hip flask, his wife (Taniya Chatterjee) and the household help Zaid (Ajitesh Gupt) all had motive or opportunity to murder him. There’s a shady looking friend (Sukhanghshu Chatterjee), a sedative-prescribing doctor (Mir Sarwar) and, a lawyer (Mohit Singh), who doesn’t seem to serve any purpose.
Rajveer Singh and his team wander around asking inane questions, while the actual work of checking call records and camera footage is done by some unseen technicians. The tape-recorder is not put to much use.
There are affairs being openly conducted, much booze consumed and cryptocurrency bandied about in that ghastly overstuffed house. There is no indication of the time taken for this investigation—a few hours? Days? Some costumes change, some don’t. Nobody seems to eat or sleep.
There is not much effort expended on character development or even coherent dialogue. Which cop goes about asking, “Did you kill Pinto? Who killed him?” and expects an answer! If complicated murder cases were solved so easily , the crime rate would have fallen by now.
Still Rajveer figures out who murdered Albert Pinto without once looking like he was even giving it a thought. There is an interesting twist in the end, and more than whodunit, the where is the money question gets a clear answer. Just goes to show that female cops in leather hackers and stylish hair should be taken more seriously.
Sanjay Kapoor does not have either an imposing personality or a Poirot-like quirky one to carry a film on his shoulders; the other actors just about pass muster. When there are wonderfully stylish murder mysteries like Knives Out available on streaming channels, House Of Lies just looks like a shabby distant cousin.
Director: Saumitra Singh
Cast: Sanjay Kapoor Rituraj K. Singh, Ssmilly Suri, Hiten Paintal and others
On Zee5
