88 Antop Hill is a 2003 Hindi mystery thriller film. The story, screenplay and direction are by Kushan Nandy; dialogues by Ashish Deo.[1] The film is a murder mystery and is loosely based on James Hadley Chase's 1954 novel Tiger by The Tail[2] and was released on 27 June 2003.[3]
The film opens with the brutal murder of Neeraj Shah. His body is dumped in the trunk of a car. On the other side bank executive Pratyush Shelar gets home late on his anniversary because he had to console an old college classmate about her marital woes. His own marital woes are worsened when his wife Antara leaves their home with their daughter. Pratyush's colleague Aslam Durrani suggests an exotic dancer Teesta. Pratyush is not interested but Aslam calls Pratyush and pretends as though some thugs are about to kill him. He asks Pratyush to come immediately to 88 Antop Hill. Later Teesta is mysteriously murdered. Scared and confused, Pratyush leaves immediately and become chased by local police. Suspicion goes upon him. Pratyush contacts cops but a dimwitted cop sternly asks him to surrender, as the police have found the murder weapon and a blood stained shirt, with Pratyush's diary. Here detective inspector Arvind Khanvilkar takes the charge of investigation.
Just like Ramgopal Varma's recent hit Bhoot, this film goes overboard with its sound design. In fact, all the shrill screeching and screaming in the background leaves you more deaf than scared.
But if there is something worth a mention, it is a couple of scary moments and solid performances from Atul Kulkarni and Rahul Dev. Both actors rise above the frailties of the film (and the rest of the cast), but their heroic efforts aren't enough to salvage the situation.
Nandy's screenwriting partner Kiran Shroff has scripted episodes for television thriller series like X-Zone and Thriller at 10. 88 Antop Hill is exactly like one of these small-screen productions unnecessarily stretched into a full-length feature film.
For any whodunit to leave an impression, the screenplay ought to be captivating and the pace of the film should be maintained right till the end. In this case, although the film starts off well, the pace drops as the story moves ahead, picks up again in the second half, but falls flat in the climax.
The climax is the weakest link of the film. After building the drama to a level, the end should've been equally enthralling. But the moment the face of the killer and the motive behind the murders are unveiled, the film loses fizz.
Besides Kushan Nandy's execution of the plot, another aspect that deserves a mention is the sound quality, which enhances the impact considerably. The background score is another area where the film scores. Ditto for the cinematography.
List of the best Rahul Dev movies, ranked best to worst with movie trailers when available. Rahul Dev's highest grossing movies have received a lot of accolades over the years, earning millions upon millions around the world. The order of these top Rahul Dev movies is decided by how many votes they receive, so only highly rated Rahul Dev movies will be at the top of the list. Rahul Dev has been in a lot of films, so people often debate each other over what the greatest Rahul Dev movie of all time is. If you and a friend are arguing about this then use this list of the most entertaining Rahul Dev films to end the squabble once and for all.
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