Movie: Mrs. Serial Killer
Direction: Shirish Kunder
Cast: Jacqueline Fernandez, Manoj Bajpayee, Mohit Raina, Zayn Marie, Darshan Jariwala
Music: Shirish Kunder
Cinematographer: Ravi K Chandran, Kiran Deohans
Editor: Shirish Kunder
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: ∗½
What is it about: It’s a thriller drama which follows the story of a doting wife who must find a way to absolve her husband of serial killing charges. The film is directed by Shirish Kunder.
Right from the first scene the film falls flat with inexpressive performances.
This film actually makes you think if Netflix is using great actors to brand the film which might lure not only the audience but the critics too. Because when the film has Manoj Bajpayee as the lead it most definitely creates an expectation. And Mrs. Serial Killer surely banks on that image. Right from the first scene the film falls flat with inexpressive performances. The scenes are heavily colour graded to force the eerie feel for a psycho thriller. This should’ve been the case with screenplay and the performances. The film runs for about 1hr and 46 mins. But it surely felt like it was running for hours. A no brainer writing which takes things for granted. For instance there’s a scene where Jacqueline is about kidnap a girl. The director has shown her posing as a man. And that means just a cap and coolers were enough for women to disguise as a man. The real funny part was the girl who is about to get kidnapped is convinced Jacqueline is a man. And doesn’t realise even when they’re fighting each other. I mean how dumb do the director think of the audience? This was just an example, but you’ll find many during the course of the film. Zayn Marie Khan as Anushka Tiwari is supposedly a Kung-fu expert. But she keeps shifting to be a parkour and a ninja too. Absolute nonsensical action scenes.
Jacqueline Feranandez performance was too fake. She couldn’t bring the crazy to the table which was required of the character. But she kept trying hard to fit right into it. Debutante Zayn Marie Khan was lost and clueless in what she was supposed to do. Mohit Raina tried his best and so did Manoj Bajpayee. I’m still wondering the purpose of Darshan Jariwala’s crippled character.
Cinematography by Ravi K.Chandran and Kiran Deohans was heavily graded. Background score by the Shrish Kunder was stale and repetitive. That being said the editing was quite sloppy.
Verdict: Shirish Kunder was too caught up making the appearances look crisp and presentable. But failed to spin a tight screenplay to suit the genre. An absolute no brainer psycho thriller which doesn’t realize it has derailed from its course right from the start. And yes the director was heavily inspired by American Horror Story Season 1. It’s currently streaming on Netflix.
Watch the Trailer Here:
