It’s not a Sriram Raghavan film, where we find a dead body and all the mysterious fun revolving around it. But here the film’s title itself gives us a glimpse of what the viewer is signing up for. Homi Adajania’s Murder Mubarak is a murder mystery where the murder is less stressful and more of a relief for the characters around the demised person.
The film, written by Gazal Dahiwala and Suprotim Sengupta is based on Anuja Chauhan’s 2021 book Club You To Death.
The plot is set around the Royal Delhi Club and revolves around its eccentric elite members (the prominent characters who are an eligible candidate for becoming a museum piece).
Leo Mathews (played by Aashim Gulati), is a horny hustler who has access to everyone’s secrets only to blackmail them to donate to an orphanage. His sudden death creates a ruckus among the club members on “Whodunit” especially after the investigation questions if he is murdered.
The club is bagged with unique members whose introduction during the film’s opening credits ruins the suspense of guessing their characteristics.
Sanjay Kapoor plays, the aristocrat “Rannvijay Singh,” who gives a tip of Rs. 20 to the waiters and takes the remaining food of the club’s party to his home. There is gossipy Roshni Batra (played by Tisca Chopra), and her spoiled brat drug addict son Yash (played by Suhail Nayyar), a sybarite Cookie Katoch (hilariously played by Dimple Kapadia).
There is the middle-aged superstar Shenaaz Noorani (Karisma Kapoor), who is also a single mother, and the communist lawyer Akshay Dogra (Vijay Verma), who is taunted by his mother for turning into a lefty after dating his Bengali girl.
And of course, there is the overt Bambi Todi (Sara Ali Khan), who is labelled as a kleptomaniac widow and voluntarily engages in the murder investigation with ACP Bhavani Singh (portrayed by Pankaj Tripathi)
As the story progresses, these elite characters and their dark secrets get exposed. We are introduced to various social themes which manage to overlap the primary narrative of the plot from the outsider’s shoes (here, Singh is the common man like us).
We can see the racist and hypocritical environment in the club and its people, where the nannies are restricted from entering certain places of the club and two trainers (one from Karnataka and another from Arunachal Pradhesh) are informally called twins. And this hypocrisy is not only limited to the staff but also lives among the crazy rich clubbers. These characters are so engaging that there can be few anthology films whose plots revolve around these characters and the “Royal Delhi Club.”
I expected a lot from this film after watching its trailer. And why wouldn’t one, especially when a wonderful star is cast and the leading man is terrific Pankaj Tripathi, who never fails to entertain?
Also, the director himself, Homi Adajania has an interesting filmography which includes Finding Fanny (2014), Angrezi Medium (2020), Being Cyrus (2006) and my favourite, Cocktail (2012). Over these decades, Homi has introduced us to his cinematic world, where the characters he created stayed with us for over a decade.
What’s wrong goes in the film is the writing.
Especially in such cases where the film’s narrative should lead to the climax in such a way that the viewer cannot predict who killed whom. In Murder Mubarak, the writers had the privilege of holding the grip of the story through its characters where all are equally suspended for a valid reason. Still, the writers and the editor (Akshara Prabhakar) give us hints of the culprit through the quick cuts by taking us to the past of the characters where most of the questions arising in our detective minds are spoon-fed with answers.
For most of the time in the plot, the murder investigation is sided by the developing romance between the two characters.
If the viewer decides to not focus on the murder and just enjoy the moments happening in the film then he or she can cherish those moments. Certainly, I couldn’t.
You can watch Murder Mubarak on Netflix.
