STORY: Few mysterious killings lead the cops to a drug deal gone awry. The only way for the investigative officer (Naseeruddin Shah) to nab the culprits is by examining a found footage featuring those dead, shot days before the event.

MOVIE REVIEW: The video replays the incidents as they happened. As things begin to unfold, the cops realise there’s more to the aforesaid crime than meets the eye. They trace down a witness, who can solve the jigsaw puzzle but he fabricates his story. Who is the mastermind? Though the ‘whodunit thriller’ manages to hold your attention, solely for maintaining the suspense quotient, various factors go against it. For instance, non-linear narration, found-footage photography and inconsequential banter among the youngsters. Also too many characters make the plot convoluted.

While a twist in the tale adds to the fun, excess of it, makes the film look tedious and far-fetched. While deceitful confessions and shocking revelations keep the tension mounting, an overdose of it kills the joy.

Naseeruddin’s Shah clever (as always) acting, ably supported by Amit Sial and Anand Tiwari, makes this crime mystery gripping, despite the flaws. If you can keep a tab on the multiple characters and their ulterior motives, this one is quite unpredictable and keeps you guessing.

A big delivery of ‘charlie’ is hijacked, and the ‘bhai-log’ behind it want their ‘powder’ and the people whodunit. Naseer plays the investigating cop, as he and his colleagues sift through some incriminating ‘found footage’ of a bunch of young people (Tiwari, Sial, Rachh, Arora and co) sniping at each other in some kind of an underground den with graffiti scrawled on it, and bodies sprawled in it.

The film swings rapidly between the mobsters and the guys and gals being targeted by them, as well as the cops trying to unravel the mystery. Equally rapidly, you stop taking any of it seriously because the characters are busy acting away: even Anand Tiwari, who’s usually reliable, is reduced to mouthing lines, and Sial, who was so effective in ‘Titli’, becomes a blur of mannerisms.

Matching the general tone, Naseer vamps away happily, nodding sagely and blowing smoke rings. He gets to be massaged by a luscious half-naked lovely, and spout some hilarious lines. One of them turns out to describe the film perfectly : ‘poori ki poori film chhod gaye hain, phir bhi samajh mein nahin aa raha kahaani kya hai.”