‘Rautu Ka Raaz’ movie review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui has done a great job in this light-hearted murder mystery

Rajesh Kumar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a scene from ‘Rautu Ka Raaz’

He is sharp but awkward. These are the two adjectives that residents of Rautu Ki Beli, a quiet village in Tehri Garhwal, use to describe Deepak Negi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). A police inspector struggling to break the shackles of personal trauma, the usually sleepless but clever Negi wakes up one day to find that a murder has disturbed the peace of his quiet locality.

Sangeeta (Narayani Shastri), the warden of a school for the blind, is found dead in her room. The school staff insists that it is a natural death. The slackers in Negi’s team, led by a good-hearted Dimri (Rajesh Kumar), don’t seem keen to push themselves. But, the post-mortem report and Negi’s intuition reveal that there is something unusual about Sangeeta’s death. As the personal and the professional intertwine, Negi sheds the inertia surrounding him to solve the murder mystery.

There are multiple false stories, multiple witnesses and multiple backstories at the crime scene where the characters cross paths with each other. The needle of suspicion points towards the school’s founder Kesari (Atul Tiwari), but like the roads on the hills, the investigation either goes astray or comes to a halt. Not one to mince words or succumb to political or departmental pressure, Negi pursues the case with determination.

However, the adjectives the villagers use to describe Negi sometimes define the story as well. Writer and director Anand Surpur (The Fakir of Venice) and co-writer Shariq Patel have crafted a murder mystery story that looks promising in its approach but falls short when it comes to execution. It reminds me of the simpler days of Doordarshan when crime stories weren’t always bloody and carried a social message. They looked dull but made a sharp comment on society as the layers of the case unraveled.

Rautu’s Secret promises a similar experience. Unlike the fast-paced, urban murder mysteries prevalent in the streaming space, the police procedural is full of humor that derives from the social stereotypes of people living in small towns. The problem is that the purpose of flagging the subject becomes a little too obvious. A few more drafts and a little more grip on plot points would have taken away the superficiality and sense of instruction that sneaks into the simplicity of the setting.

Negi’s backstory never touches you or gets tangled up in the story. Kesari and his inclinations remain half-baked and the possibilities surrounding the offbeat crime scene, a school for the blind, fall flat rather than being entertaining. In the supporting cast, Rajesh Kumar stands out as the heavy-handed Dimri. Starring Nawazuddin, Rajesh shows the power of less in this film.

Like some of his recent films, Nawazuddin is at the centre of the story and is tasked with doing the heavy lifting without the necessary padding provided by a savvy director. He is skilled but even versatile actors need restraint. Here it seems, like Negi, Nawaz came to work without honing the actor in him for a few days. Most of the time, he just remained Nawaz.

‘Rautu Ka Raaz’ is streaming on Zee5