Forensic review: Radhika Apte, Vikrant Massey star in a bizarre adaptation with grotesque course correction

2/5

In this ZEE5 original movie, young girls start going missing, and Mussoorie is where their bodies are eventually discovered. Megha (Radhika Apte), a police officer, and Johnny (Vikrant Massey), a forensics expert, work together to catch the murderer.

Nowadays, whenever a remake is announced, moviegoers give a mixed reaction due to the easier access to the original content on OTT. But when a remake of a very okayish film is announced, you expect the adaptors will make the necessary course corrections and make it better than the original. However, the makers of the ZEE5 original Forensic just decided to remake the film with a bizarre premise, poles apart from the 2020 original Malayalam film of the same name.

The Radhika Apte and Vikrant Massey starrer is also a psychological thriller, just like Mamta Mohandas and Tovino Thomas’ film. The Malayalam film has the lead actors not romantically paired as Mamta is Tovino's sister-in-law in the film. However, in the Hindi film, unnecessary melodrama and romantic approach between the two lead actors take a lot away from the narrative.

That's one of the biggest changes in the remake, with the dynamics being changed between the two lead actors. Well, does it make any difference? Not at all. For once, I wish that Hindi movies also stuck to something platonic onscreen without giving any romantic angle.

Meanwhile, Forensic has unnecessary comedy scenes which will make you wonder why, time and again. The very first entry scenes of both Apte and Massey have comic elements, and they get senseless from the beginning. Massey walks up to a dead body and recites a nursery rhyme. Well, his name is Johnny Khanna in the film, so you can guess which one. On the other hand, Apte's team discovers the dead body of a little girl, and the way she gives an earful to her team seems very caricaturish, so to say.

Well, this is just the beginning! As the film progresses, it seemingly concentrates on crime solving, and yes, there are scenes which will leave you intrigued. However, the impact the original had with its forensic department, and getting to know the killer had a better approach without the needless plug-in of the melodrama.

If you have watched the original film, the mistake you might make as a viewer is to have certain expectations for the remake. Well, don't! The film gives a slight hint of who might be the serial killer, but the overall twist is so bizarre that all you can do is scratch your head and think, "How and why?"

If it was a plan to just adapt the premise from the original, at least make it believable. Vishal Furia, the director's forte is in the horror genre, and the unravelling of the truth about the ghosts seems interesting in the film.

The filmmaker, however, decides to take a horrific turn in the film, but in the end, it just makes the film worse. The final part of the film is a major letdown, even if the intention was to steer clear of anything from the original. The film takes psychological thriller in the literal sense but, sadly, gets zeroed down to the "daddy issues," pun intended.

What makes the film go from good to bad is the unnecessary and mindless songs playing in the background. When your film is suspense or a crime thriller, viewers don't wish to hear songs, and yes, they would be fine with no music other than the background score.

Forensic, Adhir Bhat, Vishal Kapoor, and Ajit Jagtap have penned the screenplay, adapted from the original writer duo, Akhil Paul and Anas Khan. I think the adaptors should have just crossed the thin line between remake and adaptation by making the film more entertaining than the original was.

If you found the Malayalam film so-so, then the Hindi one cannot be even considered to be worth a watch.

On top of that, the performances by the lead actors, Radhika Apte and Vikrant Massey, are so not top-notch. But in comparison to the other supporting stars, well, they deliver it better. There's also one major revelation about an actor in the film, who will surprise you most disturbingly, and there's no way you can turn your back on it.

Overall, Forensic is not the whodunnit that will make it the greatest watch, but it only keeps you on the edge of your seat for its bizarre revelation, which I am still wrapping my head around.

The whodunnit part of Forensic takes a backseat, as that becomes predictable. But the major revelation about the serial killer is something which will keep you thinking, and you might end up scratching your brain over the weekend.