Footfairy Movie Review: In Kanishk Verma's Footfairy, an unidentified serial killer with a fetish for feet is terrorising Mumbai. He stalks lonely women travelling on local trains, abducts and asphyxiates them to death, and cut off their feet, and leaves the bodies abandoned in suitcases near railway tracks. The task of finding him is given to Crime Branch officer, Vivaan (Gulshan Devaiah), supposedly the most intelligent officer the department has. With no discernible connections between the victims and no clue left behind, Vivaan and his team find the heat of the pressure of finding the killer before he strikes next. Footfairy Trailer: Gulshan Devaiah and Kunaal Roy Kapur Starrer Thriller Looks Promising (Watch Video).

Okay, let's start with the good things first. Footfairy is, more or less, a very distraction-free murder mystery thriller that tries its best to avoid cliques associated with the genre. For one, I was glad that the protagonist was just a normal dedicated, smart officer and not someone with a tragic backstory and has alcohol troubles. Verma keeps the focus completely on the investigation part, and not let any needless subplots drop in. Vivaan's dinner conversations turn to discussing serial killers like Ted Bundy. His work-table has a hardcover edition of Mind Hunter. Even his romantic conversations with Devika (Sagarika Ghatge) are used as an opportunity to throw more exposition on the case, with one date even throwing in a major clue about the possible killer.

For an ordinary viewer, it might take some time to adjust to trope-free narrative, especially in the first fifteen minutes or so. Once the investigation angle gets thick, and Vivaan's desperation to catch the killer grows further, Footfairy makes for an arresting watch. Also Gulshan Devaiah in any movie and any role is a treat to watch, and here he underplays his performance very effectively. Which makes his sporadic outbursts, like one at a cafe where he scolds his colleagues, so remarkable to watch. Or when he punches who he thinks is a bad guy into a bloody mess out of frustration and guilt. Gulshan Devaiah: Problem With Accepting Depression as a Disease Is That Most People Think It Is a State of Mind.

The trouble arrives when Vivaan zeroes in on what he thinks is the main suspect, Joshua (Kunaal Roy Kapur). While Kapur does good as the restaurant owner with a very creepy obsession and there is plenty of intrigue about his guilt or innocence, Footfairy enters into a very 'inspired' arena from here. What's funny is that Footfairy even pays homage to the movie that 'inspired' it - Bong Joon-ho's excellent Memories of Murder.

Watch the Trailer of Footfairy:

Okay, there is nothing wrong to pay homage to cult movies in your film and use them as influences. Hell, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson and Anurag Kashyap have made a career out of that. But it would become less of a homage and more of a lifting-off, when your third act is almost similar to that of Memories of Murder. I understand the director's intention to go for a bleaker ending, but I wish that Footfairy would have gone in a different direction. Considering how I was rooting for the film till then.

PS - Why does Vivaan's colleague keep on undermining his suspicions about certain obviously guilty looking suspects? It's not like they have anything else going on in their murder case!

Yay!

- A Distraction-Free Murder Mystery

- Gulshan Devaiah

Nay!

- Too Inspired Third Act

Final Thoughts

Footfairy comes across as a very decent suspense thriller, with a admirable performance from its lead star. What brings it down is it veering into a very 'unoriginal' third act, which depends on whether you have seen the original film. Footfairy has premiered on &pictures.

Rating:2.5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2020 09:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).