In mood for a good mystery thriller? Why not check out Raat Akeli Hai, the new Hindi film that is streaming on Netflix. Directed by popular casting director Honey Trehan, Raat Akeli Hai is a murder mystery that bring Netflix's fave girl, Radhika Apte, along with her Sacred Games co-star Nawazuddin Siddiqui. In the supporting cast, you have Tigmanshu Dhulia, Padmavathi Rai, Shweta Tripathi, Shivani Raghuvanshi, Ila Arun and Aditya Srivastava. Raat Akeli Hai Movie Review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte’s Netflix Film Keeps You Guessing Till the End.

Raat Akeli Hai is a really captivating thriller that keeps you hooked from the start where a woman is killed by a truck driver in the darkness of the night, to the very end. The central crux of the film is about investigation of the murder of a rich old man, Raghubeer Singh (Khalid Tyabji) who was killed in his own mansion on the night of his second wedding. His first wife was killed five years ago, whose murder is shown in the film's opening scene.

Inspector Jatil Yadav (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) comes to solve the case, where every person in the mansion is a suspect. However, the needle of suspicion is often pointing towards the dead's man's much younger second wife Radha (Radhika Apte). Yadav is fascinated with her, and he doesn't believe that she could have killed her husband. His subordinate firmly believes she is the murderer and thinks Yadav is merely protecting her because he is infatuated. Raat Akeli Hai Trailer: Is Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte’s Whodunit Inspired by Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, as Twitterati Claims? Here’s the Truth!

Later, Yadav finds out that Radha was having an affair with the dead man's nephew Vikram (Nishant Dahiya), who is engaged to the daughter of their family friend, a powerful MLA (Aditya Shrivastava).

So has Radha killed her husband? If not her, who? Read ahead with cautions, as the post is full of SPOILERS.

What Happens?

Yadav brings Radha to her husband's house, after helping her escape from there earlier to evade arrest. All the suspects were fixing the marriage of Vikram and the MLA's daughter then, when they break the meeting. Yadav tells Karuna (Shweta Tripathi), the daughter of the dead man, that it was the MLA who got her mother killed (along with their driver), five years ago. Because she saw something really shocking and forbidden that Raghubeer was doing in their guest house.

She had seen Raghubeer having sex with a young girl, and that young girl turned out to be Vasudha (Shivani Raghuvanshi), Raghubeer's own niece.

Vasudha is Raghubeer's Murderer

Yadav figured out the truth by investigating into Vasudha's background and her schooling, and finds out that she was suspended because she had gone through an abortion. While scrutinising the wedding video, Yadav figures out that Vasudha disappears from the function right at the time when the murder takes place and returns wearing a new stole (the bloodstained stole was put in Radha's bag, so that she becomes the suspect).

In a flashback scene that comes later, we see how and why Vasudha kills Raghubeer in a fit of rage, when the latter taunts her character.

However, the revelation of the murderer's identity is not the real shocker. What comes next will disturb you...

Vasudha's Mother

The MLA when confronted tells everyone that the night Raghubeer's wife saw him in bed with Vasudha, it was not her or Raghubeer who had called him. It was Vasudha's mother (Padmavathi Rao). While shaken by the incest in her family involving her brother and her daughter, she is, however, more concerned in securing her son Vikram's future. So she tells the MLA to kill Raghubeer's wife that night and pass it off as an accident. Which is also why the MLA got his daughter engaged to Vikram. And it is also why the MLA got the servant girl killed using his man (who is burnt alive by the girl's granny in the pre-climax), because he felt her evidence could make Vikram the main suspect.

What Happens Next?

When the truth is out, Vikram shuns his mother and leaves the house, while breaking off the engagement. Yadav also warns the MLA that law will be after him and this time, there will be no escape. In the night, we see Vikram's mother placing the gun on her throat, but stops from shooting herself, when there is a knock on the door. She thinks it is her son, but is shown crestfallen when it is her daughter who answers the call. She drops the gun, and later we hear a gunshot ringing in the night. The next day, we also see her pyre burning.

Did Vasudha Kill Her Mother?

There are speculations among the viewers who have seen the film that it is Vasudha who killed her mother.

But I don't believe so.

Her mother had committed suicide, because she realises she has lost her son forever, more than her betraying her daughter (she is actually happy when she mistakes that it is her son who knocked the door). Which makes sense with the kind of appalling arc she had. There are no hints, otherwise, that her daughter would have killed her.

The Aftermath

Yadav is generous enough to spare Vasudha of a life of imprisonment, pinning Raghubeer's murder on her now dead mother. Later, through his mother's reading of the newspaper, we find out that both the MLA and Yadav's corrupt superior (Tigmanshu Dhulia) are in hot water for their involvement in twisting the case.

What Happens to Radha?

Raghubeer's property is transferred in the name of his surviving wife, who is, of course, Radha. Encouraged by his mother, Yadav goes to meet Radha while she is leaving the pace for her native place.

In the train, she tries to ignore him when he sits in the seat near her. When the train moves, she finds out he is not there. Anxious, she rushes towards the door, only to find he has jumped in after buying a bottle of water. Earlier, Radha had rejected his advances, but this time they embrace each other. They doing so in a train makes sense, since it is in a train they had met for the first time years ago.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2020 11:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).