House Of Lies Excels In Murdering Its Mystery |
ZEE5's House of Lies is a 'whydunit' — as in, why was this film even released? Swetha Ramakrishnan reviews. |
THERE’s one good thing about ZEE5’s House of Lies: its runtime of 1 hour 27 minutes. A mere minute more, Dear Reader, and I swear I would have turned off my screen. The only reason I continued watching whatever it was that was going on in the guise of a film, was because I kept chanting to myself, “Only 90 minutes”. Director Saumitra Singh wanted to make a murder mystery, but with House of Lies, he presents a really bad film. Not so-bad-it’s-good, but so bad that the actors can’t hide their exhaustion and annoyance; so bad that the Goan setting does no justice to the storyline; so bad that Sanjay Kapoor's half-assed performance is the (only other) good thing about the film; so bad that one forgets that this could potentially be one of the last times we see the talented Rituraj Singh on screen.
Needless to say, he is wasted in the film, with maybe five words spoken in total. House of Lies makes me wonder if ZEE5 is the new dumping ground for bad films that have nowhere else to go.
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A brief note about the title of the film: there’s no reason for it being called House of Lies. It’s such an on-the-nose title; a generic murder mystery moniker that doesn’t allude to anything from the actual plot. The film could have easily been called House of Nothing. And now, a little bit about the plot: A millionaire — Albert Pinto (Singh) — has been murdered in his own house on his birthday, after it is found out that he earned close to Rs 35 crore in cryptocurrency. His whole family looks dubious and has motive, and they each become a suspect. Police officers Rajveer Singh (Sanjay Kapoor), Abhay Mathur (Hiten Paintal) and Inspector Sashi (Simran Kaur Suri) are tasked with getting to the bottom of the whodunit. There are a lot of dead story-arcs that overstay their welcome, a forcefully ominous background score that ends up being more hilarious than moody, a lot of posturing from the supporting cast who look bored out of their mind. There are glaring audio issues, random cuts that disrupt the narrative flow (whatever little of it there is), even as characters walk in and walk out without much introduction or importance. There’s a scorned wife, a mistress, a deadbeat brother, a shady psychiatrist, shadier house help (who is obviously the first suspect, yawn), a colonel uncle with an anger problem, and a generous sprinkling of flat female characters who are mostly there to be sexualised. The next paragraph contains spoilers. |
There’s a point in the story when all the suspects are proven to be guilty. All of them. Each has a unique motive and when it’s broken down by the cops, we realise that each of them contributed to the murder and eventual death by their actions. This is the biggest anti-climax of the film (even though an unintelligent “twist” is thrown in at the end to make it seem worth the viewer’s while). It doesn’t break conventional murder mystery rules with intent or style. House of Lies starts lazily, ends lazily, and begs the question: why was the film even made? What was the point of the film? There are no redeeming factors. No performances worth writing about. The technicalities are laughable. Stream the latest movies and shows with OTTplay Premium's Jhakaas monthly pack, for only Rs 249. There is one scene that could earn your appreciation. And I have to bring it up here, to make my time, your time, and the time of everyone involved with this film, worth something: In one of the many interrogation scenes, Rajveer Singh is talking to Albert’s younger brother Anthony about who could potentially be the killer. Anthony suspects Zaid, their househelp, who is openly homosexual. He says to Singh, “Their community is like this, only.” To which Singh replies, “What do you f*cking mean? Just because he’s gay? Shut the f*ck up.” The ferocity with which Sanjay Kapoor’s character tries to debunk casual homophobia is heart-warming. It helps that Kapoor packs in the histrionics here, and convincingly pulls off the swearing. However, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this film to anyone. Even if you’re cringe-watching it. Even if you are craving a bad murder mystery. Even if you’re bored and willing to watch anything. Even if someone’s last wish is for you to watch House of Lies. Just. Don’t. Do. It. |
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