Starring: Sanya Malhotra, Anant Joshi, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Neha Saraf, Brijendra Kala, Gurpal Singh, Govind Pandey, Ambrish Saxena, Raghuvir Yadav
Director: Yashowardhan Mishra
The look and feel of this Netflix mystery has a very obvious quirky appeal, not least due to the unusual title referencing a fruit. This ‘Jackfruit Mystery’, therefore, holds out a certain promise of a satirical twist and out of the ordinary plot.
Mahima Basor (Malhotra) is a diligent young police officer who has made a mark with her sharp intellect and efficiency. Her not-so-secret workplace affair with her subordinate Saurabh Dwivedi (Joshi) poses multiple conundrums – her caste inferiority along with rank seniority both prove a hindrance to appeasing her would-be father-in-law into accepting their love match.
Into this heady mix in a small fictional town in the heart of India is the curious case of two missing prized jackfruits – kathal in Hindi – from the garden of local heavyweight politician Munnalal Pateria (Raaz). It soon becomes clear that these are no ordinary jackfruits but crucial pawns in Munnalal’s lofty ambitions of climbing the political ladder closer to the chief minister’s office.
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Mahima is charged by her boss to urgently unravel the mystery of the “stolen” jackfruits before the short-tempered Munnalal wreaks havoc on the police department over what he is convinced is an unforgivable insult to his local authority. As she tries hard to tackle the case with all the seriousness she can muster, Mahima chances upon a more sinister development of several missing teenage girls from the town – a development that has failed to attract even a fraction of the attention that the politician’s missing jackfruits seem to be showered with. Using her ingenuity and investigative skills, Mahima is soon well on the way to solving the mystery – jackfruits and all.
This moving tale hits the right notes at multiple levels, including in its filmmaking style that engulfs some seriously heavy topics of caste and gender bias and manages to get through them all on a light-hearted note. Sanya Malhotra as the protagonist charged with carrying this story through all its many ebbs and flows is spot-on as the principled police officer, with the male characters quite appropriately around as supportive elements to the narrative. A special mention for another key female character, Neha Saraf as Constable Kunti Parihar, who also lends a solid hand to enhance this myth-busting plot.
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Definitely one to watch for its atypical approach to a mystery thriller that never takes itself too seriously, even when tackling some extremely stark subject matter.