IIT Krishnamurthy Movie Review: A disappointing thriller with too many let-downs

IIT Krishnamurthy Movie Review: A disappointing thriller with too many let-downs

The thriller, streaming on Amazon Prime now, is a disappointing watch, which ends with too many unfulfilled promises
Rating:(2 / 5)

The first thing that hits you after watching IIT Krishnamurthy is the exasperation that comes when filmmakers underestimate the audience’s intelligence. IIT Krishnamurthy is a film that squanders its potential.

Director: SreeVardhan

Cast: Prudhvi Dandamudi, Vinay Varma, Maira Doshi, Satya Akkala

Streaming On: Amazon Prime

Pruthvi Dandamudi stars as the titular character Krishnamurthy, an IIT Bombay student who comes back to Hyderabad in search of his missing uncle. He puts out a missing-person ad in a newspaper, which gets the attention of Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinay Varma. An investigation with twists and turns ensues.

Oh, also, Krishnamurthy is in a relationship with Jahanavi (Maira Doshi). Looks out of place in the synopsis? That’s how it feels in the film as well. The excruciating love sequences and lifeless dialogues are completely superfluous and painful to watch. Aren’t writers bored of writing such female characters who bear no relevance to the story?

In the middle of the investigation, the ACP plays a recording of Krishnamurthy’s call with his girlfriend in a police station. The scene is a segway to another redundant love scene at a coffee shop. Any half-decent police officer would have asked Krishnamurthy to take precautions while meeting his loved ones, given that he is facing threats from goons who follow him everywhere, but the ACP encourages him to “go and have fun.” Moreover, the cop tries to do comedy, and it hurts.

However, Vinay Varma’s performance as the ACP merits a mention. Though the character only has hints of an interesting psyche and lacks depth, Vinay’s performance shows promise throughout. The same is the case with Pruthvi, who even if stone-faced at multiple instances, makes us think a better script and a better director would have brought out a better performance.

With patchy narration, which lacks fluidity, and no impacting emotional anchors either, the film reaches a crucial moment when the knots are untied. The reveal is one that entirely depends on chance rather than on acumen of the supposed mastermind — it is also full of flaws. Why was it important to overemphasise that the talented, brilliant Krishnamurthy is from IIT? Couldn’t someone from another institution be just as crafty and clever? Considering the emotional anchor that the film poses to have, wouldn’t something on the lines of ‘Deepam Krishnamurthy’ work better as the title and the story’s emblem, without undermining said emotional connect?

The only ray of light is Satya Akkala’s comedy. It's a pity that his excellent one-liners are almost overshadowed by the cloud of dismay that the rest of the film evokes. 

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