A Beautifully Engaging Woman’s Tale: Raat Akeli Hai Review

I know we all have been low-key and missed the time when we used to watch Radhika Apte indefinitely on Netflix! But fortunately, now it turns out our wishes have been heard by the movie gods because Apte is back with her usual on-screen magic. On 31st July, Netflix released Raat Akeli Hai and I think the film is a must-watch!

A murder mystery, Raat Akeli Hai is based in Kanpur where a wealthy patriarch, Raghuveer Singh is murdered on the night of his wedding. Jatil Yadav, a cop (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) arrives at the crime scene and that is where the investigation starts. Yadav begins his investigation by questioning Radha (Radhika Apte). Radha, who married Raghuveer on the night he was murdered, was bought by him and later was his keep. The film moves on to show nail-biting twists and truly keeps the audience stuck to the screen. 

Nawazuddin’s character is what makes the movie really interesting. It comes with flaws and insecurities of its own. We see him concerned about his complexion and the fact that he is unmarried. His mother’s character is played by Ila Arun, who also brings thought-provoking angles to the plot. Their constant snide comments and nagging relationship is something extremely relatable. Also, the growth we witness in Nawaz’s character is worth mentioning. He finally throws his fairness cream away and accepts himself as he is. 

The film also portrays female oppression in the most realistic way possible. Child sexual abuse and objectification of women were some of the issues the film picked up. Something which struck me in the movie the most was the portrayal of how a mother’s love for her son can be venomous. These subplots of women’s issues were beautifully tied without hampering the main plot. 

But was the movie perfect?

It will be difficult for me to call Raat Akeli Hai a feminist movie. It was not thoroughly engaging either. There were some points in the movie where I found it unnecessarily long and dragged. The ending too was a little confusing for me. Tigmanshu Dhulia is a brilliant actor and this is why his character, SP Lalji Shukla, seemed to be underrepresented to me. However, each actor in the movie did an amazing job. The movie was intense and every actor’s performance did justice to it.