hyped garbage

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is one of the best Indian films i have seen, Bollywood is not known for producing detective stories but they managed such an interesting movie. It was brilliantly detected, decent background music, suspense till the end, nice script, good plot. In a detective story one has to develop every single character from a driver or a neighbor to the detective itself, and the director and writer managed to do so in this. The dialogs are brilliant and can be used in everyday lives. BUT, there is one thing, after the film ends, the director, writer, actors and every body tells us about the making of the film and all. They tell us that it took them a lot of days to build up Samrat's character in the film, they considered a lot of things and thought a lot before giving a summer of the character to Rajeev khandelwal. While the truth is, all they did was ask Rajeev to closely observe Benedict Cumberbatch's character and copy it, which he did. Same attitude, same lifestyle, same coat, same way of setting the collar of the coat. They should have at least told us that they were inspired by the brilliance of Benedict Cumberbatch. Otherwise, as a whole, the film is awesome, suspense till the very end. The actors did great job.

Samrat and co. is a mystery thriller film but it lacks a plot.It may be tauted as a thriller but it also lacked thrills.The movies relies heavily on Rajeev and he does his job nicely.The main problem of the movie was its lazy script.This story seems good on paper but on screen it was too loose containing a lot of plot holes.The story was so simple but it was dragged too much.It could have been trimmed for at least 20-25 mins.From the beginning the mystery has been created very nicely but its conclusion was too boring.The climax of the movie was on of the biggest drawbacks of this movie.But still it was a non- predictable plot which was engaging.It was neither too boring nor too good.In acting department Rajeev does a fantastic job.He looked good in the role and played it well.The direction of the movie was weak.Some dialogues of the movie were good while some were confusing and irritating.Such types of movie needs a solid characterization and this film is weak in this section.Music was average but the locations were good and gave pleasure to the eyes.Overall it is an Indian version of Sherlock holmes which could have been better but was marred by a bad plot.Still it could be watched once as it a bit different from usual bollywood flicks. RATING : 6.3 out of 10

Hindi Cinema has given us very few brilliant investigative crime dramas and when it comes to films based on any particular detective figure only, then we have rarely gone into that specific genre with a serious vision. Interestingly Bengali Cinema has many movies made on their cult detective icons such as Byomkesh Bakshi, Feluda and more. But Hindi Cinema has recently realized this void and now coming up with a series of detective movies in the coming months beginning with SAMRAT & CO. made under the reputed banner of Rajshri Productions venturing into this rare genre of crime movies for the very first time.However, the sad news is that a clean attempt made into this less explored genre remains the only merit of this amateurish detective film and it has been surprisingly directed quite casually without taking care of all the 'must have' ingredients required for such investigative thrillers. On a lighter note, probably having only a Sherlock Holmes kind of character along with a funny Watson looking into an interesting case brought in by a charming girl is only what a detective film is all about as per the writer and the director, as I personally felt while watching it.Elaborating on the same, a detective movie made on a particular case first of all has to move out of the TV serial mode essentially to make it big enough to be presented as a complete theater experience. In fact that is the very reason why many films are not made in this risky genre, since they don't offer any repeat value, once the secret is out revealing the real killer. Therefore you often get to see enjoyable Detective Serials being made with several episodes for the channels, but rarely a major film made on a single case.Secondly, the case adapted for the film should be so engrossing in its own that it can keep the viewer focused and glued to the proceedings for at least two hours with new clues and development thrown in every 10 minutes.Thirdly and most importantly the culmination of such films should be shocking as well as entertaining enough that the viewer feels annoyed (on his own misjudgment) yet immensely satisfied with the disclosure made by the detective describing the complete process of his investigations in the last reel.But surprisingly, none of the above is there in SAMRAT & CO. and the film still follows the same old overused pattern of 'every suspect, dying one by one' as its uninteresting story progression incorporating many other added subplots without any clear vision. Moreover the pattern of direction makes you wonder about the kind of team behind the product, who probably have never read Indian detective novels of writers such as Ibn-e-Safi, Ved Prakash Sharma, Colonel Ranjit and the pioneer Surendra Mohan Pathak with his famous characters of Sunil, Sudhir, Vimal and more. Plus it seems they even missed out enjoying the interesting detective heroes of the Comic world too wherein we had Rajan-Iqbal, Mama Bhanja, Babloo, Inspector Manoj, Amar-Akbar, Colonel Karan and many more, much famous among the kids and also in the grown-up comic lovers, continuing with their childhood passion lovingly.Anyway moving ahead, even if you ignore the weird hair-style and 'speaking to self in a fast mode' tactics of detective Samrat, still there are many more sequences in the film which force you to call it a childish attempt in a serious genre, made by an over enthusiastic team. For instance, the narration leaves several questions answered in the end which is a clear indication of an unprepared script with lots of visible loopholes. Too many characters are stuffed into the proceedings in order to make it thrilling enough forcibly. Characters are singing songs in the middle of an ongoing investigation, just to fill in the commercial needs. In the same mansion at a hill station, one character comes out of the washroom saying its too cold in here and the other is wearing short skirts as if its summer time. Strangely so many digitalized, backdrops have been used unnecessarily to give it a different feel. The detective starts fighting with the killer in the end on a dangerous hill top, perhaps to fill in the action requirement of the distributor as it seems. And lastly just like a typical Hindi film hero, the intelligent detective also finds his true love in the young daughter of the dead as if she was just waiting for a crime investigator only all her life till now.To say the truth, this certainly isn't the film matching up to the Rajshri standards from any angle featuring such over the top and irritating performances by the lead characters including Rajeev Khandelwal (didn't he read the script before signing it?). Also I found accomplished performers such as Priyanshu Chatterjee feeling quite uncomfortable acting in such mediocre movie made in the name of 'Dilchasp Rahasya Ride', which neither has anything 'Dilchasp' nor 'Rahasyamayi' in its 2+ hours of duration, taking the viewer on to a funny ride.Summing up, the background score is the only decent feature of this poor film but since one cannot spend both his time and money for this one factor alone. So simply skip it and watch the American TV Series "True Detective" instead, if you really wish to see something spectacular about detectives.

First things first, when u go to watch Samrat &Co don't go with a comparative state of mind that you gonna watch Desi Sherlock, or Indian Benedict Cumberbatch...because if you will deliberately try to find someone else in Samrat it will not only be unfair but disappointing also as it will kill the whole idea & fun of watching a suspense film.So for all those who have seen & read Sherlock Holmes (like me) comparisons are inevitable because the mere mention of word detective is synonymous with Sherlock Holmes....but you would not enjoy the film if you watch Samrat & Co with an intention of comparing scene to scene , frame to frame, dialogue to dialogue... so my advice is before watching Samrat &Co keep all detective references back home... & welcome & meet Samrat as a new detective, an addition to the whole list of Detectives we have known till now, & film Samrat &Co.... as any other new suspense film..trust me, you will enjoy the film more...Initially when the case actually started off I also was comparing but gradually kept comparisons aside & focused on the case as it engages you eventually & you start solving case along with Samrat, you start making your own assumptions who is criminal who is not, who is positive or negative !! Film as a whole has been good...it sticks to its genre, efforts of writer & director sud be appreciated they managed to keep the interest & Mystery level intact till the end (It kept me guessing till the end) & every time u think Samrat has solved the case...it just takes a twist & u get surprised...& DAT the basic requirement for any suspense thriller...& must say Samrat&Co fulfills it... A special mention for the dialogs some have turned out really good... like "Pyaar Aur war me in Sab fair Hota hai Kyunki do no me second prize nahi Hota"..."Aadmi who Nahi hota Jo who dikhata hai...Aadmi who hota hai Jo who chupata hai"CD & Samrat's camaraderie is something to watch out... CD manages to crack u up at many places...Though I personally felt there were certain things which director cud have done away with...for instance he cud have reduced number of suspects because if you loose the track of story, somewhere amidst of so many characters it tends to get confusing (I did got confused) but guess to keep the mystery more gripping it was required :) Also, putting in romantic angle for Samrat-Dimpy wasn't required since it was there we watched, if it wouldn't have been there it wouldn't have made much of difference...& thankfully it wasn't dragged much... :) :) Since as a audience the main focus remains on the case Samrat needs to solve so,like any other suspense film it didn't have much scope for music, except for the background music, & Of course "Sawalon me in", it was wonderful...would have loved to hear more of it ....Song in itself has a mysterious & chilling feel to it...As a character Samrat is very much of a detective, intelligent, smart, & a very keen observer...not even a minute details escapes his eye... just a glance & he will know your past present & future... Best thing about Samrat is director & creative have not made him a filmy & heroic kind of character... even in the opening fight sequence more than muscle power it was all about brains coz physically Samrat was no where in competition with the fighter (Though the whole shot was a proper fan girl moment for me ^_^ ) Samrat solved the case more with brains....& with his instincts oops sorry (tcchhh) seventh sense!! ...Rajeev as Samrat pulls off to manage Samrat convincingly enough...& practically carries film on himself in spite of presence of other characters who make their presence felt....As Samrat Rajeev makes you believe in him as a detective & as a Rajeev khandelwal fan its gonna be a treat to watch him...Overall would give 3 out of 5...(tried to be as unbiased & non-comparative as possible) you would enjoy the film if you watch it with open mind...Don't watch it just for the heck of comparison or to rip the film apart & trash the film.... instead the efforts of writer, director, actors, production house to come up with something like this should be appreciated... The whole team deserves praise for introducing us to a new private investigator, I don't think Hindi films has any detective film in past many years... at least I have not seen it...Once again Welcome the new detective "Samrat"