Different kinds of motives and modus operandi have been explored thoroughly in the serial killer genre, leaving very little wiggle room for filmmakers to create some novelty. With Hide N Seek, filmmaker Basireddy Rana and team try to bring some freshness to the genre. The director envisions a fascinating method for the antagonist to execute a pattern of criminal activities. However, the film falls flat in its execution. Many dialogues in the film end up making you chuckle unintentionally, and that’s not the mood you need your audience to be in for such a crime thriller.
In Kurnool, the sudden emergence of new crimes leaves Inspector Vaishnavi and her team puzzled. Shiva (Vishwant) is a medical student and an aspiring Army doctor who indirectly helps the police piece together the puzzle that the antagonist leaves. As they approach closer to the mystery, they uncover a huge network that is about to execute a massacre in Tirupati. How the cops with Shiva solve the crime and stop the massacre from happening forms the plot.
What works in the film is the mindful manner in which the director drives the narrative without any hurry to reach somewhere. And what’s more admirable is that the film also takes its time in setting up the law enforcement angle and the somewhat believable group of cops. As the film reaches midpoint in the second half, they start revealing the mystery, and you can appreciate the patience and thought put into the film. The screenplay is gripping enough until you piece together the puzzle. And in today’s age of hyperawareness, it’s a difficult task to achieve this engagement in a serial killer film.
However, the film remains tepid and uninteresting for the most part because of its lousy dialogues and weak performances. No single performance in the film looks natural or convincing enough. Some actors overplay their respective parts, while others sleepwalk through the film.
A criminal thriller like this needs more slick camerawork and crisp performances, but the team of technicians and actors fails to create the necessary intensity. You end up wishing the director, who has such a novel concept, had a great team of technicians who could execute a slick thriller.
The most distracting aspect of the film is the shoddy lighting and cinematography. The light leaks, the smoke, and the faux high-key or sloppy low-key lighting are too transparent in many scenes. And that becomes a challenge for the audience to suspend their disbelief. And another unremarkable area is the production design. The police station, the hospital, and even houses look straight out of a TV serial.
Yet, the film is commendable for its novel concept, and it is appreciable how the filmmaker showed some faith in telling this story. Marrying gaming and serial killer is a tough feat to pull in a low-budget film, and once the mystery gets unravelled, the film gets more interesting. It could have been so much more, though.