'Mrs Serial Killer' movie review: Murder most dull

The Jacqueline Fernandez-Manoj Bajpayee thriller proves to be a serial bore

At some point during the narration of Mrs Serial Killer, we get it that National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee might have been tempted to sign on for the Shirish Kunder-directed film because of the novelty of his role. Or was it the absurdity of it all? But a couple of minutes into the film, that made its debut on Netflix this Friday, you realise that not even Bajpayee can save this one.
A devoted wife who takes on the 'role' of a serial killer to prove her husband's innocence might seem far-fetched enough as a plot point. But Kunder takes it one step further by convincing two talented actors, Bajpayee (Family Man) and Mohit Raina (watch him in Kaafir to truly understand what a nuanced performer he is) to get on board the disaster train. The sheer waste of this talented duo in a half baked plot with dialogues as childish as; "Don't call me Joy. It f***ing makes me feel like an ice cream," is a criminal offense.
Set in a sleepy town in Uttarakhand, India, the plot revolves around Sona (a gorgeous Jacqueline Fernandez) who's portrayed as a devoted wife to surgeon/gynecologist Dr Mrityunjoy Mukherjee.
When her former boyfriend, Inspector Imran Shahid (Mohit Raina), frames the murders of young pregnant girls in the town on her innocent husband, Sona decides to get in on the action, goaded by her lawyer Rastogi (Jariwala in a role that is as confusing as the baroque setting he is placed in) by playing serial killer to take the heat off him. So she goes running around town in the middle of night with her sunglasses and cap firmly on, in an attempt to kidnap her teenage pregnant neighbour, Anushka Tiwari (debutant Zayn Marie Khan in a noteworthy performance). Khan is perhaps the only character who didn't get the memo to ham it up, thankfully.
In true blue murder mystery fashion, all the lead actors are put forth as red herrings, and yet when the so called big reveal comes in the end, it's as predictable as wearing sweaters in cold weather (guess Ms Fernandez didn't get that memo).
The justification for the character embarking on the killing spree is so cliched - we have read/seen/heard this plot line in so many serial killer stories that even a junior writer would be ashamed to use this trope.
Mrs Serial Killer in the end is high on drama, be it in the acting department or the set design or the background score which plays on like a low-budget, B grade movie.
Kunder tries to play smart by mixing up the genres, but to have a crime thriller masquerade as a spoof or parody half way through with forced comedy thrown in, only confuses the audience. The end result is that scenes meant to scare you, make you laugh, and the ones that pass off as comedy, hardly make you twitch a muscle.
Maintain your social distance from this one if you don't want to waste time on an unintentionally funny and worse, boring murder mystery. 
ambica@khaleejtimes.com
 
Mrs Serial Killer
Director: Shirish Kunder
Cast: Jacqueline Fernandez, Manoj Bajpayee, Mohit Raina, Darshan Jariwala