'Rautu Ka Raaz' review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui finds the perfect partner-in-crime-solving in actor Rajesh Kumar

Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays an insomniac inspector posted in a sleepy village in 'Rautu ka Raaz', which released on ZEE5 on June 28. Now this premise itself sounds like fertile ground for the study of a sleep disorder or police work in smaller Indian towns and villages. 'Rautu Ka Raaz' does both, along with being a murder mystery that also offers a different model for how to treat the disabled in our mainstream films in India.

Without giving away the ending, here's a quick summary of the plot of 'Rautu Ka Raaz' directed by Anand Surapur: The warden of a blind school in Rautu Ki Beli - a real village in Tehri, Uttarakhand - is found dead in her room. Inspector Deepak Negi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is called in to investigate. Small-town inertia has most people dragging their feet at the start of the investigation. Indeed there is so much resistance that at one point, SHO Negi tells sub-inspector Naresh Dimri (Rajesh Kumar): "Arrey bhej de na body post-mortem ke liye; tera kya jaa raha hai? (What will you lose by sending the body for post-mortem? Just do it)." The investigation then snowballs when a politician thinks he stands to gain from its resolution. Many people inside and outside the blind school have much to hide and the pursuit of wealth muddies the waters, but the "sharp yet weird" Negi finds the culprit in the end - obviously.

While 'Rautu Ka Raaz' has a nice alliterative ring, "raaz" or secret might be overstating what we find here. Having said that, five things make 'Rautu Ka Raaz' worth a watch:

1. Rautu ka Raaz performances

The towering Rajesh Kumar whom we saw recently on OTT as Aimers' maths teacher Gagan Sir in 'Kota Factory 3' on Netflix, is excellent here as sub-inspector Naresh Dimri. He kowtows to seniors and roughhouses suspects. Seeks favours and freebies, and plays bad cop to Nawazuddin Siddiqui's badder cop Negi with an equanimity that is the hallmark of success for some lower-ranked officers.

Rajesh Kumar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Rautu Ka Raaz, which released on ZEE5 on June 28. (Image courtesy ZEE5)

Rajesh Kumar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Rautu Ka Raaz, which released on ZEE5 on June 28. (Image courtesy ZEE5)

Pratham Rathod and Drishti Gaba as blind students Rajat and Diya, respectively, are adequately sweet as teens in the throes of their first love.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has won audiences over with series like 'Sacred Games' and films like 'Haddi'. In 'Rautu Ka Raaz', writers Shariq Patel and Anand Surapur offer Siddiqui a fair bit to sink his teeth into. As such his turn as the irritable but discerning police officer Negi is an interesting watch. An insomniac, Negi catches his 40 winks where he can, when he can, during the day as sleep eludes him night after night. As a study of what insomnia can look like, Siddiqui's performance feels spot-on.

2. Portrayal of police and police work in Rautu Ka Raaz

Negi is also unlike most on-screen police in Bollywood - from Amitabh Bachchan in 'Zanjeer' to Ranveer Singh in 'Simbba' and others in-between.

To be sure, we have seen less explosive and perhaps more realistic portrayals of police in some Hindi films before. Case in point: Aamir Khan in 'Sarfarosh' (in which Siddiqui incidentally had a small part). But 'Rautu Ka Raaz' completely does away with the Bollywood-style chases and confrontations. There are no fight sequences, no big reveals, no lengthy monologues (at least from the hero policeman). What we get instead is the kind of policeman we may have encountered in a police station near us, albeit one with insomnia.

In 'Rautu Ka Raaz', we see some of the method behind the police work. True, there's an element of deus ex-machina, when luck seems to favour the inspector unduly (for instance, a video of the crime scene offers Negi an important clue that everyone else misses), but for the most part, the depiction of police work here includes asking a lot of questions and corroborating, door-to-door visits, rounding up suspects and examining and re-examining facts.

Of course, some elements have been Bollywood-ized. For example, an inspector pocketing someone's diary or lying to them to get answers might not be realistic. And the ending is anything but lifelike. But these are smaller blips than what one has come to expect from crime thrillers and police procedurals alike.

3. Portrayal of blindness and blind people in Rautu Ka Raaz

'Rautu Ka Raaz' treats the blind students of the fictional Sewadham School with greater respect than we've seen in most mainstream movies.

The schoolchildren go about their day - playing, studying, dating and more - as others their age might in a boarding school. The things that happen to them, and the things they worry about are also not unusual for their age.

Rathod and Gaba are sweet as a couple, and as two teens who are ambitious and independent thinkers alongside being great friends.

This "normal" treatment of people with disability is rather rare in Bollywood, and in life.

Rautu Ka Raaz review: The OTT movie eschews Bollywood-like chases and fight sequences, but the ending is fully filmy. (Image courtesy ZEE5)

Rautu Ka Raaz review: The OTT movie eschews Bollywood-like chases and fight sequences, but the ending is fully filmy. (Image courtesy ZEE5)

4. The chorus and other structural elements in Rautu Ka Raaz

Two villagers from Rautu Ki Beli sit on a bench outside a tea shop discussing local events. They appear periodically throughout the film. Each time, they offer some version of this opinion: Negi tez hai, aur ajeeb bhi. Woh toh pataa kar hi lega (Negi is sharp, but also strange. He'll solve the mystery surely).

This chorus-like interruption is not the only theatrical troupe the director uses, but it does provide comic relief as well as cuing the rhythms of rural India where the adda continues to be a place for discussion and deliberation.

The tone of 'Rautu Ka Raaz' is lighthearted, almost comical, in the first half. Sample this: Early in the 110-minute film, a constable reaches the crime scene and changes the position of the dead body. Panic ensues for a minute, till the offending constable says: "Unhe (SHO Negi) kaise pataa chalega yeh kaunse karvat mari thi?" (How will he know which side she was facing when she died?"). At this stage, even the lower-ranked police are reluctant to look at the case as anything but a natural death. The error and cover-up give the junior police officers more reason to try and write off the case. In the second half, the story and the background score become more serious.

5. Rautu Ka Raaz views

It's cliched to make a murder mystery in the mountains. In 'Rautu Ka Raaz', though, it feels right. The long and difficult distances make the investigation that much more arduous. While there are no shots that romanticize the Uttarakhand village, there is an abundance of florals here. Watch out for the Guldavari and marigold flowers as well as the trees in homes and open spaces.

Rautu Ka Raaz review

'Rautu Ka Raaz' is a murder mystery. While there's little to blow your socks off, it is an interesting enough film to watch on OTT. The approaches to showing disability on screen, police work on screen, and the muted beauty of a sleepy hill station on screen are all respectful and therefore refreshing.

Watch the film if you are a fan of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, murder mysteries or if you just want to see an unexplored hill station in the Himalayas on your screen.

Rautu Ka Raaz trailer

The trailer begins with the two gentlemen who form the "Negi is smart but strange and definitely on-track to crack the case" chorus. Watch it here: