Hathya

A couple of days ago, still in India, I was getting bored sitting at home. I was casually browsing BookMyShow and found this new Telugu movie called Hathya. As this was the only movie I hadn't watched in all of BookMyShow's now running catalog and the fact that this is directed by a woman filmmaker, I decided to give it a go. Also the title Hathya (Murder) led me to believe that this was an investigative thriller. I neither watched the trailer nor read the synopsis. I just showed up. What could go wrong? I will lose 150 rupees which is no biggie.

I must say that Hathya is among the finest investigative thrillers from the Telugu language in recent memory. Written and directed by Srividya Basawa, Hathya is a documentation of the murder and the subsequent and still ongoing investigation of the famous YS Vivekananda Reddy murder case that happened in Andhra Pradesh on the morning of March 15, 2019. Hear me out, I've been living in the US for about 20 years now and I've heard about this murder. He was the brother of a popular political figure YS Rajashekhara Reddy of the Indian National Congress party and a big shot in the region. So it is obvious that almost all of the Telugu diaspora must've heard about the murder. But I had no interest in knowing all the details and never really cared about it. Until I watched this movie.

Going in with a blank slate, I treated this as any other investigative thriller. It was just another movie for me. I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Srividya Basawa's screenplay was riveting. The entire movie is an investigation and the movie skips timelines multiple times. But the writer's command of the story and the characters is evident. Some slick editing by Haresh Chaudhary helped here as well, although I did think he could've removed a few unnecessary scenes especially during the climax.

Ravi Verma as Dharmendra Reddy fit his character like a glove aided by terrific performance by Pooja Ramachandran as Salima. Dhanya Balakrishna as the investigating officer Sudha Rao did a commendable job for the most part although I felt she went a little overboard especially in scenes where she needed to evoke inspiration and anger.

It was hard for me to not draw real life comparisons due to the topic but even if you don't care, like me, about what had happened in real life, this is a solid thriller. If you are a fan of this genre like I am, then I am sure you will love this one. This one's a solid watch.

-YT/@CinephileIndia2023.