Murder (2004 film)

Plot

Simran (Mallika Sherawat) is young woman married to Sudhir (Ashmit Patel), a workaholic, who was previously married to Simran's now deceased sister, Sonia. Simran only married Sudhir in order to give motherly love to Sudhir and Sonia's son. She leads an unhappy, lonely and passionless married life. After acidentally meeting her former college lover, Sunny (Emraan Hashmi), she decides to engage in an affair with him. The affair starts to consume her life and Simran finds herself constantly lying to her husband and neglecting her motherly duties. After some time, she decides to end the relationship, but to her surprise, she finds that Sunny has also been simultaneously seeing another woman named Radhika. She regrets her unfaithful act and tries to cut all ties with Sunny.

Meanwhile, Sudhir has started to have doubts about his wife, and hires a detective to trace Simran's whereabouts. The detective is able to provide Sudhir with pictures of Sunny and Simran together and also tells him that Sunny is a serial womanizer, with many girlfriends. The next day, Sunny suddenly goes missing. The police come to Sudhir and Simran's house and inquire about him, on a report registered by his girlfriend Radhika. Simran comes across the photographs of her and Sunny amongst Sudhir's things, and realizes that he may something to do with Sunny's disappearance. Sudhir reveals that he went to Sunny's apartment to confront him about the affair, and the two men began to argue. The situation escalated, and Sudhir fatally beat Sunny and buried him in a panic. Realising her fault and role in the situation, Simran supports Sudhir and takes the blame for killing Sunny. This develops and strengthens their love and faith in each other. Simran is arrested by the police and pleads guilty, while at the same time, Sudhir claims that it is he who killed Sunny. This confuses the police. Moreover, the body is missing from the burial spot.

In a sudden change of events, Sunny is shown to be alive. It is revealed that the entire situation, from initiating the affair to goading Sudhir into a fight was planned in advance by Sunny, with the help of Radhika. Sunny hoped to have Sudhir imprisoned so that he could continue his affair with Simran. Sunny isolates Simran and chases her into a jungle, where Sudhir arrives and the two begin to fight. Sudhir manages to beat him, and Sunny leaves as he sees the couple together, seemingly realizing their love for each other. However, Sunny then runs up behind Sudhir with a shovel but is then shot in the back by a police officer, who arrives just in time. The couple reunites with the love developed on the strong foundations of the test of mutual support and understanding to lead a happily married life.

Cast

Reception

Murder received mixed reviews from film critics in India. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated it 3 out of 5 and called it an "engrossing entertainer". Anupama Chopra in her review for India Today called Sherawat "the hero of the film" but criticized the screenplay. At the box office, it opened well and grossed over ₹247.5 million. The film was elevated to "super hit" verdict by Box Office India after its second weekend. It was also the ninth highest-grossing film of the year 2004.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Anu Malik, Amr Diab, Miles, Amir Jamal and Najam Sheraz. The music was recreated by Anu Malik and the original composers were given their credit to prevent increased plagiarism in India. Lyrics are penned by Sayeed Quadri and Rahat Indori.

Awards and Nominations

Only Anuradha Paudwal nominated for filmfare award for Zindgie is tarah se.

Controversies

The soundtrack for the film has been criticized as being copied from other sources. In particular, the song "Jaana Jaane Jaana" is a reported copy of the song "Firiye Dao" by Miles, a pop band from Bangladesh. Miles later sued the filmmakers, which resulted in the song being removed from the film's original soundtrack. The Bangladeshi band also sought compensation for 'hurting it's business interests'. However, due to challenges in terms of uncertainty about the outcome, lack of information and lack of initiative from the relevant authorities on either side, compensation has not (as of 2005) been yet awarded.

Remake and sequels

The film was remade into Kannada as Ganda Hendathi in 2006.

A sequel titled Murder 2 was released on 8 July 2011 with Emraan Hashmi and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead roles. Commercially, the sequel surpassed the collections of Murder, becoming a blockbuster. After the success of the first two installments, the producers released a third installment, Murder 3, on 15 February 2013. The film, which was an official remake of Spanish film The Hidden Face, starred Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren in the lead roles. However, unlike the earlier parts, it only performed moderately well at the box office. A fourth film is in development with Hashmi returning, after not appearing in the third film.