Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa: Filmmaker Rajat Kapoor puts psychological drama at the centre of his latest whodunnit

Rajat Kapoor’s new film Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa was one of the highlights of the recently concluded Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. It is a murder mystery that is not obsessed with zeroing in on the criminal; its primary preoccupation is to acquaint the audience with each character in the ensemble. Kapoor, who has written the script and directed the movie, is interested in the psychological drama that goes on in their minds, and not merely the external conflicts between characters that the audience can easily watch on screen.

Kapoor also plays one of the key characters in this film. He appears in the role of Chandra, a mental health professional who commands respect from some, and earns scorn from others, because of his intuitive abilities, sharp insights, and the wisdom to grasp what is left unsaid.

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Chandra is also feared to some extent because it is difficult to hide any secrets from him. He is not an omniscient narrator but he does have a _sutradha_r-like quality because he tends to have an inkling of things before they are articulated. He can sense what is simmering under the surface. Appearances do not deceive him easily because he knows that there is more than what the eyes can see and the ears can pick up. He prefers to listen and watch carefully, and read between the lines, instead of getting exhausted with speaking endlessly about himself.

We meet Chandra thanks to Raman (Neel Bhoopalam) and Jayanti (Palomi Ghosh), who have been married for 10 years but can hardly believe that the marriage has lasted so long. To celebrate this happy occasion, they want to throw a party that people will remember. Friends, business associates, relatives and acquaintances are invited for an overnight stay at a mansion that is far away from the city in a quiet and beautiful location. One of the guests is Chandra. There is sumptuous food on the table, alcohol flows freely, and games keep the group busy.

Amidst this blissful setting, Kapoor mounts a whodunnit. A little past midnight, Sohrab (Vinay Pathak) – who is Raman’s business partner – is found dead. His wife Isha (Koel Purie) shrieks in horror, and this wakes up everyone else in the house. They come out running to find out what has happened. Blood oozes out of Sohrab’s throat. It was slit a little past midnight when the party was over and people retired to the bedrooms they were assigned.

When the police station is informed about this incident, a cop named Afzal (Saurabh Shukla) shows up to lead the investigation. He wants to be stern and throw his weight around, hoping perhaps to scare the criminal into a confession, but he comes across as comical in the bargain.

His job is to dig information about all the people who were in the mansion at the time of the murder – Madhavan (Ranvir Shorey), Nena (Waluscha D’Souza), Kumar (Danish Husain), Sandeep (Sharat Katariya), Suman (Sadiya Siddiqui), Nazia (Kankana Chakraborty), Baba (M. K. Raina), and Arun (Chandrachoor Rai), apart from Raman, Jayanti and Isha mentioned earlier. He wants to know which one of them might have a motive to eliminate Sohrab.

Using flashbacks, the film shows us that Sohrab was a bully. He spoke harshly to most of the guests who had gathered for the party. He did not think twice before shaming or ridiculing people in front of others. In fact, he got a kick out of upsetting them and seeing others respond with embarrassment. When people stood up to him, and asked him to correct his behaviour, he did not back down. He was of the opinion that people should not get touchy.

Do all these people tolerate Sohrab or hate him? Are they able to understand why and how he turned into a bully? To what extent can they empathize, and where do they draw their boundaries? If they were pushed beyond a limit, would they be willing to take his life? The film explores all these questions as the investigation proceeds further. When pressure builds up, secrets tumble out and tensions brewing between the characters are exposed for all to see.

Kapoor’s vision for this story is brought to life by an extremely talented cast of actors, many of whom come from a strong background in theatre and have also worked with him before.

The film gives every actor an opportunity to shine, and it seems that this was possible because their parts were well-written. After one of the screenings at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, Kapoor mentioned that all the actors stayed together and shot for a month. This built a sense of camaraderie between them. While he was open to some improvisations, most of the film was shot as per the script that had been penned down and shared with the actors.

Kapoor’s nuanced exploration of his characters’ inner worlds, and the relationships between them, is a bit reminiscent of two other ensemble films – Shakun Batra’s film Kapoor and Sons (2016) and Konkona Sensharma’s film A Death in the Gunj (2016). In both these films, and in _Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa_, there is a house that becomes a playground for suppressed emotions to explode when they refuse to be contained any longer. The façade of cordiality, trust and goodwill is pulled apart. This rupture has disastrous consequences.

The fact that Kapoor brings skill and complexity to a genre that has been done to death (pun intended) is not surprising. He trained at the Film and Television Institute of India, and is a three-time National Award winner. He does not rest on his laurels, and pushes himself to do give his best, elevating the genre instead of merely conforming to a template set by others.

Chintan Girish Modi is a freelance writer, journalist and reviewer based in Mumbai.

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