Wajah Tum Ho movie review: Director Vishal Pandya's new erotic thriller is devoid of reason

The writers and director of Wajah Tum Ho are serious about their story. They are earnest about crime, vengeance, hacking. They are equally serious about remixed songs, itsy-bitsy clothing, item numbers, mid-riff baring lawyers and their costume, hair and make-up budgets. A news network is hacked and a murder is telecast live. The channel’s control centre head’s one astute observation: “I think we are hacked.” No kidding Sherlock! Why doesn’t the channel switch off the feed and go to white noise? Because the simple answer is not the one chosen by characters in Vishal Pandya’s romantic thriller. Instead the head of this hacked media network, Rahul Oberoi (Rajniesh Duggal) is called into questioning by inspector Kabir Deshmukh (Sharman Joshi) as the prime suspect for the live murder of a Mumbai policeman. For all this posturing and wisdom, and seeming righteousness, Deshmukh and his team are always a step behind the killer. And that’s no surprise because the screenwriters don’t know when to stop adding twists to the whodunit. What starts off as a potentially interesting thriller contorts into senselessness. The arrogant and diabetic (this is relevant somehow as we later find out) Oberoi depends on his legal head Siya (Sana Khan) to get him out of this wrangle and prove his innocence. Siya (the mid-riff baring lawyer mentioned above) is pitted against the police appointed prosecutor Ranvir (Gurmeet Choudhary). It’s curious that neither of these legal aides are ever shown investigating or analysing anything. In their off-duty moments they meet, go through multiple costumes changes, float around exotic locations and seduce each other. [caption id=“attachment_3159136” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sana Khan and Gurmeet Choudhary in a still from ‘Wajah Tum Ho’[/caption] This is the love story. Then there are the baddies — the corrupt cop, the millionaire scion Karan (Himmanshoo Malhotra), who is somehow embroiled in this web of lies and crime, the person shielded by a hoodie who is the mastermind behind the hacking and the deaths. And just when you think all has been revealed, another curveball comes flying out at you. Think again, says the director — join the dots, says inspector Deshmukh. And when even those dots don’t form a straight line, Deshmukh’s wise words are: “It’s not a case, it’s an onion.” Every move, every thought, every clue or step in the investigation is spelt out, including a presentation on how hacking of a broadcast network might happen. A pounding background score is used to build suspense but the characterisations are so shallow that there is a basic disinterest in the plot which music cannot save, certainly not the two item numbers (Zareen Khan, Sherlyn Chopra). Sana Khan, Gurmeet Choudhary and Sharman Joshi obviously felt as serious about the film as the makers and sincerely present their characters, making up partly for Duggal’s limitations, restricted to grimacing and smirking. Pandya smartly constricts Malhotra’s screen time and dialogues yet notice his inability to emote and his gravity-defying hairstyle. Indeed there is a great deal of emphasis on styling. I break a nail trying to open a jam jar, but here Sana Khan comes up for air from hand-to-hand combat, scratched and bleeding, but without even one chipped nail. During a court hearing, Siya describes the case against Oberoi as “baseless and logicless” [sic]. She could well have been talking about the script. Watch the trailer for Wajah Tum Ho here: