Udaipur Files movie review: Film about Kanhaiya Lal murder case is buried under fluff and questionable intent
Cast: Vijay Raaz, Rajneesh Duggal, Preeti Jhangiani
Director: Bharat S Shrinate
Rating: ★.5
Imagine making a two-hour-plus film about a tragic story that can be summed up in one line: a man is killed in the name of religion. Based on the real-life Kanhaiya Lal murder case, Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder stuffs in so much extra that it ends up feeling less about the man and more about the fluff. The film Udaipur Files attempts to explore the Kanhaiya Lal murder but is marred by incoherence and excessive subplots.
Directed by Bharat S Shrinate, the story opens by charting the souring of Hindu-Muslim relations over temples and mosques. When authorities discover that a mosque was once a temple, all hell breaks loose, sparking communal unrest. Kanhaiya Lal (Vijay Raaz), a tailor, lives a content life with his wife and two sons until he is targeted by Nazim (Puneet Vashishth), himself a pawn in the hands of those intent on creating chaos.
There is also a police investigation angle, with Rajneesh Duggal as cop Ishwar Singh and Preeti Jhangiani as his wife Anjana, a news anchor.
If this plot description sounds all over the place, that is because it is. Written by Bharat Singh, Jayant Sinha, and Amit Jani, the film is unfocused, dabbling in religion, politics, and romance, and repeatedly starting subplots only to abandon them. There is even an inexplicable five-minute sequence in the first half that looks straight out of an AI generator. The production values are visibly low.
Long embroiled in controversy, the film wears it on its sleeve. Some scenes make no sense, with abrupt jumps between unrelated tracks and nearly 80 percent of the runtime heavily dubbed. Scene-to-scene connectivity is missing. The music is forgettable, and songs appear out of nowhere. In the middle of a murder case narrative, we get two songs about Hindu pilgrimage sites, which feel more like tourism ads than organic storytelling.
The pacing is erratic, the turns predictable, and the cartoonish antagonist Nazim drags Udaipur Files into territory better suited for a Crime Patrol episode. Even the usually dependable Vijay Raaz cannot rescue this bland mix of mediocre performances and a headless-chicken script. At points, the film's intentions feel troubling, with the villainisation of one religion as blatant as it gets.
Overall, Udaipur Files takes a true story and drowns it in cluttered subplots and one-dimensional characters. With erratic pacing, forgettable music, and an over-the-top antagonist, it ends up feeling more like sensationalised television than a serious cinematic retelling.
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