Story: A police officer loses his memory after an accident; He must find answers to his past that he seemingly already has.
Review: Hunt, directed by Mahesh Surpaneni, is a 2013 Malayalam remake of the Prithviraj-starrer Mumbai Police. Now, if you’ve seen the original, you already know how this film is going to play out. If not, the film is an investigative drama that unfolds slowly and steadily.
ACP Arjun (Sudhir Babu), Police Commissioner Mohan Bhargava (Srikanth), and ACP Aryan Dev (India) are staunch friends who always have each other’s backs. Dubbed the ‘Mumbai Trio’ by the press for their past in the Mumbai counter-terrorism squad, they now spend their mornings chasing petty gangsters and their evenings with a drink or two. Arjuna meets with an accident and loses his memory. Unfortunately, it’s more at stake than just his job as he holds clues to solving a mystery important to friends. As he slowly tries to figure out the important moments in his life, Arjun may end up finding an answer he doesn’t like.
Hunt wastes no time getting into the thick of things. Apart from an unnecessary special number featuring the Apsara Rani, it doesn’t budge with the usual finesse of a song, fights, punchy dialogues, etc. And while this ensures that the film sticks to Arjun and his plight for the most part, unfortunately, it doesn’t always make for an engaging movie. While the story is sometimes dry and the main character gets emotional at times after his memory loss, it’s not enough to move you because he’s generally despondent. The non-linear narrative may not sit well with everyone, but it is necessary for the story. Red herrings are thrown in the form of Roy (Maim Gopi) and Col. Vikram Singh (Kabir Duhan Singh) but are not too involved.
Also what sets this film apart from the usual investigative dramas is the fact that Arjuna is a very unpredictable character. The more he starts to learn about his past, the more you dislike him. He revels in toxic masculinity, uses the word made at least once, misbehaves with his suspects regardless of gender, and is simply a brute around, except for his friends and their better half. Honestly, that’s refreshing. Hunt does not glorify his behavior, even being called out by a fellow officer in one scene. The strange thing is that whenever Mohan talks to a stranger, he asks a man with amnesia, “Evaru adi” (who is that). Arjun can not remember anything, that’s the point! A stand-off between the army and the police department looks silly, while a terrorist angle feels forced to bring the story to a climax in a roundabout way.
Without giving too much away, it’s important to talk about how this film portrays a gay character. While it’s great that an effort is being made in mainstream cinema to represent the LGBTQIA+ community, the representation seems mired in awareness and borderline homophobia. There is a particular scene where the gay character withers after realizing their sexuality which can be read in two ways. Mahesh never tries to look at how the audience should interpret it. There is also a scene that seems to support homosexuals being in the closet. It really is a head-scratcher. While any presentation at this point feels like a win, not to mention how it all unfolds without too much hoopla, it begs the question of whether the film should have spent more time exploring internalized homosexuality.
Sudheer Babu, Srikanth and Bharat do good work. Compared to the other two, Arjun is brash, Mohan is mature and Aryan is meek. They give it their all and make you believe in their equation with each other. Abhijeet Pundla is given a cookie-cutter role and the rest of the cast give their best with what they get. Apart from Ghibran’s background score, Arun Vincent’s cinematography is nothing to write home about.
Hunt is the kind of investigative thriller that doesn’t rely on the usual hijinks. If you’re looking for something different from the usual fare, this is it.
