I can't remember the last time Mauritius looked this drab on the big screen. Mukul Abhyankar’s Missing is about a couple holidaying in a beach resort in Mauritius only to find their 3-year-old Titli missing. So, the narrative plunges headlong into finding the child while we wonder at the conspicuous absence of any logic or story.
For the sake of being a brooding psychological thriller it's all very well to adopt a non- leaner structure, but Missing is plain incoherent where we routinely wander away into flashbacks that tie the story up in knots.
Sushant Dubey, along with Aparna, come into a sparsely-populated luxury resort with a kid whose face we never get to see. Sushant (Manoj Bajpai) seems a little distanced and goes away in the middle of the night to speak to another women in hushed tones.
A sneeky hotel guest is shown loitering outside the couple's room with an ominous background score trying to build up intrigue and tension. Soon, the police is summoned and in walks Ram Khilavan aka Annu Kapoor, who makes heavy-weather of routine investigation procedures.
And what could have been quite an engaging short film is dragged to feature film length with little to hold on to. There are suspects and red herrings and lies and twists all sprung at regular intervals to keep up the facade of a grave thriller.
But Missing at its core is simply an opportunity missed where even class actors like Tabu and Manoj Bajpai are wasted. The proceedings pick up pace towards the end but the denouement is so hackneyed that all one can muster is a long sigh!
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