Manorama Six Feet Under

''Manorama Six Feet Under'' is a 2007 Indian crime thriller film directed and co-written by Navdeep Singh. The film features Abhay Deol, Raima Sen, and Gul Panag in the lead roles. The film was released on 21 September 2007. It follows an amateur detective in a small sleepy town from Rajasthan who finds himself caught in a web of lies, deceit and murder. The movie is based on an American neo-noir film, ''Chinatown'' (1974). The makers of ''Manorama Six Feet Under'' acknowledged the inspiration from the original by playing the sequence where Jack Nicholson's character gets his nose slashed on the main character's (Satyaveer) television.

Plot

The film opens with a narrative about a nondescript town called Lakhot in Rajasthan, India. The narrator is Satyaveer Singh Randhawa, a down-on-his-luck public works engineer. He compares Lakhot – dry, desolate and despondent – to the general downturn in his own life. As he returns to his irritable and nagging wife Nimmi and their young son, we learn that Satyaveer has just been implicated in a small bribery scandal at work. Satyaveer is also an aspiring writer whose only novel Manorama sank without a trace, laments about how he had once wished to be famous but is now resigned to a banal and unremarkable existence.

One night, a woman claiming to be the wife of Irrigation Minister and ex-Maharaja P. P. Rathore visits him. A fan of his detective novel Manorama, she hires him to photograph Rathore’s alleged affair. Satyaveer accepts and spies on Rathore, capturing images of a woman being turned away at his estate. He hands over the film to the woman and confides in his brother-in-law, Brij Mohan, a local cop, who warns him something feels off.

He decides to investigate further. He finds out that Manorama was connected with a local children's home and lived with a roommate, Sheetal. When he tries to investigate Manorama's room, he bumps into Sheetal, who refuses to talk with him. Satyaveer is later set upon by thugs; they turn out to be the same men who chased Manorama on the night of her death, and they want to find out what she told him that night. Satyaveer tells them what was told to him after getting his two fingers broken and his motorbike is stolen. Satyaveer later uncovers that Manorama's death was an accident; she was hit by a truck as she fled her pursuers.

Satyaveer goes back to Manorama's room, however this time finds that thugs had ruined the entire place and injured Sheetal. She is scared but somehow warms to him and asks if she can stay with him for a few days. Seeing as Nimmi has returned to Rohtak (her parents’ house) for Diwali, Satyaveer agrees. Sheetal moves in for a little while. Around this time, Satyaveer attends a rally function with Rathore in attendance. He follows Rathore and discovers that Rathore receives regular medication from a doctor for an unknown ailment. He also spots the woman who visited him on the night Satyaveer took the photos.

He follows the woman and makes contact with her. She lives with the doctor Anil Poddar. She turns out to be Sameera Rathore, the illegitimate daughter of Rathore. She was trying to get Rathore to accept her as a daughter. Satyaveer begins piecing the parts together. However, when Satyaveer visits the doctor, he finds that the doctor and Sameera have both been brutally murdered. There he and Sheetal discuss what to do next and they almost kiss but his wife calls him and he takes her call immediately remembering his marriage. He runs to the children's home where he discovers that Sheetal has actually been dead for around 8–10 days.

When Satyaveer visits them again, he finds both murdered. Shocked, he returns home to discover that Sheetal was actually dead for over a week—the woman staying with him was an imposter. She calmly reveals herself as Neetu, a concubine of Rathore, and directs him to hand over the photos to Rathore.

Satyaveer returns to confront Rathore. He confronts Rathore, exposing him as a pedophile exploiting children from the local orphanage. Manorama and the real Sheetal, both tied to the orphanage, had uncovered his crimes and were silenced.

Neetu tries to seduce Satyaveer on Rathore's orders, but he resists. He also reveals that Manorama and Dr. Poddar were siblings. Knowing Rathore had terminal lung cancer, they fed him placebos to keep him alive long enough to accept Sameera as his heir. But now, it’s too late. Rathore’s wife, hearing the full story, laughs in relief.

As Satyaveer is walking out, he slaps one of the goons who is asthmatic, and the goon starts choking on a peanut, but Satyaveer continues walking by carefree. He remarks that there is a god up there, and he will listen one day, all you have to ask is "Is anyone there"?. He gets away in the pink taxi and reunites with his wife and son at the terminal.

Cast

* Abhay Deol as Satyaveer Singh Randhawa
* Raima Sen as Sheetal / Neetu
* Gul Panag as Nimmi Randhawa
* Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Minister P. P. Rathore
* Sarika as Manorama Rathore
* Vinay Pathak as Brijmohan
* Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Chhaila
* Brijendra Kala as Bihari Lal
* Yana Gupta as herself (brief friendly appearance)
* Nakshatra as Raju, son of Satyaveer
* Poonam Gibson as Sameera Rathore
* Devinder Madan as Mrs. P. P. Rathore, wife of the Minister
* Jogi as Fauji
* Rajesh M as Dr. Anil Poddar
* Shabnam Wadhera as Head-mistress of the orphanage
* Tejpal Singh as Attendant of P. P. Rathore

Production

A significant portion of the film, particularly the interior scenes set in Rajasthan, was filmed in Mandawa. The scenes featuring Abhay Deol and Vinay Pathak were predominantly shot there.

Critical reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars calling it "a well-executed thriller". Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times gave the film a 3/5 rating calling Abhay Deol "an actor who has matured and radiates intelligence". Times of India gave it a 3/5 rating, calling it "a sparkling gem, off mainstream masala, for the choosy film buff". Rajeev Masand gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "It’s unlikely that Manorama Six Feet Under will appeal to all, mostly because it unfolds at a pace slower than a melting candle. But skillfully directed by debutant Navdeep Singh, the film works as a show reel for the talents of everyone involved."

Soundtrack

Track listing

# "Dhokha" (4:12) - Richa Sharma
# "Dhundla Jo Sama Bandh" (5:04) - Kailash Kher
# "Tere Sawalon Ke" (5:43) - Roop Kumar Rathod, Mahalakshmi Iyer
# "Woh Bheege Pal" (6:49) - Jayesh Gandhi
# "Woh Bheege Pal" (6:48) - Zubeen Garg
# "Woh Bheege Pal" (Remixed by Akbar Sami) (6:18) - Jayesh Gandhi

References

External links

*
*
Manorama Six Feet Under
' on Netflix

{{Authority control

2007 films
2010s mystery thriller films
2007 directorial debut films
2000s Hindi-language films
Films shot in Rajasthan
Films shot in Mandawa
Indian mystery thriller films
Indian detective films
Films set in Rajasthan