Pune Highway Review: Weirdly Comical, Serves 90s Style Thrills
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
When we were kids, we loved buying cheap ice-lollies from pushcarts, despite the persistent rumors that they were made from the same ice used to preserve dead bodies. A few Bollywood films even helped fuel that bizarre theory. Now, ‘Pune Highway’ adds a new entry to the morgue-ice-cream conspiracy club, featuring a scene where a cop stores a body at an ice factory because he has no better option. Sorry if you hadn’t heard this urban myth before, because now, you might never look at roadside ice shavings the same way again.
Directed by Rahul da Cunha and Bhargava Krishna, ‘Pune Highway’ follows four friends, who become suspects in a young woman’s murder, after her body is found in a decomposed state in Pune. Long review short, this is a decent thriller with a heavy 1980s/1990s drama mood and will entertain viewers who enjoy shows like ‘Crime Patrol‘ a great option for true-crime fans in India, where just one episode (sometimes two) gives you an entire story.
‘Pune Highway’ begins with a horror-style scene of an eerie-looking corpse washing up on the shore of a river. It’s an unidentified woman, with the only clue to ascertain her identity lying in a golden bangle on her wrist. Honest Inspector Prabhakar Pethe (Sudeep Modak) takes a personal interest in the case, intent on solving what is clearly a murder.
Meanwhile, viewers are introduced to a group of friends: siblings Pramod Khandewal (Amit Sadh), aka Khandu, Natasha Khandewal (Manjari Fadnnis), aka Nats, Nicky (Anuvab Pal), and Vishnu (Jim Sarbh). A fifth friend, Saple, is bedridden after a violent attack by goons belonging to a powerful Maharashtrian strongman called Mansekar (Shishir Sharma). Flashbacks reveal that Khandu helps hush up the case because he works for Mansekar, a man not to be messed with. Vishnu is an accomplished lawyer, Nicky an aspiring filmmaker, while we have no idea what Natasha does. It turns out the victim, identified as Mona (Ketaki Narayan), is connected to these friends, making some of them primary suspects in the case.
With multiple suspects, “who killed Mona?” is the primary suspense, and to the creators’ credit, they keep throwing red herrings to mislead the viewers, sustaining intrigue until the climactic moments of ‘Pune Highway’. Although, the way the case unfolds is comically unprofessional, with characters treating the police station like a guest house. The primary cast deliver convincing performances, but those given small bit parts are awfully bad, making their scenes unwittingly hilarious.
‘Pune Highway’ feels part thriller and part parody, but the primary cast and little twists, some of which are outright nonsensical, like a bit where a character who is arrested and could potentially face serious jail time refuses to give an alibi despite having one, over something ridiculously emotional, keep it engaging. The childhood flashbacks were quite unnecessary and the plot progression often feels jarring.
Anyway, like I said, if you’re a ‘Crime Patrol‘ fan, this film is a pretty entertaining one-time watch, even though it is absurdly over-the-top and melodramatic in parts. If I had to rate it, I’d say maybe 6 out of 10.
Watch ‘Pune Highway’ on Prime Video.
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