Murder (film series)

Murder film series
Directed by	Anurag Basu (Murder) Mohit Suri (Murder 2) Vishesh Bhatt (Murder 3)
Produced by	Mukesh Bhatt
Starring	Emraan Hashmi (Murder,Murder 2) Randeep Hooda (Murder 3) Mallika Sherawat (Murder) Jacqueline Fernandez (Murder 2) Aditi Rao Hydari (Murder 3) Sara Loren (Murder 3) Ashmit Patel (Murder) Prashant Narayanan (Murder 2)
Production company	Vishesh Films
Distributed by	Vishesh Films (Murder,Murder 2,Murder 3) Fox Star Studios (Murder 3)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	27 crore (US$4.3 million) (3 films)
Box office	168 crore (US$27 million) (3 films)

Murder is an Indian thriller film series produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt under the banner of Vishesh Films. The first two films Murder and Murder 2 were adult rated films and met with huge commercial success, which made Murder, one of the most successful film franchises in India. The first two instalments are still regarded as the one of most successful adult films in India. A third instalment, called Murder 3 was also released in 2013 which became the first non adult film in the film series.

Apart from the adult content and commercial success, Murder films are also known for their exceptional music. Murder(2004) gave two huge chartbusters to Indian Cinema, Kaho Naa Kaho and Bheege Honth Tere. Same was repeated in Murder 2 which delivered Haal E Dil and Phir Mohabbat which ruled the charts. Murder 3's soundtrack was considered below the benchmark of the Murder series by the audience but earned positive critical reception.

The awe inspiring success of the Murder series led to remakes like Ganda Hehathi(Telugu remake of Murder) and other unofficial remakes.

Production

Murder

Murder released on 2 April 2004 and, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, managed to become a highly successful venture at the box office, earning the super hit status.^[1] The film was a huge breakthrough for its lead actors, particularly Hashmi and Sherawat. It received an A certificate from the Indian Censor Board for its erotic subject and scenes. Murder is essentially a remake of 2002 Hollywood film Unfaithful.

Murder 2

The film was shot in Mumbai and Goa. Earlier, Bipasha Basu was offered the part of the leading lady, but she refused. Then Mohit Suri offered the leading role to Asin Thottumkal but, she thought the role of leading lady is not so powerful so she also refused to do this role. The part then went to Jacqueline Fernandez, after also considering actress Sonal Chauhan. Basu was also offered the item number "Aa Zara". When she refused, the song was given to Yana Gupta.^[2]

The song "Haal-E-Dil" had to be re-shot to make it more suitable for television promos.^[3]

Yana Gupta's item number "Aa Zara" was not aired on television promos as it was too explicit and suggestive for audiences under 18. Instead, the number was shot with Jacqueline Fernandez and Emraan Hashmi, which was aired on television. The original number with Yana was retained in the film.^[4]

The film has been claimed to be an unofficial remake of South Korean movie The Chaser, whilst being influenced by real-life events including Ted Bundy's case.^[5] The DVD of the film was released on 1 August 2011.

Murder 3

Shooting of the film has happened in Cape Town, South Africa and Goa, India.

Mahesh Bhatt said "Murder 3 is the 2013 equivalent of the controversial film, Arth in the thriller genre which released in 1983. Then it was the institution of marriage that was deconstructed and 30 years later Murder 3 deconstructs love and questions its very existence in today's world of relationship crimes. Now that we have the official rights of the film (The Hidden Face), we look to doing it justice and taking the Murder franchise forward."^[6]

Overview

Murder (2004)

The story follows Simran (Mallika Sherawat), a young woman married to Sudhir (Ashmit Patel), a workaholic. Due to her lonely, passionless married life, she begins an affair with her college love, Sunny (Emraan Hashmi), whom she accidentally meets. She starts telling lies to Sudhir so as to meet Sunny daily. She gets so engrossed in their affair that she forgets all her commitments as a wife and mother, and she realises that it is grossly wrong. She decides to end the affair but, to her surprise, she finds another woman named Radhika with him. Simran then realises the mistake of sleeping with Sunny just because of an unhappy marital life. She laments her unfaithful act.

Meanwhile, Sudhir starts to have doubts about his wife, and hires a detective to trace Simran's whereabouts. His doubts are confirmed when the detective provides him with photographs of the two together. he also finds out that Sunny is a womaniser, with many girlfriends. The next day, Sunny suddenly goes missing. The police come to their house and inquire about him on a report registered by his girlfriend. Simran sees the photographs of her and Sunny in Sudhir's pants, and realises that Sudhir has something to do with Sunny being missing. It is revealed that when Sudhir goes to Sunny's apartment asking him to end the affair, he fatally beats him and buries his body, in the heat of the moment. Simran accepts her mistake, supports Sudhir, and then tries to take the blame of Sunny's murder on herself. This develops and strengthens their love and faith. With Sunny murdered, she is arrested by the police and pleads guilty. On the other hand, Sudhir claims that it is he who killed Sunny. This confuses the police. Moreover, the body is missing from the burial spot.

The story takes a U-turn when it is found that this "murder" never took place; rather it was a plot planned by Sunny with the aid of Radhika to separate Simran and Sudhir, so that he could continue his love affair with Simran. Only Simran comes to realise this, and she is trapped by Sunny. Sunny chases Simran into a jungle, where Sudhir arrives and has another fight with Sunny. He manages to beat him, and Sunny leaves as he sees the two together, seemingly realising their love for each other. However, Sunny then runs up behind Sudhir with a shovel but is then shot in the back by a police officer, who arrives just in time. The couple reunites with the love developed on the strong foundations of the test of mutual support and understanding to lead a happily married life.

Murder 2 (2011)

Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi) is an ex-police officer who is hungry for money and earns his bread by doing wrong things. He is an atheist (Nastik) but regularly visits church to donate money to orphans. Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez), a model, is in a passionate but confused relationship with Arjun. Whilst Priya is in love with Arjun, Arjun merely lusts for her.

Arjun meets a gangster, Sameer, who has been going through a slump in his business due to an unexplained disappearance of his hookers. Sameer offers him a huge amount of money to locate the missing girls, which Arjun accepts. During his investigation, Arjun finds a phone number linked to the missing girls. He tells Sameer to send a prostitute to the number. Sameer decides to send Reshma (Sulagna Panigrahi), a 17-year-old college newcomer in the business, who has entered prostitution to feed her family, though keeps this a secret from them. Reshma is sent to the house of Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan), who is actually a psychopath murderer responsible for torturing and killing the missing hookers. He decides to do the same with Reshma and throws her in a dark well, with the intention of torturing her till her death.

Arjun finds out that Dheeraj is the murderer and tells the police. While Dheeraj is held in jail, the commissioner calls a psychiatrist to extract his confession. Dheeraj tells the doctor that he kills women because he thinks they take advantage of men. He also reveals that he castrated himself and became a eunuch to get rid of his sex addiction, with the help of a fellow eunuch and big-shot politician, Nirmala Pandit. Dheeraj is eventually let out under Nirmala Pandit's influence. Meanwhile, Reshma escapes from the well and tries to find her way out through the forest.

Arjun meets Dheeraj's family, who reveal that Dheeraj used to beat his wife. He next meets a private dancer, Sonia, who had also been tortured by Dheeraj, but managed to escape. Arjun then meets an idol-maker who used to work with Dheeraj. The maker tells him that Dheeraj used to make idols of devils instead of deities and killed the factory-owner who tried to stop him. Inspector Sadaa (Sudhanshu Pandey) informs Arjun that Dheeraj is free, and the police try to track him down as quickly as possible. Nirmala and Dheeraj enter the same temple where Reshma is hiding. Nirmala and the priest, who had both been unaware of Dheeraj's true nature, are killed by Dheeraj, but not before the priest reveals that Reshma is there. Dheeraj finds the terrified Reshma and brutally murders her, escaping just before Arjun and the cops arrive. Arjun finds Reshma's body and breaks down, feeling guilty and responsible for her death.

Dheeraj targets Priya next whom she calls for a photoshoot and tries to torture her, but Arjun saves her, engaging Dheeraj in a fight as police officers show up. They request Arjun not to kill Dheeraj. Dheeraj then plays the tape he recorded when he was torturing Reshma. Hearing Reshma's pleading cries, Arjun, tormented by her death and blaming himself for it, angrily kills Dheeraj, ending his reign of terror once and for all.

The film ends with Arjun visiting a church with Priya, implying that Priya's near death has made Arjun realise his love for her.

Murder 3 (2013)

The film opens with Vikram (Randeep Hooda), a hot-shot fashion and wildlife photographer, viewing a video of his girlfriend, Roshni (Aditi Rao Hydari) telling him she is leaving him. Vikram becomes distraught. While drinking away his sorrows at a bar, he meets Nisha (Sara Loren) and they had a relationship where Nisha moves into the house that Vikram was sharing with Roshni. Vikram becomes a suspect in the disappearance of Roshni, however, the investigators can find no evidence of Vikram's involvement in Roshni's disappearance.

It is revealed that the house is owned by a German lady who shows Roshni a secret room built to hide her husband just in case someone came to look for him because he was in British Army at the time of 1947. The room is self-contained and sealed off from sound.

In a flashback, it is also shown that Roshni, jealous of Vikram`s relationship with one of his colleague, decided to pretend she is leaving him. She creates the video saying she is leaving as she hides in the secret room. The room has some one way mirrors where she can observe Vikram`s reaction. When she decides he has had enough she looks for the key and realizes she lost the key and is now trapped in the room with no way to contact him.

Nisha finds the key to the secret room, but she doesn't know what it is used for. Nisha eventually figures out that Roshni is trapped in the house because Roshni is able to communicate through tapping on the pipes in the secret room. As Nisha is ready to open the door, she pauses and decides not to rescue Nisha because she might lose Vikram after that. Nisha struggles with her decision, but decides to open the door and check on Roshni because the investigators gave Nisha pictures of Vikram and his Colleague and she herself feels the pangs of jealously. As Nishais checking on Roshni laying in a bed in the secret room, Roshni surprises Nisha and knocks her out and leaves Nisha locked in the room. After Roshni comes out of the secret room, she sees Vikram and his colleagues photographs and shatters.She decides to leave the house. She leaves that picture of Vikram with his Friend on mirror and send the keys of the room to the investigator who actually loves Nisha . The final scene shows Roshni tearing her and Vikram`s photograph and is going on a highway road in a Bike alone

Principal cast

Murder

• Emraan Hashmi as Sunny
• Mallika Sherawat as Simran
• Ashmit Patel as Sudhir

Murder 2

• Emraan Hashmi as Arjun Bhagwat
• Jacqueline Fernandez as Priya
• Prashant Narayanan as Dheeraj Pandey
• Sulagna Panigrahi as Reshma

Murder 3

• Randeep Hooda as Vikram
• Aditi Rao Hydari as Roshni
• Sara Loren as Nisha

Box Office

Murder opened well and grossed over 48 crore (US$7.6 million) worldwide. The film was elevated to 'Super Hit' verdict by Box Office India after its second weekend. It was also the ninth highest-grossing film of the year 2004.^[1]

Murder 2 did phenomenal business at the box office and was declared a 'blockbuster' by Box Office India.^[7] It was one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2011, earning over 92 crore (US$15 million) worldwide .^[8][9]

Murder 3 did decent business at the box office and emerged a profitable venture.

Music

Murder had a highly successful soundtrack. The music was composed by Anu Malik and lyrics were penned down by Sayeed Quadri. The songs Bheege Honth Tere, sung by Kunal Ganjawala and Kaho Naa Kaho, sung by Amir Jamal became immensely popular and rest of the songs were also well received by people. Planet Bollywood called it one of the best soundtracks of the decade. Eventually, Anu Malik earned a Filmfare Award nomination for the best music director.

Murder 2's soundtrack had high expectations. However, the response was again extremely positive from the critics and audience alike. The music was composed by Harshit Saxena, Mithoon and Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur. The tracks Haal E Dil and Phir Mohabbat emerged chartbusters . Also, the songs Aye Khuda and Aa Zara also became popular after the release. The soundtrack won several awards and nominations at several award ceremonies including Mirchi Music Awards and Apsara Awards.

Murder 3's soundtrack was composed by Pritam and Mustafa Zahid. It was well received by critics. Planet Bollywood gave it a score of 7.5/10. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave it 3.5/5 stars. However, the music failed to repeat he magic of the Murder brand and could not become popular among the masses.

Impact

The film Murder was the first commercial success and a huge breakthrough for Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat. Today, Emraan Hashmi has established himself as one of the leading actors of contemporary Indian Cinema. He starred in several commercially successful films and earned critical acclaim. In 2011, he had his biggest solo earner in the form of Murder 2. Though it was beaten later by Raaz 3, it is still regarded as his most successful film commercially as it did outstanding business despite limited release and achieved the Blockbuster status.

Murder 2 proved to be a turning point in the career of Jacqueline Fernandez by becoming her first commercial success as well as kick starting her career for the good. As of 2013, she has appeared in high profile item numbers like Dhanno from Housefull and 100 crore blockbusters like Housefull 2 and Race 2 and also secured several huge projects like Roy opposite superstar Ranbir Kapoor and Kick opposite superstar Salman Khan. She also has begun shooting for her Hollywood debut movie According To Matthew opposite Alston Koch. Having done so, she has established herself as one of the most popular actresses of Bollywood currently.

Murder 3 gave Randeep Hooda his biggest solo earner and also re-launched Sara Loren in Bollywood.

Inspirations

Murder is essentially a remake of 2002 Hollywood film Unfaithful.

Murder 2 takes the same plot elements from Academy Award-winning Hollywood film The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as well as South Korean film The Chaser (2008).^[8][10]

Murder 3 is an official Bollywood remake of the Colombian thriller The Hidden Face.

See also

• Raaz (film series)

References

External links

• Murder at the Internet Movie Database
• Murder 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• Murder 3 at the Internet Movie Database