Samay: When Time Strikes

Samay: ravi

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robby Grewal
Screenplay by Robby Grewal
Sameer Kohli
Story by Robby Grewal
Sameer Kohli
Starring Sushmita Sen
Jackie Shroff
Dinesh Lamba
Sushant Singh
Music by Sandeep Chowta
Edited by Aarif Shaikh
Distributed by iDream Productions
Release dates
 October 10, 2003
Country India
Language Hindi

Samay: When Time Strikes is a 2003 action-based movie starring Sushmita Sen, and Sushant Singh. It was inspired from Hollywood movie Se7en starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.

Plot

ACP Malvika Chauhan (Sushmita Sen) is a widowed cop having a 10-year-old daughter. She is saddled with the murder case of a reputed businessman, where the killer has left no evidence. Before she can get into the investigation, a famous heroine is killed. Malvika suspects that it might be the work of a serial killer.

Investigation reveals that both the victims had no connection. Plus, even the suspects with motives were not near the crime scenes. Suddenly Malvika realizes that somebody is stalking her. Malvika accosts her stalker, but he reveals that he was just doing it for a criminal named Suleman Bhai. As Suleman has that much expertise to kill someone without leaving evidence, Malvika thinks she has got a killer for at least one case. But when Malvika goes to Suleman's house, she finds Suleman dead.

Again out of leads, Malvika starts going through case files of all 3 victims. She finds 4 connections:- 1] All were best people in their fields. 2] All had a poor eyesight with eye power -2. 3] All ordered their spectacles from the same shop. 4] The position of their hands on the crime scene indicated their time of death (12 pm, 3 pm, and 6 pm).

Malvika goes to the shop to investigate, where the assistant says that her eyesight is perfect, but her vision is very weak. Malvika does not realize what he means, but after learning that the assistant did not turn up that day, she realizes that she talked with the killer (whom she could not see, as the room was dark). Later, she finds out from the list of customers that a person named Amod Parekh (Jackie Shroff), also with eye power -2, visited the same optical shop on the days when all the three murdered persons visited the shop, and believes him to be the killer.

A frustrated Malvika sends her associate Satya (Sushant Singh) to investigate the whereabouts of the killer, while she tries to figure out who the next target is. She finds that a renowned musician, who also has a power of -2, is the customer of the shop and is performing the same evening. Malvika arranges for a tight security, but the musician is not killed by the killer even after the given time (9 pm).

Meanwhile, Malvika's associate finds out the killer's address. Amod reveals himself to Malvika in front of the musician. Amod explains that he was also a graduate from the '94 batch of police academy, the same batch from which Malvika graduated. He explains that his credentials were much better than Malvika's, but he was toppled, as he had poor eyesight with power -2.

Amod vents out his anger by saying that this same fault did not affect the lives of his victims, in fact they became famous. He also goes on to say that he did not want to kill them, but time was not on their side as somebody else too had motive to kill them. Malvika thinks that he is trying to prove that she has lost and he has proved himself a genius, if not as a cop, then as a killer.

Malvika asks why Amod did not kill the musician. Suddenly her associate arrives with a broken pair of glasses retrieved from Amod's house. Amod tells her that her daughter was a perfect daughter of a best cop. He clarifies that he killed her daughter instead (9 pm) who also has an eyesight power of -2 and came to the same optical shop in the same evening. He again taunts Malvika that her eyesight is perfect, but her vision is very weak as she didn't notice her daughter's name in the customers' list. Malvika's associate begs her to not to kill the killer, as he wants her to do the same. However, an angry Malvika shoots the killer dead (12 am).

Cast

Soundtrack

Reception

Samay was well received at the box office and Sushmita Sen was praised for her professional portrayal of ACP Malavika Chauhan. The story has a well-written screenplay, and the storyline keeps its viewers guessing until the last minute.

Samay won a National Award in 2004 for Best Editing by Aarif Sheikh.

External links