Kuldip Patwal: I Didn't Do It!

STORY: A hard-working commoner, Kuldip Patwal, makes national news and finds himself at the centre of a high-profile court case after he is accused of assassinating the Chief Minister of an Indian state.

REVIEW: Gone are the days when suppressed ‘have nots’ of a sovereign state bowed down to the dictatorial behaviour of its head and submitted to their inevitable fate, and that exactly is the (problematic) recurring theme of Remy Kohli’s whodunit—Kuldip Patwal: I didn’t Do It.

An honest middle-class man Kuldip Patwal (Deepak Dobriyal), with meagre income, a few lost opportunities and a loving family to fall back on, finds himself locked behind bars after the leading political party’s rally goes horribly wrong and he gets tied to the assassination of the Chief Minister Varun Chadha (Parvin Dabas). Now, the film starts off with a bang and raises hopes, only if it would have stuck to the current scenario and unleashed the different layers of Dobriyal’s persona while keeping the mystery element intact.

The story of Kuldip Patwal keeps going back and forth, adding more to the already haywire script and prolonging the agony, both for the post-production team and its viewers. It is one of those many screenplays that boast of extensive ground research, minute attention to intricate details but exhibits sloppiness when it comes to an impactful execution.

Deepak Dobriyal is in his element—cranky, aloof and withdrawn, angry upon the world for his ill-fated life. The character of lawyer Parduman Shahpuri (Gulshan Devaiah), a not-so-modest lawyer, who works relentlessly for the upliftment of vulnerable farmers, is probably the only source of humour in this murder mystery. Parvin Dabas as a young leader looking to change the world is a complete misfit. Although the part of Simrat Varun Chadha (Raima Sen) required more humility and a relatable Indian accent, Sen holds her ground as the bereaved widow of an once powerful man.

'Kuldip Patwal: I didn’t Do It' had all the ingredients of a grippingly intriguing murder mystery, but the writers Rahul Ramchandani and Remy Kohli have tried to feed in a plethora of information, ranging from scams, caste reservation to communal riots and the growing rage amongst civilians.

It is a story that tries to take on the system by bringing to light its wrongdoings, but drowns in its own mediocrity instead. Even the courtroom scenes go astray and that’s plain disappointing!Sans the acting, and a few impactful scenes, this murder mystery is best left unresolved.