STORY: A new girl in college, Tanu Sharma (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor), accuses the most popular guy Vijay (Gurfateh Singh Pirzada) of sexual assault. But is she framing him or is he indeed guilty?

REVIEW: Set in the elite St Martin’s College, the story is told through the shenanigans of a college band named Doobydo, whose lead vocalist is college heartthrob Vijay Pratap Singh, popularly known as VJ (Gurfateh Singh Pirzada). His girlfriend Nanki Dutta (Kiara Advani), who is also the lyricist of the band, and other band members — Hardy (Adhish Khanna), KP (Chayan Chopra) and Tashi (Tenxin Dralha) — are snooty but famous nonetheless.

A new admission, a ‘scholarship kid’ from Dhanbad Tanu Sharma (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor), is a total misfit in this milieu. She is also an attention seeker who is always upfront about her desires for VJ. On a fateful Valentine’s Day celebration, Tanu throws herself on VJ. Almost a year later, when the #MeToo movement is making headlines, Tanu via social media accuses VJ of rape. It leaves everyone wondering what happened: was it consensual, is she lying to get back at him for turning her down, or was she indeed raped.

‘Guilty’ opens with each band member being interrogated by Danish Ali Baig (Taher Shabbir), a solicitor hired by VJ’s influential parents — powerful politician Pratap (Manu Rishi Chadha) and socialite Sushma (Niki Walia). Through these interrogations, we are taken into flashbacks that put together the missing pieces of the puzzle of that fateful night: who is friends with whom, who is on whose side, who is lying and who isn’t.

The movie appears impressive in the way the characters turn out. Tanu, for instance, is introduced as a wannabe cool girl who is always chasing after VJ. This becomes the biggest hurdle for people to gauge if her accusation is indeed true. Nanki, who is always seen supporting VJ, later distances herself and wonders whether he is actually guilty or not.

Directed by Ruchi Narain, this film largely unfolds through Nanki’s perspective. The characters that appear trustworthy in the beginning turn out to be not so trustworthy later on. This, gives hope that a good crime drama is about to unveil itself, keeping you curiously engaged till the end. The multiple narratives and contrasting point-of-views encourage one to draw their own conclusions.

Unfortunately, even all these elements fail to salvage the uneven tone of the film. Co-written by Narain and Kanika Dhillon, the narrative gets a little too preachy at times about #MeToo. The screenplay is largely about he said-she said, and not enough time is spent on presenting the viewpoints of both — the accused and the survivor. After a certain point, the plot gets predictable. The film showed promise, but the writing falters, and it ends up being a letdown.

Both Kiara Advani as Nanki and debutant Akanksha Ranjan Kapoor as Tanu make the most of their parts by delivering believable and arresting performances. Debutant Gurfateh Singh Pirzada as VJ is quite promising and well supported by his inseparable and loyal band members.

During its opening act, ‘Guilty’ positively struggles to stick around but soon turns out to be a lost opportunity.