Ittefaq

Directed by: Abhay Chopra Produced by: Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, Gauri Khan, Renu Ravi Chopra and Hiroo Yash Johar Written by: Abhay Chopra, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Mehrotra Screenplay by: Abhay Chopra Based on: “Ittefaq” by Yash Chopra Starring: Sidharth Malhotra, Akshaye Khanna and Sonakshi Sinha Music by: BT Tanishk Bagchi Cinematography: Michal Luka Edited by: Nitin Baid , Sangeeth Varghese Production company: Dharma Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment, B.R. Studios Distributed by: Red Chillies Entertainment Release date: 3 November 2017 Running time: 106 minutes Budget: 10 crore

Storyline: Dev (Akshaye Khanna), a police officer, is investigating a double murder case that has only two witnesses, who are also the prime suspects. The suspects – Vikram (Sidharth Malhotra), an acclaimed writer, and Maya (Sonakshi Sinha), a young homemaker, have different narratives about the events of that fateful night. Both the stories seem true but there can only be one truth. Dev is torn between the two versions of the story, and will not settle till he finds out what happened that night.

Know more about the captain of the Ship, the director: Sometimes mixed up and mistaken for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’ s nephew actor director Abhay Chopra aka Vikram Chopra aka Vicky Chopra. Grandson of B.R.Chopra and son of Ravi Chopra. Brother of assistant director Kapil Chopra. Was to direct a period film titled “Kohinoor” that got shelved. Grandnephew of Yash Chopra.Abhay has written and directed “India, 1964” (Short film), “Karma” (Short film) and “Reflections” (Short film)

My Gut Feel (MGF) and comments:

“It’s hard to believe in coincidence, but it’s even harder to believe in anything else.”-John Green

“Ittefaq” is an adaptation of an old movie with the same title released in 1969 starring Rajesh Khanna and Nanda. The film became a “semi-hit” at the box office. The movie was a remake of 1965 American movie “Signpost to Murder” which had earlier been adapted into a Gujarati drama Dhummas starring Sarita Joshi. It was the fourth Bollywood film that did not have any songs in it.
Now adapting the same movie plot for the fourth time and trying to keep the mystry intact would seem to be a daunting task. Trailer of  “Ittefaq” is edited well to create the curiosity among the audience. Viewers who love mystery thrillers would certainly be looking forward for this movie to get released.
Abhay Chopra is a debutant director, Grandson of B.R.Chopra and son of Ravi Chopra. Film is produced by Dharma Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment and B.R. Studios. Other than Akshay Khanna I am not finding the other two lead stars Sidharth Malhotra and  Sonakshi Sinha engaging as far as screen presence is concerned for this film.
Going by MGF, I foresee it to be an average movie and hence giving it 2.5 stars out of 5, 2 days before its release. Although, I would love to be proven wrong as I myself love mystery thrillers. Hope it would turn out to be an engaging, fast paced murder mystery, giving  thrill with nail biting ending to audience to talk about.