Gaslight follows the story of a paraplegic girl who visits her home only to find out that something is amiss with respect to her enstranged father who mysteriously has disappeared. What is the truth? The story here is decent but if you dig deeper, it is so generic that it doesn’t quite engage you for most parts. If the film is being touted as a whodunnit then there should be excitement in play with a guessing game being played at the side. But the promos of the film were cut in such a way that the cat was out of the bag even before the film was out. And that is quite a shame! The screenplay standing at a shade under 2 hours does make for a taut watch but ideally I would have liked it to be more eventful.

The drama does open with the introduction of the protagonist who does visit her home after a while. I did like that the writers did invest in building the mood of the drama with the weather around the place. So it is seeing raining that signifies a storm brewing in the palace. This theme is maintained throughout the film which was good to watch. The slow buildup does ensure that you are acquainted with all the major players slowly but surely. The film also scores the best when it is trying to build the tension around the supernatural elements in atleast 2 to 3 set pieces. Those scenes are executed very well and add to the mystery of the drama with a tinge of horror. But I wish I could say the same thing about the rest of the film!

The proceedings are half-baked and just do not exude the confidence in the minds of the viewers. Ideally after the initial setup, the film did need to shift gears and make the proceedings more eventful. But instead, you are served with dull representations of the drama with stray incidents that just do not allow you to invest in them. The characterization was also weak and that did result in weak character dynamics too. At no point did I feel that I need to start the guessing game, and that is because the mystery element of the film wasn’t given as much importance too. Even the first twist in the tale was half-hearted and I could see that coming from a distance.

The events leading up to the final act are also not executed properly. I honestly feel that the drama in every scene needed to be simmered for a few more minutes to actually be termed as layered. It almost seemed that the makers were in a rush to move onto the next scene and that really did impact the scene which was in progress. As a result, the ultimate twist in the tale which wasn’t bad on paper although slightly cliched, turned out to be bland by the end of it. The final act was almost laughable and that was such a shame to end things that way. So overall, the screenplay lacks the bite of a whodunnit and just doesn’t engage enough.