Ok, so before I get to the review, last week I had watched the Malayalam serial killer movie Anjaam Pathiraa and it was outstanding(Review will be up tomorrow, named this movie for a reason that you will find out later on in this review). Yes, my favourite genre and what more should I say. But somehow Bollywood hasn’t wuite nailed the genre. Barring Ranan Raghav 2.0, I cannot think of any other movie in the genre coming from Bollywood. And today, I watched another attempt from them, Mrs. Serial Killer. Does it tick all checkboxes in the template for this genre…lets find out.

Mrs. Serial Killer is the story of a wife that would go to any extent to prove the innocence of her husband(accused of being a serial killer) even if it means to commit a crime. The story is a good one and had tremendous potential. The screenplay is a bit of a let down for me. The premise was good and till about one third into the movie, the proceedings were going about quite smoothly. But alas, Bollywood struck(it had to right). The proceedings turned out to be unintentionally funny which was just not required. It should have continued to be grim and that itself would have guaranteed success. If not for the towering act by Manoj Bajpayee in the final 40 minutes, this movie would have crashed(more on him later). The “original” background music is inspired(not sure if rights are been taken) from Asoka(the SRK one) and another tune seems familiar too(but no comments on that). Director Shirish Kundar who last directed the brilliant short ‘Kriti’, is patchy, he is quite good in many scenes but some humour(unintentional) does creep in his direction!

Darshan Zariwala is good in a cameo. Mohit Raina is good but heavily underutilized in a role that doesn’t allow him to bloom. Jacqualine Fernandes is good in most parts though her dialogue delivery needs alot of improvement. And as mentioned earlier, Manoj Bajpayee is the star of the show, single handedly managing the sinking ship and steadying it to a very large extent. Such a delight to watch him perform in yet another milestone performance.

Coming to Anjaam Pathiraa, it was so well done, straight to the point, no hunour, no unintentional one too and that is the type of story telling Bollywood should learn from. No side tracks, no humor in such films and pure drama. Mrs. Serial Killer could have been much better but a large credit goes to Manoj Bajpayee for making it a one time watch!