The Stoneman Murders

The Stoneman Murders is a fictitious tale based on the real life footpath stoning incidents that made headlines in the early 80s in Mumbai. While the mystery behind the case still remains unsolved, the appeal of the film lies in its smart storytelling that cinematically solves the mystery behind the murders and furthermore explains how the case still remains unsolved in police records and public eye till today.

Sub-inspector Sanjay Shelar (Kay Kay Menon) is suspended from his duty for his violent attitude. Under the backing of senior officer Satam (Vikram Gokhale) he is assigned to carry out parallel investigation on the mysterious murders happening on Mumbai footpaths where poor innocent people are ruthlessly slaughtered by a serial killer who smashes the victim’s face with a stone. Sanjay sets out to track this Stoneman to redeem his tarnished image. Rival officer Kedar Phadke (Arbaaz Khan) comes as a barrier in his investigation.

Writer-director Manish Gupta uses some regular tricks of the trade to induce thrills. The viewer is smart enough not to presume those characters to be the culprit, towards whom the narrative is straightforwardly directing. The director’s attempt at diverting attention shows off. Then there are those delusional thrills of the Darna Zaroori Hai (co-written and co-directed by Gupta) types where the background score blares up.

With the 80s setting perhaps the director overlooks the contemporary audience while attempting some scenes from the same era where the heroine ejects out bullets from the wounded hero or where the hero is mistaken to be the murderer since he’s holding the stabbed dagger. A backless profile shot of the heroine is so unessential that a dance-bar item number appears comparatively more situational. The superstitious shade given to the Stoneman, though appears as the most obvious characterization, sounds more believable than the probable supernatural or psychotic insinuations.

Despite the liberties and loopholes, the film succeeds considerably in living up to its suspense-thriller genre. Most whodunit movies have good buildup to the suspense but the thrill dissipates somewhere towards the end with the film culminating to an average or anticipated climax. The Stoneman Murders primarily scores brownie points for its smart execution of the climax. The identity of the killer comes as a pleasant shock. Even after that director Manish Gupta ends the story on a smart note by making the narrative sound as a real-life allegory making you believe as if the Stoneman incident was actually solved but not revealed publicly for vested interests.

Though the setting doesn’t demand extensive recreation of the 80s era since the locations are more confined to subways, station platforms and slum bylanes, art director (Satish Chipkar) still manages to sensibly restructure the bygone aura with Lifebuoy jingles, Panama cigarette butts, hoardings of Shekhar Kapur in Digjam suiting advertisement and retro movie posters. The editing, though crisp, could have been more effective.

Kay Kay Menon is as dependable as always in giving a gem of a performance in his quest to unravel the Stoneman mystery. Vikram Gokhale suits the regular authoritative role. Arbaaz Khan has pretty less to do. Rukhsar looks good but has pretty less to show other than her nude back. Getting her voice dubbed could help.

The Stoneman Murders is a modest murder mystery that doesn’t prematurely kill the thrill.

After the serial killer aptly dubbed 'Stoneman' by the media has just claimed his fifth victim, the case is still of little interest to the Bombay Police force. But to suspended sub-inspector Sanjay Shelar (Kay Kay Menon), this killer poses an opportunity. Sanjay hopes to track this killer down and thus, possibly find an entry back into the police force. With the secret aid of his patronizing superior AIG Satam (Vikram Gokhale), Sanjay takes up the arduous process of tracking this killer down. But the official police investigator of the case Inspector Kedar Phadke (Arbaaz Khan) clashes incessantly with Sanjay as both of them, separately, delve deeper into the case. Even as the police jostle for leads and clues, the Stoneman stalks the streets unabated, claiming victim after victim…

Back in the early 80s, a series of brutal murders held Bombay in thrall. The victims were all pavement dwellers, killed in their sleep, with the same weapon: a big, heavy stone was used to smash their heads.

The killer was dubbed `Patharmaar' in the press, and with passing time and no results, the case got buried, and forgotten.

`The Stoneman Murders' reveals the horrifying secret, like a proper murder mystery should, right at the end. The narrative is linear and non-fussy, the story-telling direct, peppered with some truly chilling moments.

It unspools with discredited cop Kay Kay being assigned to the case in an unofficial capacity: he's on suspension because of a custody death, but he's so convinced that he can crack it, that his boss agrees.

The gathering of forensic evidence, the photographs of the corpses, and the sifting that follows is classic detective territory, and the director does a good job of keeping it simple, but keeping it going.

Movies based on real life serial killers or police investigations into serial killings are dime a doze in the west, but the cupboard in Hindi cinema is pretty bare. Debutant director Manish Gupta’s The Stoneman Murders is probably the first of its kind for Bollywood cinema, since it’s based on the serial killings which took place on the streets of Mumbai in 1983. The killer was never apprehended and the murders stopped as abruptly as they had started. Now the movie tries to showcase the police investigation and also tries to offer the reason behind the killings and the supposedly subsequent cover-up. It however does make an uneasy marriage of fact and fiction and the disjointed story offers ample evidence of the writer’s efforts to shoot in the dark, blindfolded.

The movie opens in September 1983 when a roadside sweeper finds a body of young homeless boy with his head crushed in Sion, Mumbai. There is a large stone nearby and the body along with the area around it is covered with sindoor. When the investigating officer Sanjay Shelar (Kay Kay Menon) ends up killing up one of the suspects while in custody, he is immediately suspended by his senior officer Satam (Vikram Gokhale), the case is reassigned to Sanjay’s rival officer Kedar (Arbaaz Khan) and the murder is brushed off as a one off occurrence which doesn’t need much attention. When the series of murders doesn’t seize, Satam allows Sanjay to carry on his own unofficial investigation, which if successful would result in his reinstating into the police force. Sanjay collects some evidence with the help a police constable (Virendra Saxena) and from some of his informants on the street. His observations place all the murders having occurred on Tuesdays and Saturdays after midnight. Soon enough he’s walking the streets between Matunga and Sion looking for the killer and clues. However since Kedar is unaware of the unofficial investigation, Sanjay’s late night excursions soon place him under suspicion as the killer. Each time Sanjay seems to be on the verge of solving the case and nabbing the killer, he slips away and son enough seems to know everything about Sanjay and his whereabouts. Thus the hunter becomes the hunted.

Now in any movie based on a real life case, the intriguing parts for me are always the little bits of real information which build up the scenario, something this movie doesn’t do very well. Other than the initial bits the movie never chooses to stick to reality, the actual police investigation which occurred is thrown away completely in order to transform the movie into a generic serial killer movie. Sanjay’s investigation or rather his taking long walks late at night and always managing to be on the scene of the crime just after it happens almost like Sion and Matunga are in the same neighborhood which comprises of one street, is very shoddy and repetitive even if effectively shot.

The subplot with Sanjay’s wife Manali (Rukhsar) is poorly written and there is zero chemistry between Rukhsar and Kay Kay Menon primarily due to the incredibly wooden acting from Rukhsar. The movie could have easily done without this section. Even parts like the item song and Rukhsar’s bare back scene seem to be in the movie for pure cheap titillation and serve no purpose for the movie.

Another problem with the movie is the era reconstruction. The movie rarely feels like 1983, a good movie which looks to recreate a certain era is supposed make us feel transported back to that time frame, something which this movie fails to do so. Even dates in the movie are soon forgotten as the movie starts with a well documented setup but soon as it veers off into fiction it forgets it started off as something else and no dates are provided hence the timeframe is never clear.

The ending of the movie was a major letdown. I know I’m supposed to be reviewing the movie purely for it’s content and not to give suggestions but with so much to play around with, the writers could have made matters far more ambiguous, instead we have a ending which provides for a tie-in into the similar Calcutta murders of 1987 and could probably provide a sequel. (Stoneman Ki Korbe? Stonedas? The (K)Night Rider?). Certain parts of the reason for the killing and the identity of the killer would have been intriguing if not so abrupt and put in place so as to provide closure with the least likely of suspects.

However the movie does have its few shining moments too, Kay Kay Menon’s performance is pretty convincing even if it is nothing new for him. The movie starts off pretty well and the first murder is set up pretty well. The night scenes are effectively shot and so are some scenes which make the killer like a stalking, omnipresent boogeyman. Even Vikram Gokhale and Virendra Saxena are effective in their small roles, however Arbaaz Khan and Rukhsar seriously need to take some acting classes.

The Stoneman Murders lets an intriguing premise slip away by trying to make the movie a slasher-flick rather than a true-blue serial killer movie which actually documents the real life killings, something far more interesting. Even its claim of exposing the culprits is a sham since there is no evidence whatsoever to back any of it.

Final Verdict: A generic serial killer movie which has nothing new to offer and don’t be fooled by its claims of reality. Give it a miss in the theatres, probably wait for the DVD.