One Friday Night, Review: Cheat on wife, pay with life

Get captivated by the Pawna Lake hilly region, close to Mumbai. Watch Raveena Tandon and Milind Soman in a first time pairing. Sit back as Vidhi Chitalia enters the scene, playing the ‘other woman’, the third angle of the triangle. And go along with the flow, as One Friday Night works towards the only real twist in the tale, the climax. That is if you care for this narrative and cast. If not, don’t spend One Friday Night in the cinema hall where this one is playing. There are better ways of spending the beginning of your weekend.

A really rich businessman, Ram Verma is, apparently, happily married to gynaecologist, Dr. Lata Verma, for 20 years. Ironically, the Vermas do not have children. That could be one reason why Ram has an extra-marital affair with a young dancer named Nirosha Patel. Conveniently, he owns a farm-house, and the caretaker, Govind, is loyal to him. One day, he tells Lata that he's going to Nagpur on a business trip, but, instead, he picks up Nirosha from a deserted spot, and the two head for his farm-house. Once they reach the farm-house, Nirosha calls her mother and learns from her that she desperately needs a large sum of money. Nirosha asks Ram to lend her the money. To her great surprise, Ram opens a chest that is full of currency notes, and says that all this money now belongs to her.

Lata learns from TV broadcasts that Nagpur is heavily flooded, and all the offices are closed. She gets anxious, and rings up Ram to know the where he is and if he is safe. Ram makes excuses to pacify her. Nirosha reveals that she's two months pregnant. Ram feels ecstatic, on learning that he's going to be a father, for the first time, and tells Nirosha that they will keep the baby, not abort it. Govind overhears their conversation and is not happy at the development. Unlike most persons, Ram wants to celebrate this occasion with his favourite pastries. He tells Govind to take his car and go to the market, which is 40 km away, to bring the pastries. Govind doesn't want to leave the house in this weather, but cannot disobey Ram’s command. Nirosha insists that Ram divorce Lata and marry her, so that she and their child get to lead a normal life, as child and parents. Shortly afterwards, accidentally, Ram loses his balance, falls down from the terrace, and gets seriously injured. A panicky Nirosha first tries to call Govind and then an ambulance, but cannot get through, due to poor connectivity and inclement weather. Ultimately she rings up Lata, and asks for help from her.

One Friday Night is the sixth film directed by writer-director Manish Gupta, who has previously directed Darna Zaroori Hai (one story) (2006), The Stoneman Murders (2009), Hostel (2011), Rahasya (2015) and 420 IPC (2021). Gupta has also written the story, screenplay and dialogues for Amitabh Bachchan starrer Sarkar (2005) and Akshaye Khanna starrer, Section 375 (2019). Coming from a man with enough experience, the film is a let-down. This effort is the joint contribution of writers Manish Gupta, Kamal Chopra and Ramesh Rabindranath. It has a wafer-thin plot and chooses to avoid character development and, at least the rudiments of, a back-story. Gupta seems to be keenly interested in crime and horror, going by his oeuvre, yet the crime element in One Friday Night suffers from a predictable murder. To his credit, the lead-up to the murder and the denouement are suspenseful and interesting. But they do not add-up to more than 10 minutes in this 92-minute outing.

There is hardly any traffic on the long drive to the farm-house. Ram just stops his car and Nirosha comes running towards it from the middle of nowhere. Ram sends Govind to bring pastries, knowing that the bakery is 40 km away and it is raining heavily. Moreover, it is hilly terrain, so it would take several hours for the pastries to arrive, rendering them cold and unpalatable. Lata is not aware of Ram’s exact travel plans, like his air-ticket and hotel booking, suggesting that he keeps these things secret from her. How and where Ram and Nirosha met is very germane to the story, but is not told on screen. In an attempt to impart organic unity, the first shot and the last shot of the film are the same, but they do not make any significant impact. A normal, regular gynaecologist becoming a criminal mastermind will take some believing. Was she an avid James Hadley Chase novels reader?

Even in such a set-up, Raveena Tandon as Lata manages to hold her own, bringing her vast experience into play. Paired against the 51 year-old Raveena is 57 year-old Milind Soman, a pairing that is perfect, age-wise. After three decades of acting, Milind remains the iconic model he was before he started working in films. A short beard and grey hair do not take away from his charm. He is fluid and easy-going, without being distinguished. To be fair to him, he is made to lie limp for a large chunk of the footage. Vidhi Chitalia’s character lacks definition and delineation. She was earlier seen in Manish Gupta’s 420 IPC in a supporting role. But she is okay, on the whole. Ambrish Saxena impresses as Govind. Hemant K. Gaur, as Sub-Inspector Patil, has little to do.

Standard contributions come from cinematographer  Binendra Menon (who has some lovely locales to exploit), editor Archit D. Rastogi (who has sensibly kept the length to 92 minutes) and music composer Goyell Saab.

One Friday Night took 25 days to shoot. Perhaps another 2.5 days would have made the film more watchable. Of course, the moral of the story would still be Cheat on Wife, Pay With Life.

Rating: **

Trailer: https://youtu.be/V1MhIQte2m8