Neeyat trailer: Vidya Balan’s murder mystery has eerie resemblance to Knives Out

The trailer of Neeyat, a murder mystery starring Vidya Balan as a detective, was released on Thursday. Directed by Anu Menon, the classic whodunit seems like straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. And from recent memory, it reminds one of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019). (Also Read: Neeyat first look: Vidya Balan plays a detective in her first theatrical release in four years)

A rich man invites his entire family for his birthday dinner at an isolated, old mansion. But by the end of the night, he’s found dead. The detective investigating the case claims it’s a murder, instead of the suspected suicide. She discovers how every member of the family is a suspect with a valid motive. But who’s really the killer?

Knives Out, much?

Replace Daniel Craig with Vidya Balan, the late Christopher Plummer with Ram Kapoor, and the Knives Out ensemble with the rest of the cast here. There’s also a late entrant here, like Chris Evans in Knives Out. The only key Knives Out character missing, at least in the trailer, is the caretaker played by Ana de Armas. And unlike Knives Out, the patriarch of the family is not found dead in the house, but is allegedly thrown off a cliff near his mansion.

Not her first detective role

Neeyat isn’t the first time Vidya will be seen as a detective. She played a desi detective in Bobby Jasoos (2014), set in Hyderabad, which failed at the box office. But we’ve often seen Vidya investigate on screen in different avatars, from Sujoy Ghosh’s 2012 cult film Kahaani, Ribhu Dasgupta’s Te3n (2014), or most recently, Amit V Masurkar’s 2021 forest thriller Sherni.

Vidya’s first theatrical release post pandemic

Neeyat will mark Vidya Balan’s long-awaited return to the cinemas after four years. Her last theatrical release was Jagan Shakti’s 2019 sci-fi ensemble Mission Mangal. Her last solo theatrical outing, however, was Suresh Triveni’s 2017 blockbuster Tumhari Sulu.

Since 2019, Vidya has only been seen in films that premiered directly on Prime Video India, including Anu Menon’s Shakuntala Devi (2020), Sherni and most recently, Suresh Triveni’s Jalsa last year. Vidya will soon be seen in Lovers, a romantic comedy also starring Pratik Gandhi, Ileana D’Cruz and Sendhil Ramamurthy.

About Neeyat

The murder mystery is directed by Anu Menon, who previously collaborated with Vidya on Shakuntala Devi, the biopic of the mathematics icon. Neeyat also stars Ram Kapoor, Rahul Bose, Neeraj Kabi, Shahana Goswami, Amrita Puri, Dipannita Sharma, Niki Walia, Shashank Arora, Prajakta Koli and Danesh Razvi. It’s co-written by Anu, Priya Venkataraman, Advaita Kala and Girvani Dhyani, with dialogues by Kausar Munir. It’s produced by Vikram Malhotra’s Abundantia Entertainment.