Director Esmayeel Shroff brings a few whiffs of freshness with his latest ‘Tarkieb’—a whodunit murder mystery.

‘Tarkieb’, set in a small hill station of Madhya Pradesh, begins with a bang. A headless corpse of an Army nurse, Roshni (Tabu) appears one day. There are quite a number of prime suspects. Investigating the murder is the additional director of CBI, Jasraj Patel (Nana Patekar), who has a sharp brain and acute senses to find clues when there looked none. As Nana Patekar plays the role, Jasraj Patel has got have an unmatched aptitude for dallying out one-liners.

Roshni, although dead when the film begins, remains central to the theme of the story. The movie often slips into a series of flashbacks to tell the story of the dead.

Roshni comes from a respectable family and has three sisters and a conscientious father. And trying to win her love are three aspirants. There is this handsome and highly disciplined Army officer (Milind Soman). Roshni too harbors soft sentiments for him but sacrifices her love for his sister. Then there this cunning Army doctor (Ashutosh Rana) who doesn’t mind going out of the way to woo Roshni, and even gets court-martialed for misbehavior and negligence of duty. A widower from Bhopal (Aditya Pancholi) also tries to gain her sympathy and love by embellishing his sorrows, and even coaxes her to play governess to his motherless kids.

A tantalizing climax disappoints the viewers. All the excitement that heaps during the second half simply fizzles out as the mystery is enshrouded.

‘Tarkieb’ is noticed for its delectable music by Aadesh Shrivastava and some good lyrics by Nida Fazli, poet-songwriter. The film is noticeable for fast editing, a reasonably good script and its refreshing treatment as well.

Though flashbacks alongside the ongoing murder investigations by an unusual sleuth are not really innovative, a relatively tight script and fast editing come to the rescue of the director.

Yet it must be said that Esmayeel Shroff’s experience didn’t come of handy while directing ‘Tarkieb.’ He fails to join the loose ends in the script and for the same reason the plot is rather unconvincing. He also resorts to monotonous methods, though time-tested for commercial success, to infuse some zing into the movie. The svelte Shilpa Shetty fits the bill.

Seasoned actor Nana Patekar does not disappoint. In films like ‘Tarkeib’ Tabu has nothing to prove other than increasing her commercial value.