In the serene Uttarakhand village Rautu, a murder is unheard of – or at least nothing of the sort has happened for over a decade. So, a school warden’s (Narayani Shastri as Sangeeta) death is, at first, seen as a natural death but the investigation slowly reveals more under the surface. Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a still from Rautu Ka Raaz.
(Photo Courtesy: YouTube) A police procedural isn’t a rare sight in the streaming space but Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s latest Rautu Ka Raaz is an anomaly – it isn’t as fast-paced or ‘thrilling’ as you would expect from the genre. But surprisingly, that isn’t the show’s undoing. The pace is more languorous than tiresome and it gives the audience time and space to soak in the story and its surroundings.
ADVERTISEMENT REMOVE AD The film’s setting also allows it to take some liberties – the cops don’t need to spend weeks looking for suspects; the close-knit community makes it easy to find people. Everyone knows someone who knows someone. The investigation is led by the disciplinarian Deepak Negi (Siddiqui) and his reliable but slothful sub-inspector Naresh Dimri (Rajesh Kumar).
While Siddiqui is clearly expected to do the heavy lifting in the project, it is Kumar’s restraint that actually stands out. And while Siddiqui captures his character efficiently, there are parts where it’s more the actor on screen than the character. Perhaps the characterisation isn’t distinct enough to make this character stand out from his prev.
