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HIT: The First Case
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Wikipedia article
'HIT: The First Case' is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language action-thriller film directed by debutant Sailesh Kolanu and produced by Prashanti Tipirneni. The film stars Vishwak Sen, Amir Hossain Ashik, and Ruhani Sharma. The plot follows Vikram Rudraraju, a police officer of the Telangana state's Homicide Intervention Team (HIT) who is tasked with investigating the missing case of a young girl.
'The First Case' was released theatrically on 28 February 2020 and emerged as a profitable venture at the box office.
The film is set to be followed by a standalone sequel titled 'HIT: The Second Case.' Kolanu also helmed the Hindi remake of 'The First Case' as same title, which was released in July 2022.
Plot
Vikram Rudraraju is a cop in the Telangana CID, where he works in the Homicide Intervention Team 'HIT', and is sharp person, who solves crucial cases with his ability to capture even the smallest of details, thus earning the trust of his senior Viswanath. He is in love with Neha, his colleague and a forensic official.
Rohit is Vikram's close friend and his colleague, who accompanies him in most of his cases. Vikram is constantly in an argument with Akshay, another officer, who crosses lines with Vikram. Vikram occasionally suffers from PTSD due to his past experience and refuses to take pills as he believes it slows down his abilities.
Meanwhile, a girl named Preethi is driving on the highway, and her car stops to the side because it suffers a malfunction. Officer Ibrahim, stops to help her, and she calls her father since she forgot her phone at her home. When her father comes to pick her up, he sees that she has gone missing and Ibrahim says that she got into a blue car and he thought it was his car.
When Preethi's parents approach Ibrahim demandingly, he remains firm and insults them. Being a good friend of Preethi's parents, Viswanath decides to suspend Ibrahim because of how he acted and since he does not believe him. Vikram decides to take a six month break to relieve his PTSD attacks. After two months, Vikram gets a call that Neha goes missing. He decides to go back to Viswanath and ask for the case file for Neha going missing, but he says Akshay is dealing with the case, and he cannot give it to him.
Vikram decides to ask Saxena, who is Neha's colleague, about the cases Neha has dealt with the past two months. Vikram and Rohit connect Preethi's and Neha's missing case and deduce that the same person is involved in both cases. Vikram decides to investigate, and he asks Srinivas for Preethi's case, and he takes over the case.
Meanwhile, Akshay has suspicions that Vikram was the one who kidnapped Neha. Vikram decides to go to Preethi's college, and he asks Ajay and Sandya about what happened the previous night, and they say the same response how they were at a pub. Vikram and Rohit ask both Preethi's parents, and they say that her parents died in a plane crash and she was living with them and Preethi's neighbor Sheela about her.
Vikram and Rohit start deducing the case, and they come to a conclusion that Sheela kidnapped Preethi after they see Sheela's blue car and a note forged by Sheela indicating the whereabouts of Preethis corpse. Ibrahim then sees the car and says that Sheela was not the one who kidnapped Preethi. Vikram and his team dig up the body behind the house and find that it is unnoticeable and it has a few DNA samples on it.
Vikram suspects Ajay because he said that Preethi was his girlfriend. While searching for the evidences Vikram gets a call from a stranger named Eesha who is stalked by a man in a car telling her to stop so that he can talk , but she drives fast and reaches the outskirts and contacted Vikram. Vikram begins his investigation in the toll booth in the highway. Vikram using the toll gate security cameras he deduces that the man who kidnapped was Fahad. After Vikram, Akshay, and Ibrahim find Fahad, Ibrahim is shot dead by Fahad while Vikram and Akshay capture him. Fahad takes them to the house where he received the money to kidnap Preethi. Vikram finds out that it was Rohit's house, and before Rohit shoots him, he shoots him dead.
Rohit's wife Sapna comes down while Akshay goes upstairs and gets Neha. Sapna explains how Preeti and Sapna were best friends in the orphanage. Sapna's feelings for Preethi went beyond friendship. A couple came to adopt a child and were interested in both of them. But instead preethi got adopted which made Sapna miss Preethi. Sadly, as time passed and even marrying Rohit didnt change those feelings for Preethi.
Sapna explains how she saw Preeti at a club and tried talking to her but she didnt recognize her. Turns out she never got over Preethi. Sapna kidnaps her as a means to talk to her. She then kills Preeti, Rohit to protect Sapna buries her and plant the DNA evidences. Sapna gets arrested. When Neha and Vikram are talking, Vikram almost gets shot. It is then hinted that the story would continue in 'HIT: The Second Case'.
Cast
*Vishwak Sen as Vikram Rudraraju
*Ruhani Sharma as Neha
*Chaitanya Sagiraju as Rohit
*Brahmaji as R. Shinde
*Hari Teja as Sheela
*Murali Sharma as Ibrahim
*Bhanu Chander as Vishwanath. K
* Kalpika Ganesh as Dr. Roopa
* Naveena Reddy as Swapna
**Dhanvi as Young Swapna
* Ravi Raja as Fahad
* Sahiti as Preethi
**Vanshika as Young Preethi
* Ravi Varma as Srinivas
* Maganti Srinath as Abhilash
* Rangadham as Mohan
* Roopa Lakshmi as Lakshmi
* Rajeshwari as Latha
* Kalpalatha as Saraswati
* Trish as Ajay
* Jaiyetri as Sandya
*Satya Krishnan as Priya
*Sri Harsha as Shiva
Production
On 24 October 2019, the film's ceremonial pooja was held and production for the film commenced. Nani and Prashanti Tipirneni produced the film under "Wall Poster Cinema" banner. This film is their second venture after 'Awe'. A teaser was lanched for flop on 1 January 2020. The film's title is an acronym for "Homicide Intervention Team".
Soundtrack
The songs were composed by Vivek Sagar. The singles "Poraatame" and "Ventaade Gaayam" were released on February 25 and February 26, respectively.
Home media
The movie was released on Amazon Prime Video on 1 April 2020, while the satellite rights were purchased by Gemini TV.
Critical reception
'The Hindu' gave the film a positive review praising the screenplay and the performances of the cast. The 'Deccan Chronicle' gave the film three out of five stars and wrote that "Vishwak Sens brilliant performance and Vivek Sagars background music mark this film". Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost rated the film 3.25 stars out of 5, saying,"If you love crime dramas, 'HIT' is a thrilling experience, which falters a bit in the end." Janani K of 'India Today' said, "Director Sailesh Kolanu's HIT is a brilliant investigation thriller that will blow your mind right from the beginning." Neeshita Nyayapati of 'The Times of India' said, "HIT is definitely not a film that will keep you on the edge of the seat, but it keeps you engaged enough to know more." Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "In this whodunit, directed by Sailesh Kolanu, the sophistication in filmmaking is matched by a sophisticated worldview. But it needed a better closing stretch." The only loophole was that, it was not clear Why Sheela forged a note about whereabouts of Preethi's corpse and how she knew about the exact location.
Remake
Kolanu also directed the film's Hindi remake with the same name starring Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra. It released on 15 July 2022.
Sequel
In March 2021, the sequel titled 'HIT: The Second Case' was announced by Nani. Actor Adivi Sesh plays the lead Krishna Dev who is a police officer of the Andhra Pradesh HIT team. The sequel would not focus on what happened after 'The First Case', and starts as an original story. The film was earlier scheduled for a theatrical release On 29 July 2022, a new release date is yet to be set.
References
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