V1 Murder case, the maiden directorial venture of actor Pavel Navageethan is an effective whodunnit thriller that keeps the audience engaged as the protagonists try to solve a muder mystery.
The movie starts with the murder of a woman named Narmada (Gayathri) who lives with her boyfriend Inba (Lijeesh) at a house numbered V1. As the Police department struggles to go ahead with the case enters Agni (Ram Arun Castro), a forenic officer who is forced to investigate the case along with Luna (Vishnu Priya Pillai) how they unfurl the knots involved in the V1 murder case and identifies the killer forms the rest of the story.
Like most of the murder mystery films, V1’s success too lies with the fact that the movie’s narrative makes the audience think and anticipate certain events and involve in solving the mystery.
At first when Agni and Luna suspect Narmada’s fiance Inba who was not in good terms with the deceased before her death, his suicide due to the guilt of not taking care of her, complicates the case even further.
However, Ram Arun Castro as a witty cop turned forensic trainer Agni fits the role perfectly and with his intelligence closes in on the case which is portrayed quite effectively on the screen. As someone who doesn’t show interest in tne case at first to the one who fights to get back to investigation he has shown variety in his acting.
Pavel Navageethan has also written a story which apart from solving the murder mystery has a seperate story for Agni, that makes it interesting. Agni is shown as somenone with nyctophobia (fear of darkness), who gets the phobia after the accidental death of his wife. With the phobia, he loses his police job and becomes a forensic trainer, but he takes up the V1 murder case and at one stage battles for life in a dark room how he overcomes that hurdle adds thrill to the story.
Ronnie Raphael’s backgrond score is a major strength to the film and without any songs the film moves on at a good pace. However when V1 promises plenty, it falls flat in the climax portions. When the killer is finally reveled, the justification given by the killer to kill Narmada is not quite effective. All the build up given by the movie until this point goes useless here. Had Pavel Navageethan made the end much more effective, V1 could have been much more efefctive.