Bhagwat Chapter One review: Arshad Warsi, Jitendra Kumar starrer mistakes darkness for depth, lacks a gripping finale

DEja vu. That intuitive feeling of "this has happened before". It gives me the heebie-jeebies every bingle clip. Watching Bhagwat: Chapter i Rakshas, I had deja vu: Where had I seen this before?Let's patch it together.The premiseThe story revolves around the disappearance of a young girl, which soon unravels into a string of similar cases. Investigating them is Bhagwat (Arshad Warsi), who promises the distraught father he will find his daughter in 15 days.Since it's an OTT release, there are no intervals here, but for clarity, let's call it the first and second half. The first half follows the search operation that eventually leads to Sameer (Jitendra Kumar). The sense of urgency kicks in at regular intervals, keeping you reasonably invested. The writing is credited to Bhavini Bheda.Bhagwat is a cinematic retelling of the ghastly real-life crimes committed by Cyanide Mohan, notorious for preying on women anxious about not getting married. His modus operandi: lure, exploit sexually and financially, offer a cyanide pill disguised as a contraceptive, and leave them to die in public restrooms.Sounds familiar?If that sounds familiar, it is because Reema Kagti's gripping 2023 series Dahaad walked the same path and did it far more effectively. With Gulshan Devaiah and Sonakshi Sinha as a riveting criminal-cop pair, it delivered tension that Bhagwat struggles to sustain. The second half here loses steam entirely; the tension never builds, and the finale feels clumsy.On the acting front, Jitendra Kumar gets to turn his long-held good boy image on its head. As the unhinged Sameer, his gentle face makes for an eerie contrast, especially in one chilling scene where he is cornered. But again, the finale of Bhagwat is so amateurishly handled that the entire impact threatens to go down the drain. Arshad fits the role, yet doesn't quite rise above being a cardboard police officer haunted by the ghosts from his past.Final thoughtsThe plot also somehow finds situations to fit two songs in, which was not required at all. In fact, the one just before the climax slows down the film completely. Ayesha Kaduskar as Meera is okay.Overall, by the time the credits roll, Bhagwat: Chapter One Rakshas leaves you more weary than shaken. It has all the ingredients of a taut thriller... A compelling true-crime base, capable actors- but falters in stitching them together. What could have been a disturbing deep dive into the mind of a predator ends up a surface-level procedural that mistakes darkness for depth. You’re left thinking not about the story, but about how eerily it resembles a better one you’ve already seen, and that’s the real deja vu.