Samay: When Time Strikes

About the film

Samay: When Time Strikes is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Robbie Grewal. It starred Sushmita Sen and Sushant Singh.

Plot

ACP Malvika Chauhan is a widowed cop with a 10-year-old daughter. She is saddled with the murder case of a reputed businessman, where the killer has left no evidence. Before she coule begin the investigation, a famous actress is murdered. Malvika suspects that it might be the work of a serial killer.

The investigation reveals that the victims were not connected with each other. Plus, even the suspects with motives were not near the crime scenes. Suddenly Malvika realizes that somebody is stalking her. Malvika accosts her stalker, but he reveals that he was just doing it for a criminal named Suleman Bhai. As Suleman has previous experience in murdering without leaving evidence, Malvika assumes she has found a suspect for at least one case. But when Malvika goes to Suleman's house, she finds Suleman dead.

Again out of leads, Malvika starts going through the case files of all 3 victims. She finds 4 connections:

Soundtrack

The album's music was composed by Sandeep Chowta, with lyrics penned by Abbas Tyrewala.

Reception

Anupama Chopra of India Today wrote, "Sen, in sombre clothes and steely attitude, is compelling. But unfortunately, it isn't enough." Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 1.5 out of 5, writing, "On the whole, SAMAY - WHEN TIME STRIKES doesn't 'strike' due to a weak climax mainly, which is the backbone of any suspense-thriller. With no hype or publicity to back up, its 'samay' at the box-office will be limited." Kulvinder S Bhutani of Rediff.com wrote, "The climax is a direct take from the Hollywood film, Seven, starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. Do not watch Samay if you have seen Seven because there will not be a surprise element when the killer makes an appearance. But the logic behind the murders is not convincing. The murderer's dialogue delivery is also not very articulate."

Aarif Sheikh won National Film Award for Best Editing at 51st National Film Awards.

Key details