Sometimes a get together can bring unpleasant and mortifying results. The film from the famous combo (Jeethu and Lal) tries to mix an Agatha Christie's locked room mystery with an Italian film's core concept of truth or dare story format. The end result is far from appealing but it can still manage to keep us invested thanks to its fast paced second half.
The so called game - keep your phone on table and share the details of calls, messages in public exposes some dirtiest secrets and shakes the balance of the group. The one hour game leaves quiet a lot of people upset and it brings a doom night for one of the mates. Through the course of 3 hrs the film tries to unravel mystery and tries to answer what is the price of honesty or can friends ever keep our deepest secrets? And there comes Lal as Mr Hercule Poirot (the 12th Man) to unravel the mystery. He starts with a real buffoon act thanks to weak story line and then picks up pace towards the middle portion of the film.
Though the film tries to bring a sense of claustrophobia, it failed to make an impression or sense of urgency. The zoom out shots for flash back and zoom in for current on table last supper kind of setup did work to some extent. Jeethu wastes a lot of time to set the context which is very common for all his film. The film keeps us busy with an overloaded dialogues and focus shifting from one suspect to another. The acting from the group of friends is far from convincing and there is this bland expressions which ruins the secret revealing part enjoyable one. I would say the weakest part is the script and mostly acting itself. Nevertheless is not a boring movie, go with little expectation and you will get a sense of OKish feel. This to me is the weakest movie from this deadly combo. There are no big surprises or take away from the movie. Its all a standard tried and tested formula.
Verdict - 3/5(The Secret Life Exposed)