Murder At Teesri Manzil 302 movie review: Jaw-droppingly bad Irrfan Khan film that was best left unreleased

Can a film starring Irrfan Khan be this bad? For those of us who have been madly missing the inimitable Irrfan, this is one movie memory we’d rather not have had. Murder At Teesri Manzil 302 is not just bad, it’s jaw-droppingly terrible.

Only if you want to be really generous will you call this a plot. Still, here goes. A woman in a low-slung red sheath is kidnapped. There is a murder. A Thailand-based businessman (Ranvir Shorey) goes around looking bellicose. He also meets slinky women for illicit sex. A fellow by the name of Mr Sahyogi (Irrfan Khan) lays himself out as a helper to the Indian community, when he is not fending off a screechy ex-wife. A cop in dark glasses (Lucky Ali) and his cohort keep popping up to provide comic relief.

Actually, let me amend that. The whole film is a joke, so these cop characters sort of fit in. The kidnap-and-murder is where things start. The middle has Irrfan doing many extremely un-Irrfan-like things: swaying in a discotheque, feebly flicking his fingers, and doing the heavy-breathing thing with a heavy-lidded female. There’s even a kiss featuring a bare-backed woman, giving off very ‘Jism’ like vibes.

Even the best actors have films they would like to forget. This film out on Zee5 is definitely one of those that shouldn’t be on any one’s CV. Apparently it was sensibly left unreleased for several years. They should have just let it stay that way.

Can a film starring Irrfan Khan be this bad? For those of us who have been madly missing the inimitable Irrfan, this is one movie memory we’d rather not have had. Murder At Teesri Manzil 302 is not just bad, it’s jaw-droppingly terrible.

Only if you want to be really generous will you call this a plot. Still, here goes. A woman in a low-slung red sheath is kidnapped. There is a murder. A Thailand-based businessman (Ranvir Shorey) goes around looking bellicose. He also meets slinky women for illicit sex. A fellow by the name of Mr Sahyogi (Irrfan Khan) lays himself out as a helper to the Indian community, when he is not fending off a screechy ex-wife. A cop in dark glasses (Lucky Ali) and his cohort keep popping up to provide comic relief.

Actually, let me amend that. The whole film is a joke, so these cop characters sort of fit in. The kidnap-and-murder is where things start. The middle has Irrfan doing many extremely un-Irrfan-like things: swaying in a discotheque, feebly flicking his fingers, and doing the heavy-breathing thing with a heavy-lidded female. There’s even a kiss featuring a bare-backed woman, giving off very ‘Jism’ like vibes.

Even the best actors have films they would like to forget. This film out on Zee5 is definitely one of those that shouldn’t be on any one’s CV. Apparently it was sensibly left unreleased for several years. They should have just let it stay that way.