HIT: The First Case

HIT: The First Case
Directed by	Sailesh Kolanu
Written by	Sailesh Kolanu
Produced by	Nani Prashanti Tipirneni
Starring	Vishwak Sen Ruhani Sharma
Cinematography	S. Manikandan
Edited by	Garry BH
Music by	Vivek Sagar
Production company	Wall Poster Cinema
Release date	28 February 2020 (2020-02-28)
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹6 crore[1]
Box office	est.₹8.5 crore (opening weekend)[1]

HIT: The First Case is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language mystery action-thriller film directed by debutant Sailesh Kolanu and jointly produced by Nani and Prashanti Tipirneni. The film features Vishwak Sen and Ruhani Sharma in the lead roles. The film was a profitable venture at the box office.^[2]

Plot[]

Vikram Rudraju (Vishwak Sen) is a police officer in the Telangana Crime Investigation Department and works in the Homicide Intervention Team "HIT". He is very smart and sharp and solves crucial cases with his ability to capture even the smallest of details, thus earning the trust of his senior Viswanath (Bhanu Chander). He is in love with Neha (Ruhani Sharma), his colleague and a forensic official. Rohit (Chaitanya Sagiraju) is Vikram's close friend and his colleague, who accompanies him in most of his cases. Vikram is constantly in an argument with Abhilash (Maganti Srinath), another officer, who crosses lines with Vikram. Vikram occasionally suffers from PTSD due to his past experience and refuses to take pills as he believes it slows down his abilities.

Meanwhile, a girl named Preethi (Sahiti) is driving on the highway, and her car stops to the side because it suffers a malfunction. Officer Ibrahim (Murali Sharma), stops to help her, and she calls her father since she forgets her phone at her home. When her father comes to pick her up, he sees that she has gone missing and Ibrahim says that she got into a blue car and he thought it was his car. Viswanath decides to suspend Ibrahim since he does not believe him.

Vikram decides to take a six month break to relieve his PTSD attacks. After two months, Vikram gets a call that Neha goes missing. He decides to go back to Viswanath and ask for the case file for Neha going missing, but he says Abhilash is dealing with the case, and he cannot give it to him. Vikram decides to ask Shinde (Brahmaji), who is Neha's colleague, about the cases Neha has dealt with the past two months. Vikram and Rohit connect Preethi's and Neha's missing case and deduce that the same person is involved in both cases. Vikram decides to investigate, and he asks Srinivas (Ravi Varma) for Preethi's case, and he takes over the case. Meanwhile, Abhilash has suspicions that Vikram was the one who kidnapped Neha. Vikram decides to go to Preethi's college, and he asks Ajay (Trish) and Sandya (Jaiyetri) about what happened the previous night, and they say the same response how they were at a pub. Vikram and Rohit ask both Preethi's parents, and they say that her parents died in a plane crash and she was living with them and Preethi's neighbor Sheela (Hari Teja) about her. Vikram and Rohit start deducing the case, and they come to a conclusion that Sheela kidnapped Preethi after they see Sheela's blue car and a note forged by Sheela indicating the whereabouts of Preethi’s corpse.

Ibrahim then sees the car and says that Sheela was not the one who kidnapped Preethi. Vikram and his team dig up the body behind the house and find that it is unnoticeable and it has a few DNA samples on it. Vikram suspects Ajay because he said that Preethi was his girlfriend. Vikram using the toll gate security cameras he deduces that the man who kidnapped was Fahad (Ravi Raja). After Vikram, Abhilash, and Ibrahim find Fahad, Ibrahim is shot dead by Fahad while Vikram and Abhilash capture him. Fahad takes them to the house where he received the money to kidnap Preethi. Vikram finds out that it was Rohit's house, and before Rohit shoots him, he shoots him dead. Rohit's wife Swapna (Naveena Reddy) comes down while Abhilash goes upstairs and gets Neha. Swapna explains how Preethi, Swapna, and her sister were orphans and how a rich couple from US came to adopt one of them. Swapna begs Preethi to let her sister get adopted due to a hole in Swapna's sister's heart. Preethi does not renege and is adopted, and moves out with the couple. Swapna's sister dies within 2 years due to insufficient medical treatment, and since then, she had blamed Preethi for it. Recently, Swapna then sees Preethi in a club and gets her kidnapped. She then kills Preethi and has Rohit bury her and plant DNA evidences. Swapna gets arrested.

In the closing scene, While Neha and Vikram are talking, Vikram almost gets shot. HIT: The Second Case is hinted afterwards for release in 2021.

Cast[]

Production[]

On 24 October 2019, the film's ceremonial pooja was held and production for the film commenced. Nani and Prashanti Tipirneni produced the film under "Wall Poster Cinema" banner. This film is their second venture after Awe.^[3] A teaser was launched on 1 January 2020.^[4] The film's title is an acronym for "Homicide Intervention Team".^[5]

Soundtrack[]

The songs were composed by Vivek Sagar. The singles "Poraatame" and "Ventaade Gaayam" were released on February 25 and February 26, respectively.^[6][7]

All lyrics are written by Krishna Kanth.

Home media[]

The movie was released on Amazon Prime Video on 1 April 2020, while the satellite rights were purchased by Gemini TV.^[8]

Critical reception[]

The Hindu gave the film a positive review praising the screenplay and the performances of the cast.^[5] The Deccan Chronicle gave the film three out of five stars and wrote that "Vishwak Sen’s brilliant performance and Vivek Sagar’s background music mark this film".^[9] Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost rated the film 3.25 stars out of 5, saying,"If you love crime dramas, HIT is a thrilling experience, which falters a bit in the end."^[10] Janani K of India Today said, "Director Sailesh Kolanu's HIT is a brilliant investigation thriller that will blow your mind right from the beginning."^[11] Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India said, "HIT is definitely not a film that will keep you on the edge of the seat, but it keeps you engaged enough to know more."^[12] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "In this whodunit, directed by Sailesh Kolanu, the sophistication in filmmaking is matched by a sophisticated worldview. But it needed a better closing stretch."^[13]

Remake[]

A Hindi remake directed by Sailesh Kolanu starring Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra is in the pre-production stage.

Sequel[]

On 20 March 2021, the sequel to the movie was announced by Nani titled HIT: The Second Case. It was announced that Adivi Sesh would be playing the lead Krishna Dev, who is a police officer of the Andhra Pradesh HIT team, and that the film will not focus on what happened after the first film.^[14]

References[]

External links[]

• HIT: The First Case at IMDb