HIT: The First Case (2022 film)

HIT: The First Case is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written and directed by Sailesh Kolanu, being a remake of his 2020 Telugu film of the same name. The film is produced by Dil Raju Production and T-Series. It stars Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra. It was released on 15 July 2022.

Plot
Vikram Jaisingh aka Vicky is a cop who works in the Homicide Intervention Team HIT, who solves crucial cases with his ability to capture even the smallest details, thus earning the trust of his senior, Ajit Shekhawat. He is in love with Neha Mehta, his colleague and a forensic official.

Rohit is Vikram's close friend and colleague, who accompanies him in most of his cases. Vikram is in an argument with Akshay, another officer. Vikram suffers from PTSD due to his past trauma but refuses to take pills as he believes it slows down his abilities.

Meanwhile, a girl named Preeti has her car break down on a highway. Officer Ibrahim Sheikh stops to help her, and calls her father. When her father comes to pick her up, he sees that she is gone and Ibrahim says that she got into a blue car that he thought was his.

When Preeti's parents approach Ibrahim demandingly, he remains firm and insults them. Being good friends with Preeti’s father, Ajit decides to suspend Ibrahim. Vikram gets a call that Neha is missing. He approaches Ajit to have the case assigned to himself, but is told that Akshay is dealing with the case.

Vikram asks Saxena, Neha’s colleague about the cases Neha was investigating. Vikram and Rohit connect Preeti's and Neha's missing cases and deduce that the same person must be involved in both cases. Vikram decides to investigate Preeti’s disappearance instead.

Meanwhile, Akshay labels Vikram a suspect in Neha’s disappearance. Vikram’s interrogates Preeti’s boyfriend, Ajay and her friend, Sandhya about her whereabouts the previous night which leads him to a club. He finds out from Preeti’s parents that she was adopted after her biological parents died in a plane crash. He also finds out that Preeti was good friends with a divorced neighbour Sheela.

Vikram and Rohit come to a conclusion that Sheela kidnapped Preeti after they see Sheela's blue car and a note forged by Sheela indicating the whereabouts of a corpse. Vikram and his team locate and dig up a body and find it to be decomposed and unrecognisable. Forensic analysis identifies it as Preeti and detects multiple DNA samples on it - Ajay, Preeti’s father, Saraswati the head of Preeti’s childhood orphanage and a fourth unknown DNA. Ibrahim meanwhile recalls that the blue car involved in Preeti’s disappearance was a different one, thus making Sheela an unlikely suspect.

A lady named Eesha arrives at the police station claiming that she was approached by a strange man in a car on the same highway, which prompts her to drive away quickly. Vikram checks the cameras at the toll booth on the highway and identifies a lorry which matches a similar lorry noted during Preeti’s disappearance and identifies the driver as Ibrahim’s mechanic, Fahad. Vikram, Ibrahim and Akshay find and apprehend Fahad, however Ibrahim is shot dead in the chase. Fahad takes them to the house where he received the money to kidnap Preeti. Vikram finds Rohit and he shoots him, while Akshay finds Neha upstairs.

During Rohit’s funeral, his partner Sapna explains that she grew up with Preeti and they belonged to the same orphanage. Sapna had started developing feelings for Preeti which resulted in Saraswati separating them. When a couple came for adoption, they choose Preeti over Sapna which worsened her depression.

Sapna explains how her meeting Preeti at the club resulted in resurfacing of feelings. Sapna confesses her love for Preeti but is rebuffed. Sapna kidnaps Preeti with Fahad’s help resulting in a fight that leads to Preeti's accidental death. Rohit tries to protect Sapna by burying her body. Sapna explains the whole story and gets arrested.

After the arrest Neha asks Vikram about his past and Vikram gets flashbacks of his hometown where a girl is set on fire infront of his eyes, but he does not reply to the question.

Later when Neha and Vikram are together, Vikram almost gets shot, hinting at a possible sequel.

Cast

 * Rajkummar Rao as DCP Vikram Jaisingh IPS (Vicky), Neha's love interest
 * Sanya Malhotra as Dr. Neha Mehta, Vikram's love interest
 * Akhil Iyer as Rohit Shukla, Vikram's colleague
 * Shilpa Shukla as Sheela
 * Dalip Tahil as Ajit Singh Shekhawat, Vikram's senior officer
 * Sanjay Narvekar as Shrikant Saxena
 * Milind Gunaji as SI Ibrahim Sheikh
 * Hemraj Tiwari as Mohan Mathur
 * Jatin Goswami as Akshay
 * Rose Khan as Preeti Mathur
 * Raviraj as Fahaad
 * Madhur Arora as Anirudh
 * Dishita Sehgal as Young Preeti
 * Nuveksha as Sapna Shukla, Rohit's wife & Preeti's obsessed lover
 * Kirti Kapoor as Geetha
 * Karan Mehta as Shiva
 * Noyrika Bhatheja as Dr Ritika
 * Chinmaya Madan as Preeti's boyfriend
 * Bhairavi Raichura as Sushmita (Sushmi)

Production
Principal photography commenced on 12 September 2021 and wrapped up on 18 April 2022.

Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by Mithoon and Manan Bhardwaj while the lyrics are written by Sayeed Quadri and Manan Bhardwaj. The film score is composed by John Stewart Eduri. The first single was released on 29 June 2022.

Box office
HIT: The First Case earned ₹1.35 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day and ₹5.59 crore on opening weekend.

, the film grossed inr 110600000 in India and inr 7200000 overseas, for a worldwide gross collection of inr 117800000.

Critical response
HIT: The First Case received mixed to positive reviews from critics with praise towards the performance of Rao and Malhotra, pacing and direction. Chirag Sehgal of News 18 rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Rajkummar Rao shines bright in the movie. The film also looks very similar to Kunal Kemmu's web series Abhay". A critic for Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "HIT THE FIRST CASE is a decent watch thanks to a superlative performance, whodunit element and a story". Shubham Kulkarni of Koimoi rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Rajkummar Rao needs his glory back where the entire movie somehow complimented his talent and hardwork. This is not it but is not entirely bad either". Tushar Joshi of India Today rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "If you are looking for a solid performance from Rajkummar Rao, then HIT won't disappoint. It is gripping in parts but we hoped the writers had put in more efforts to go beyond just remaking another south film". Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Rajkummar Rao lends gravitas to the dawdling crime mystery. He has the ability to elevate a scrambled script and he does that here as well. He ensures you are on his team despite the misfires. HIT is more of a hit-and-miss" Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "HIT: The First Case hits the jackpot with Rajkummar Rao. Nothing escapes his discerning eye. Nothing comes in our way of admiring it". Devesh Sharma of Filmfare rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Rajkumar Rao is the best thing about the film and keeps you invested in the project through sheer dint of effort". A critic for Pinkvilla rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "HIT: The First Case hits the bulls eye in the first half, but falls flat in the second. It's an honest attempt to bring the thriller for the Hindi audience".

Home media
The film started streaming on Netflix from 28 August 2022.