Pune Highway has the ingredients of a compelling murder mystery: old friends, buried guilt and a case that threatens to expose what they have tried to leave behind. In Dhaval Roy’s review for The Times of India, the suspense and performances work better than the film’s character development and final stretch. That makes it an intriguing but uneven adaptation of a stage play—not an unqualified recommendation.
What is Pune Highway about?
Childhood friends Pramod, Vishnu and Nicky are haunted by their failure to act when their friend Babu was attacked. Years later, a murder investigation involving Mona, the daughter of an influential politician, brings old loyalties and relationships under pressure. The premise connects a present-day case to a past act of inaction without requiring the mystery’s solution to be revealed.
The film stars Amit Sadh, Jim Sarbh, Anuvab Pal, Manjari Fadnnis, Ketaki Narayan and Sudeep Modak. It was released theatrically in India on 23 May 2025, has a runtime of 2 hours 7 minutes and carries an adult certificate, according to The Times of India’s film listing and review.
Does the mystery hold up?
Roy’s review finds that the film maintains suspense and that the story of the attack on Babu adds an intriguing layer to the murder investigation. The central appeal is the tension between the question of what happened in the case and the friends’ history: their shared past gives the mystery emotional stakes as well as a puzzle to solve.
#1 Best Overall
Roy’s main reservation is that the movement between past and present skims over important material. Several character histories, in the reviewer’s assessment, remain underdeveloped, leaving the film’s emotional setup less fully explored than its suspense premise suggests. The mystery may keep a viewer curious, but curiosity alone does not ensure a satisfying payoff.
How well does it move from stage to screen?
Pune Highway adapts Rahul DaCunha’s play of the same name. The project began as a one-room play performed across nine countries, according to the Press Information Bureau’s IFFI report. For the film, the story expands beyond that confined setup while retaining the play’s core idea, Cinema Express reported.
That change is central to the adaptation’s challenge. As co-writer and co-director Rahul DaCunha put it in the IFFI report: “We had to reimagine the intimate nature of the play for cinema while retaining its core emotions.” The premise of friendship and guilt gives the story an intimate center, while the murder investigation opens it outward. Roy’s criticism of the film’s lightly developed histories points to the tension in that balance: a wider setting can create momentum, but the relationships still need room to register.
How are the performances?
Roy singles out Jim Sarbh for a nuanced performance and praises Amit Sadh’s screen presence. He also describes Manjari Fadnnis as convincing. These are the impressions of one contemporary reviewer, not a claim about audience consensus. The cast also includes Anuvab Pal, Ketaki Narayan and Sudeep Modak.
Rank #3
The review is less persuaded by the comic moments, which do not always land for Roy. That tonal unevenness matters in a story balancing friendship, guilt and murder: humor can provide contrast, but it can also interrupt suspense when it does not fit the surrounding scene.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is Pune Highway worth watching?
If a suspense-led story about old friendships and concealed guilt sounds appealing, Roy’s review suggests there is enough intrigue—and enough to appreciate in the performances—to make the film worth considering. The qualification is substantial: the same review finds the character work thin in places and the climax overlong and expository. Viewers looking for carefully developed relationships and a tightly resolved finish may find the ride bumpy.
Rank #4
The film is best approached as an uneven mystery with a strong central premise, rather than as a fully realized character drama. Its stage origins add useful context to the attempt to broaden an intimate story for cinema, but do not by themselves resolve the reviewer’s concerns about pacing and depth.
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