Directed by Tisca Chopra, Saali Mohabbat is the story of a woman who decided that she wouldn’t bow down in the face of a patriarchal society and would put up a fight and get what she deserves. So let’s find out what happened in this murder mystery, how the protagonist finds herself stuck in a mess, and what she does to save her life.
Spoiler Alert
What did Kavitha find out about her husband?
At the beginning of Saali Mohabbat, we saw Kavitha, aka Smitha, sitting with a bunch of women at a small get-together organized at Diya’s (played by Kusha Kapila) house. Kavitha felt out of place, and she didn’t know how to pitch into the conversation, as the other women were making small talk about things she didn’t have much of an interest in. Kavitha was an extremely intelligent and opinionated woman, but you saw in the eyes of the other women present there that they judged her for her appearance. They felt she was not modern enough just because she didn’t dress a certain way and had no desire to indulge in conversations about makeup, boys, or the other superficial topics they obsessed over. Kavitha went to look for her husband, Vicky, who had been missing for quite some time. She caught him red-handed sharing an intimate moment with Malini, one of the women at the party. Kavitha didn’t say anything, she just came back to the living room and sat there. Malini shamelessly walked out and sat right in front of Kavitha as if she had done nothing. Somebody started a conversation about how women needed to look pretty as if that was the prime talent on which they were judged in society. Kavitha interrupted the conversation and told the others that being physically beautiful according to the standards of society was a necessity for women. That’s when Kavitha told a tale about a woman named Smitha who lived with her husband, Pankaj, in a place called Fursatgarh. Kavitha made up the name of the place, but she was telling her own story (something we got to know later). The motive behind telling that story publicly was that Kavitha (or Smitha) wanted to tell her husband that just because she didn’t say anything when she caught him red-handed didn’t mean that she wasn’t capable of taking an extreme step for her own respect. It was a warning disguised in the form of a deadly story.
How did Smitha kill Shalini and Pankaj?
Smitha lived in the house given to her by her father, together with her husband, Pankaj. Apart from spending all their money on gambling, drinking, and belittling Smitha whenever he got the chance, the man didn’t do anything in his life. Because of his gambling, he had a huge debt, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to recover it until Smitha allowed him to sell off her father’s property in Moradabad. Smitha was totally against it, because it was the last thing that she had of her father. That house was a treasured memory, and she didn’t want to sell it to any real estate agent. Gajendra Bhaiya, a man who was involved in all sorts of illegitimate business, was the one who had given the loan to Pankaj, and he was aware that he had a property in Smitha’s name that he could sell and cover the losses. Moreover, a real estate builder contacted Gajendra Bhai and asked him to get an NOC for that price of land, since he wanted to build a township there. Gajendra Bhaiya was going to earn in crores if he was able to get the NOC, and so he pressured Pankaj to convince his wife. Now, I believe Smitha would have gotten convinced, but then something happened between Pankaj and her cousin, Shalini, that made her realize that she shouldn’t do so. Shalini, who happened to be Smitha’s cousin, came to live at her place since she had gotten a job in the same town. Pankaj got infatuated by her and he was also surprised when she reciprocated his feelings. Pankaj had an affair with Shalini, and Smitha unfortunately had to witness them in an intimate moment. Smitha, even till that moment, hadn’t planned to murder them, but then her trusted gardener, somebody who was like a father to her and had been with the family for many years, told her about Pankaj’s intention. The gardener told Smitha that Pankaj and Gajendra Bhaiya will probably try to kill her since she was not signing the property sale papers. That’s when Smitha made a plan. Pankaj had told her that he was going to Bareilly for some work and that one of his workers would come to the house to deliver some cash. Smitha knew that it was a trap. So firstly, she blocked Pankaj and Shalini’s numbers on their respective phones so that they wouldn’t be able to communicate with each other. Then she mixed something in Shalini’s tiffin so that her stomach got upset and she came back from work early. When Shalini came back, Smitha asked her if she could stay at home while she attended a function at the neighbor’s place. Shalini agreed, and so when Gajendra’s men came to Pankaj’s house, they mistook Shalini for Smitha and killed her. Later, Pankaj arrived at the scene, and he was shocked to find Shalini lying in a pool of blood. He suffered an asthmatic attack at that moment, and Smitha took the opportunity to take his inhaler and let him suffer. She then stabbed him to death and went back to the neighbors’ house so that she had a strong alibi when the time came. I believe had her mentor/protector, i.e., the gardener, not been there, Smitha would have definitely met her fateful end. Not even in her wildest imagination could she have imagined that her husband could take such an extreme step. But that was the reality, and she was grateful that he was there to save her life.
Is Ratan Pandit Dead Or Alive?
Ratan Pandit was the police officer who was put in charge of investigating the double murder that had happened at Smitha’s house. Ratan knew Shalini from before, as they had gone out on a few dates together. Ratan openly accepted that his ambition had made him corrupt, and he didn’t have any qualms about it. He also worked closely with Gajendra Bhaiya, as that gave him an opportunity to earn some money and have the lifestyle that he wanted. The moment Ratan saw the crime scene, he knew that Gajendra Bhaiya had a role to play in it. He went and asked him bluntly if he had killed Shalini and Pankaj. That’s when Gajendra Bhaiya told him about the plan he had made with Pankaj and how Smitha was supposed to have been at the house, not Shalini. Gajendra Bhaiya told Ratan that though his men had killed Shalini, believing her to be Smitha, he had no clue how Pankaj had been murdered. Ratan conducted his investigation, and he got his hands on Smitha’s call records. He also saw Smitha’s photographs from her neighbor’s house, and so he realized that she was not lying about her alibi. But then he noticed something that led him to make a breakthrough. He noticed that Smitha’s mobile phone was in and around her own house at the time when the murder happened. Ratan also noticed the saree she was wearing had changed in some of the photos. Ratan realized that it was Smitha who came back to her own house, killed Pankaj, and then went back to the neighbor’s house without anybody noticing that she was gone. Gajendra Bhaiya had promised Ratan a hefty sum if he was able to get Smitha to sell her father’s property. So Ratan went to meet Smitha with all the evidence he had gathered and asked her to do as he told her if she didn’t want to get exposed and be put behind bars. That’s when Smitha hatched a plan with her gardener to kill Ratan. She coated the edges of the property papers with a poisonous extract she had derived from a flower. She expected Ratan to put saliva on his fingers while turning pages. Had he not done that, he would still have been alive. But Ratan fell into the trap, and he suffered from what seemed to be a paralytic attack in a span of a few seconds. Smitha’s gardener put his body in a sack and then threw him off a bridge. Smitha presumed that Ratan had died, but it was not so. At the end of the film, we saw that he was admitted to a hospital, and though he still couldn’t speak, he was very much alive.
Diya’s brother was Ratan’s colleague and very close friend. He was probably the only one who knew about Smitha’s past identity, and so there is a possibility that he would play a critical role come Ratan gets well. If there is a sequel to this film, I believe that Ratan would go after Smitha and, in fact, make it a mission of his life to get revenge on her. Smitha was oblivious to the fact that Ratan was still alive, and I believe she would be shocked if she ever found out.
Will Smith kill Vicky?
So Smitha’s story ended, and it didn’t take long for her husband, Vicky, to realize that it was not a fictional tale. After the entire affair, Smitha had sold off the house where she lived and taken a train to Delhi. Smitha had met Vicky for the first time on that same train, and they got married eventually. Pankaj was petrified, and he knew that he was not safe. We saw the gardener come again, making an appearance at the end of the film. He had the same flowers that were used by Smitha and him to make the poison that paralyzed Ratan. So that meant that Smitha did have plans to teach her cheating husband a lesson. I don’t know if this time she would actually take that step or not, but surely she would make Vicky realize that what he had done was not right and that she didn’t deserve to be treated like that.
