India, Oct. 18 -- Watching Bhagwat: Chapter One Rakshas, I had deja vu: Where had I seen this before? The story revolves around the disappearance of a young girl, which soon unravels into a string of similar cases. Investigating them is Bhagwat (Arshad Warsi), who promises a distraught father he will find his daughter in 15 days. Bhagwat is a cinematic retelling of the ghastly real-life crimes committed by Cyanide Mohan, notorious for preying on women anxious about not getting married. His modus operandi: lure, exploit sexually and financially, offer a cyanide pill disguised as a contraceptive, and leave them to die in public restrooms. Sounds familiar? That's because Reema Kagti's gripping 2023 series Dahaad walked the same path and did it far more effectively. With Vijay Varma and Sonakshi Sinha as a riveting criminal-cop pair, it delivered tension that Bhagwat struggles to sustain. The first half follows the search operation that eventually leads to Sameer (Jitendra Kumar). The sense of urgency kicks in at regular intervals, keeping you reasonably invested. The second half here loses steam entirely; the tension never builds, and the finale feels clumsy. On the acting front, Jitendra gets to turn his long-held good boy image on its head. As the unhinged Sameer, his gentle face makes for an eerie contrast, especially in one chilling scene where he is cornered. But the finale is so amateurishly handled that the entire impact threatens to go down the drain. Arshad fits the role, yet doesn't quite rise above being a cardboard police officer haunted by the ghosts from his past. Ayesha Kaduskar as Meera is okay. The plot also somehow finds situations to fit two songs in, which was not required at all. By the time the credits roll, Bhagwat leaves you more weary than shaken. It has all the ingredients of a taut thriller: a compelling true-crime base and capable actors, but it falters in stitching them together. What could have been a disturbing deep dive into the mind of a predator ends up as a surface-level procedural that mistakes darkness for depth....