| Cinematography: | Chota K. Naidu |
| Director: | Ram Gopal Varma |
| Producer: | Varma Corporation |
| Starring: | J. D. Chakravarthy Aamani Priyanka Kothari Bhanuchander |
| Editing: | Bhanodaya |
| Runtime: | 103 min |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Telugu |
Madhyanam Hathya (English : Afternoon Murder) is a 2004 Telugu language Indian crime thriller film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, with cinematography by Chota K. Naidu. The films seems to closely follow the story of Horace William Manton, the main accused in the Luton Sack Murder case. The soundtrack of the film was arranged by Shailendra Swapnil. It was remade in Hindi as My Wife's Murder (2005) starring Anil Kapoor and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi.[1] [2]
A Police Inspector (Bhanuchander) is assigned to investigate the case of the dead woman whose body is recovered from a lake. The policeman checks if this matter can be linked with a missing person's report filed by film editor Ravi Kumar (J. D. Chakravarthy) and his father-in-law. The dead woman is identified as Lakshmi (Aamani), Ravi's nagging and abusive wife, whom Ravi killed and stuffed in a carton before dumps the box into a river on the city's outskirts.
According to Ravi, Lakshmi had left their home to visit her parents. When she had not arrived at their house 24 hours later, he himself had gone to their house, and on not being able to locate her, had accompanied his father-in-law to the nearest police station and filed a report as she is missing. The Inspector concludes that Lakshmi was waylaid on her way to her parents' house by unknown person(s), beaten, and her body left in the pond. But this case puzzles him, as there was no apparent motive for unknown person(s) to waylay her, as no money was taken, and her body does not shown signs of sexual assault. Taking these facts into consideration, he starts to suspect Ravi. Ravi's assistant (Priyanka Kothari) tries to help Ravi. However, her involvement makes matters worse. The movie then takes the audience through thrilling tale of how Ravi emerges from this matter and truth behind Lakshmi's murder.
The film began production in 2001 as Akarshana.[3]
A critic from Sify wrote that "Though the script is credited to Ramu, it is not well crafted and the suspense element is missing. There are no songs and the lead actors like Chakravarthy, Aamni and Priyanka are first class. The chase in the climax has been well- shot by Horseman Babu. On the whole the film is dark and dreary".[4]