Summaries

Synopsis

"Footfairy" opens with a woman Rita Madhav (Taneea Rajawat) walking along the railway tracks when she is caught off guard by a man who puts a plastic bag over her head and asphyxiates her to death. He then drags her body to a secluded place and proceeds to cut her feet. The next scene is that of Vivaan (Gulshan Devaiah), who is the inspector assigned to the case (Harsh is Vivaan's colleague), finding the victim's body in a red suitcase. This is not the first victim of FootFairy, i.e., the serial killer who is killing innocent women in town. Vivaan finds out that the location where they find the dead woman is not the place where she was killed, but they don't know why the killer dumped her body elsewhere. All they are aware of is that the killings happen near railway tracks and the women always seem to be wearing open footwear. Vivaan is asked by his boss Mr Saleem to solve the case as quickly as possible because he doesn't want to go on a news debate to defend the police.

Devika is the friend of Harsh's wife Anita. Vivaan meets Devika at a dinner at Harsh's. Devika is a pediatrician but reads a lot on what turns normal humans into psychopaths.Through CCTV footage, it was ascertained that the killer could be wearing a taxi driver's uniform. A Taxi Driver Shrikant More is arrested with 3 knives in his bag, during a routine check post search. More says that the knives belong to Arshad, who is a butcher. Vivaan tells Harsh that he doesn't like the name Strolley Killer, the name given by the media to the killer.

In the meantime, another murder has happened (This time the name Footfairy is written on the victim's abdomen). As the police continue their investigation, they find a magazine at the crime scene that is covered in male sperm. Through some tests, they found that it could belong to a taxi driver called Ravi Kale (he was in the registered sex offender database of the CBI). When they bring him in for questioning, they find that he couldn't possibly be the murderer as his alibi checks out. The police go to the memorial service of the killer's first victim Vanessa D'Souza, hoping to catch a glimpse of her murderer there. And he does come after everyone has left but slips away before they can catch him.

Devika and Vivaan start dating. After exhausting all their leads, Rishabh (Vivaan's 2nd colleague assigned to this case) points out that all of the victims had gone to a place called "Love, Stock, and Burgers" a few days before their deaths. The owner, Joshua (Kunaal Roy Kapur), is acknowledged to have a foot fetish. Joshua has recently come to Mumbai from Goa, and In Goa, 2 women were found dead with their feet missing (at the same time when Joshua was there).His ex-girlfriend testifies that he had violent tendencies. The police also find that Joshua's phone was around the murder area on 3 instances, and on other 2 instances it was switched off. But the information is not enough to get a warrant against him.

Meanwhile, Vivaan comes up with a plan to get some evidence against the burger place owner. He gets Shakhin, a foot spa worker (whom Joshua visits regularly), to pretend that she is walking on the railway tracks alone, after informing Joshua. But this doesn't work out, as she gets scared, and they have to abandon the plan. Shakhin was not someone who took the train regularly. Targeting her would mean that the FootFairy is breaking away from their Modus Operandi. But ultimately, a guy by the name of Sandeep comes forward, claiming to have seen the FootFairy. When asked if he recognized him, he points to Joshua's picture along with one other man as the possible suspects. This is enough to get them a warrant. Joshua is arrested, but he gets bail while the tests are being run. However, a new victim is found. She is Vivaan's neighbor's daughter Richa, whom he had a soft spot for. This brings things to a boiling point for Vivaan. A desire to find the killer now has vengeance thrown into the mix. Vivaan beats the hell out of Joshua and Joshua admits to the murders. Joshua is not found to be the culprit (Vivaan had skin samples from earlier murders when the victims scratched the killers face. But the samples didn't match Joshua's DNA), but he ends up filing a case against the police for defamation, which effectively closes the case. On the flip side, the killings stop as Joshua leaves town.

The film rolls seven years ahead, where we see that Vivaan has quit his job (he is married to Devika and has a daughter) and is running his own security agency. Rishabh is in Russia on a special assignment. Vivaan goes to the railway tracks where the killings happened and just stares into the distance. A child asks him why he and the other person are looking at the tracks. Upon a little questioning, the child reveals that the other person had said that he had left a suitcase there years ago and was just looking at the spot. Vivaan understands that he is talking about the FootFairy. He asks him where the man went. The child points ahead, and the movie ends with the railway tracks going into the distance.

In the end credits scene, we see a woman walking. The place is not in India, and neither is the woman. Somebody throws a snowball at her, and as she turns back, a plastic cover goes over her head, and the screen turns black. This means that the Footfairy is still operating, but in a different country.

Vivaan: We can't get rid of our theory that Vivaan himself might be the foot-fairy. He did know the timings of his neighbor's daughter, and it felt a little off how he was obsessed with pinning Joshua as the culprit. Devika (Sagarika Ghatge) says at one point that does Vivaan think Joshua is the killer because he honestly believes so or because him being the culprit is easier for the case? But there is that scene at Vanessa's memorial where the actual FootFairy shows up. Was that a red herring he used for his convenience? Probably after the defamation case filed by Joshua, he had to cease his operations, but the accomplice went rogue. In the end credits, we saw the FootFairy in a foreign land, but Vivaan is settled with his family in Bangalore.

Joshua: All the fingers point towards him right from the beginning. He started his cafe two months before the killings happened. He had a way to narrow down his victims, and the killings actually stopped when he closed his cafe and left. Not to forget that his girlfriend said that she believed him capable of the murders because of how he seemed to enjoy suffocating her. When Vivaan discovers the girl's body and beats up Joshua, demanding to know if he has killed her, Joshua says he has. But he admits that he is only saying that because Vivaan wants to hear it. As he is about to shoot him, Harsh (Ashish Pathode) comes just in time with the forensic results. The DNA samples of Joshua and the FootFairy are not a match. But considering something more concrete, he was open about his foot fetish.

Rishabh: Vivaan's 2nd colleague, he is not someone we immediately consider until two very vital pieces of information are revealed in the final few minutes: one, Rishabh is in Russia; and two, the end credits show the FootFairy operating in a foreign country. This makes us think back to how he was the one to point Vivaan in the direction of Joshua. It is such a far-fetched connection to unearth that the victims had been to the same burger joint a week or two before their deaths. How is it even possible to get such information, unless and until you knew it to begin with, as the real mastermind? He was always the first to reach the scene of a crime. And let's remember that the FootFairy seemed to understand investigation methods and very cleverly avoided them. That could mean he is someone who has knowledge of police procedure or investigation. Sure, he was with Vivaan when the FootFairy was at Vanessa's service, but maybe that was an accomplice, or a total red herring?