Gaslight (2023)-- Movie Ending Explained with Spoilers!

 Plot: Meesha returns home to reconcile with her father, only to find he has gone away. But later, when she spots him in the mansion, she begins to wonder if her stepmother has lied to her.

You may have heard of the term "gaslighting" somebody. Gaslighting is a manipulation trick wherein a person is made to doubt themselves and question their reality.

It's a pretty mean trick and a common one used by toxic people.

While the movie Gaslight is about gaslighting people, it is also about using minimal light so that you literally have to peer into the dark scenes to understand what is happening.

There's a very good chance the movie did use gas lit lamps for lighting. That's how dark some of the scenes are when they didn't need to be.

Gaslight is an intense thriller that will hold your attention despite most of the crucial scenes being shot in limited light.

The script is handled deftly by seasoned actors.

Sara Ali Khan, who plays the lead, puts in an earnest effort, but you can very well see her trying too hard.

This is evident because of the ability of the other actors to perform effortlessly.

Nevertheless, the performances are efficient, the story is interesting, and the editing is clever. However, the cinematography is a bit of a letdown.

GASLIGHT Plot

The movie begins with a shot of a woman's hand under the lake.

We then see Meesha reading a letter from her father, asking to see her.

Meesha is in a wheelchair, handicapped due to an incident from her childhood.

At the train station, she approaches the sleeping driver and identifies him as Padam. He is surprised, but she tells him she remembers him and his stories.

During the drive home, Meesha looks distracted and thinks about her childhood and the parties she used to have with the family and her "Daata," her father Ratan,  with whom she is estranged.

When she reaches home, she is welcomed by Rukmini, who is her stepmother. She welcomes her cheerfully but informs her that her father had to travel to solve some matters of land.

Meesha is troubled by this. Why would her father invite her and then leave?

She clearly doesn't like her stepmother and completely ignores her.

Later that night, Meesha hears the piano playing some song from her childhood. She begins to roam around in the dark.

She sees a man in a long coat and top hat, prancing around the corridors. She follows him and approaches him in the dark. But he's just a balloon.

She then sees the figure, who she assumes to be her Daata, and considers following him down the stairs.

Before she can complete her thoughts, the balloon face pops behind her. Startled, she tumbles down the stairs. When she comes to, she sees a maid, a man, Rukmini, and a doctor attending her.

The doctor is Dr. Shekhawat. He tells her to relax and then makes sarcastic remarks when Meesha implies she has seen her father roaming about. The other man is Kapil, who assures her that as Ratan's personal assistant, he would know that Ratan has not returned.

In order to pacify her, the doctor takes Meesha to the wharf where she sees her father. Of course, he is not there. Rukmini apologizes to the doctor, who comments that there is no point in saying sorry after troubling him. Off he goes.

Meesha is still troubled the next day and asks the maid if she knows anything about where her Daata went. The maid acts nervously and says that nope, she knows nothing about it. It looks like she may have an idea. Then again, we don't see her after another scene, so who knows.

Meesha then sees a barking dog and learns its name is Commander. She sees Kapil tending to it and realizes that if she wants any information, she must approach him.

Rukmini comes in and is handed one paper to sign to show how busy she is. Afterwards, she is shown to do absolute nothing else.

She tells Meesha to dress up because they have to attend a skeet shooting event. Skeet shooting is her father's new favourite sport. Meesha argues that it is Polo. Rukmini tells her that ever since Ratan took a fall from the horse, he didn't want to ride horses anymore.

Meesha wears a dress and goes to meet her distant cousin Rana. He ably shoots, and as soon as he sees Meesha, he goes to her and tries to charm her. Rukmini reminds him that she is her cousin. Rana says they are very, very distant.

Meesha makes a pinched face. And then comes Ashok, who goes to greet Rukmini and pretty much ignores everyone else. Meesha suspects they may be having an affair.

Rana asks who will shoot now that Ratan isn't here. Kapil is sent in his place. He manages to shoot well, and Rana gets pissed off.

He comes up with a plan to sabotage Kapil. The next time Kapil shoots, the gun backfires and hurts him.

As he sits in his shed to bandage himself up, Meesha comes up to him and tries to get more information about Daata. He tells her that even though he is Ratan's close aide, he isn't close to him per se and doesn't know what he is up to.

Meesha finds herself at square one.

It's nighttime, and Meesha hears the tune again. This time she finds a movie playing and Ratan is in it, asking her to come to him. She advances, and a hand shoots out to grab her. Meesha screams loud enough to wake up everybody.

Rukmini is agitated to have her beauty sleep disrupted and taunts about Meesha making a ruckus all the time. Meesha maintains that she is curious about Daata and believes he may be in the house. Ashok tells her he doesn't think it's a possibility because why would he be hiding in the first place.

He tells her he has heard those excuses before and that Ratan has gone AWOL before and was found later with a lady friend.

He gestures to Kapil and says his loyal aide knows about that. Meesha is upset that Kapil hasn't been truthful about her father's romps.

Ashok tells Meesha she is free to lodge a complaint but that she must come to the police station.

Rukmini accompanies her, and they file a missing report.

They later visit a temple where a woman in a black garb suddenly turns around and grabs Meesha's forehead.

Meesha notices she is blind. The woman calls her Mishri and claims that her father is dead and she needs to look for him.

Rukmini takes her away, but Meesha wants to meet the woman again and asks Kapil to bring her in.

Kapil gets the woman who begins a seance and is possessed by Ratan, who is happy to see her. He calls her Mishri, and Meesha realizes that since Ratan is possessing the woman, it does mean he is dead.

This is when Rukmini makes an entry. She tells Meesha not to believe the woman, but Meesha tells her to get lost from her room. Rukmini looks at Kapil and reminds them that she is still in charge.

The woman is sent away, and Meesha looks at her angrily.

Later, one night, she hears more noise and ends up at the garage where, in a car, she spots a dead man. She is shocked to discover it is her Daata. She calls for help, and no one believes her because the car is empty.

Meesha pulls Kapil to her side, and they both search the car. Just when they are about to give up, Meesha finally finds a clue, Ratan's cufflink.

She believes her stepmother wants to prove she is crazy so she can take away all her property.

But then Rukmini isn't smart to do this all by herself, and they think it may be Rana as he has an obvious crush on her. They also think it could be Ashok as he used to be in love with her.

They attend a party Rana has thrown, and Meesha tells Kapil he has to accompany her.

At the party, Kapil and Meesha pretty much gossip about everyone. They are clearly connecting.

Rukmini makes an entry, and all eyes are on her.

Rukmini is also enjoying the attention but then notices Meesha. She heads to their table, and Kapil quickly stands up. Rukmini isn't happy that Meesha is roaming with the staff. Rana comes to join her and makes a remark about the staff also being welcome here. Meesha takes Kapil's hand as he makes to go and tells him he gets to stay.

However, when everyone was pouncing on Kapil, she had remained silent instead of coming to his defence. In fact, she looks at him as if wondering what he is going to say.

The two leave but actually hide to witness Rana and Rukmini having a discussion about money problems.

The two move out from there and realize Rana must need Rukmini's money, which is why he must be helping her.

The two make out for a while.

Afterwards, they go see Rana and confront him about the money problems and the fact that he just got punched by some guy.

He tells them that there are some money problems, and now that Ratan may be dead, Meesha inherits the whole property and can sign the papers instead. Meesha looks at him as if he has gone crazy.

He then tells them that Rukmini is pregnant but that the baby is not Ratan's but someone else's.

Meesha and Kapil leave, perplexed. Who could the baby daddy be?

While they are gone, Rana is getting into his car when he gets attacked. He is killed by an unknown person.

Rukmini is swimming in the pool when she sees a figure of a woman being stabbed in her belly. The next moment, Rukmini begins to bleed from her belly, resulting in the pool becoming bloody.

She gets out of the pool and goes to her room to find Meesha waiting for her.

It is then that Rukmini gets a call, and she gets visibly upset. She tells Meesha to go away and then tells her that Rana was killed.

Meesha and Kapil exchange shocked glances.

Meesha is then in the garden, watching the dog, Commander. Padam is trying to get him to eat, but he keeps barking.

Meesha remembers that Commander usually knows when Ratan is home. She decides to use Commander to find her Daata.

She makes the dog sniff the cufflink, and the dog leads them to the car.

Meesha is certain now that Ratan is in the house somewhere. She is then led to the wharf and assumes that her Daata is somewhere under the water.

Padam becomes her diver and searches the wharf for the body.

Eventually, the body surfaces, and Meesha is heartbroken. She calls Kapil, who is driving Rukmini, and tells her about the body.

Kapil immediately returns to the mansion.

Meesha and Padam are knocked out, and when Meesha wakes up, she finds herself in a car. Kapil is pushing the car off the cliff, and Meesha is shocked to find that Kapil is a villain.

It's not really a surprise, considering there are hardly any other characters in the movie to suspect.

Meesha tries calling for help as the car plunges into the water. She screams and tries to remove the headrest to break the window.

The scene cuts away, but it is safe to assume she made it alive... but will she be able to swim when she can't walk?

At the mansion, the truth is revealed.

GASLIGHT Ending Explained with Spoilers.

Rukmini was having an affair with Kapil when Ratan walked in on her one day. A fight ensues, after which  Kapil pretty much murders Ratan.

Before that, Ratan's head had been bashed into the mirror, which is why there is a large crack on it that Rukmini prefers to hide rather than throw it away.

So, Rukmini is pregnant with Kapil's child.

Ashok comes in to investigate, and Rukmini fumbles with the timings of when Meesha leaves the house. Ashok catches her lie since no train leaves that late at night.

Kapil tries to intervene, but Ashok sends him away. Later, the car is found but no Meesha.

Kapil calls Rukmini, who gets tensed. Dr. Shekhawat pops over and tells her that he had done Meesha's post mortem since she had died last week. Then who is this girl?

It's time for another twist.

The lights are out, so it is the perfect time to play out the finale.

Turns out the girl everyone thought was Meesha, was actually Fatima, a girl who played with Meesha when she was small. Ratan used to tell her that good things, whether small or big, make a difference.

Fatima moves away and becomes a nurse. One day, she finds that her new patient is Meesha. She takes care of her as Meesha is depressed and suicidal and estranged from her father.

She manages to help her and even get her to call Ratan. They make plans to meet, but he never shows up because, at that point, he had been murdered.

Heartbroken that he didn't keep his word, Meesha commits suicide and it is her body that we see underwater.

Fatima and Dr. Shekhawat team up to figure out what happened to Daata, but clearly, they don't make a very good team.

Dr. Shekhawat is knocked out. Kapil tries to attack Meesha, and Rukmini intervenes, having grown a conscience, but Kapil tosses her aside.

She eyes a gun atop a mantle.

There's some chase as Fatima can clearly run and hide around the house.

Eventually, Rukmini approaches, and a clichéd gun scene occurs wherein Kapil accidentally shoots her.

Fatima tries to make a getaway, but Kapil has murder on his mind and goes after her with a shotgun.

He has her cornered and shoots only for it to backfire. Fatima used Ratan's cufflink to put inside the gun, a trick she learned from Rana.

Kapil is shot in the neck and bleeds to death.

Time passes, and Fatima and Dr. Shekhawat uses the mansion to run a foundation for Meesha, which includes kids.

Fatime goes to a plaque and sets flowers near it.

It bears the words Ratan used to speak.

The movie ends.

Gaslight could have been a more engaging thriller had more light been used. The dull hues don't add to the mystery nor give the script weight.

Nevertheless, Gaslight is worth a watch just for the earnest performances put in by the cast.

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