‘Adbhut’ Ending Explained And Movie Recap: What Happened To Dr. Aditya And Shruti Rawat?

Murder mysteries are the recent trend in the OTT space, and several of them have starred Nawazdduin Siddiqui as well. Raat Akeli Hai on Netflix, Rautu Ka Raaz on Zee5 Global, and now Adbhut on SonyLIV. This movie is a typical story of supernatural events occurring and how Nawaz’s character attempts to find out the logical explanation behind these freak occurrences.

Spoilers Ahead

Who was Gajraj Awasthi?

The movie began with Gajraj Awasthi, a detective based in Anantvan in Himachal Pradesh, being felicitated for his role in helping the police crack several murder cases. He was being asked several questions by the media about his investigative work, and one of them asked him whether he could tell them about any cases that were weird. By weird, they meant if he had any cases that were almost unsolvable because of their nature, to which Gajraj did not have any decent answers, but he brushed it off quietly without mentioning one particular case that still haunted him. Gajraj was also visited by someone who we assume was either his father or mentor, who pushed him to question things in a case that no one else would. This question by the media took Gajraj back to five years ago when a case of supernatural occurrences was brought to him. 

Why was Gajraj called in by Dr. Aditya Rawat?

Five years ago, in the same town of Anantvan, Gajraj Awasthi was invited over by Dr. Aditya Rawat and his wife, as she complained of freak occurrences in the house. She was alone at home most of the time, which was when these so-called supernatural occurrences occurred, which included doors of the kitchen cabinet being thrown open on their own and the blender switching itself on. The red juice in the blender was thrown at the wall to form a shape of a Christian cross. Gajraj initially was not sure what to make of it, as he was a logical person who believed every action had a simple explanation. 

Who was the first suspect in the attack on Dr. Rawat?

At an event hosted by Dr. Aditya Rawat and his hospital in the town, a ceiling fan detached itself and was thrown at him with the intention of killing him, but it missed the target. The fan, when it hit the wall, also formed the shape of a Christian cross, which further intrigued Gajraj. The flickering of the tube light was also a recurring motif, which Gajraj could not explain. However, the CCTV footage from the event led him to a woman who was looking at the stage while the rest of the people were running away during the fan incident. It turns out she was Mary Mathews, who ran a small NGO for people deemed differently abled after major accidents and helped them get back on their feet through constant physical and mental support. Mary Mathews initially claimed she did not know Dr. Aditya Rawat, but on following her, Gajraj witnessed her dangerously chasing his car with the intention of harming him, which made him suspect things between both were far more complex than they let on. 

Were Aditya and Mary Mathews related?

Dr. Aditya Rawat was questioned at his hospital about whether he knew Mary Mathews. He revealed on seeing her photographs that she was Anjali Malhotra, the daughter of a very rich businessman. This confused Gajraj as to why Mary purposefully changed her name and refused to acknowledge Dr. Aditya. He went ahead to seek more information about the connection between Mary Mathews and Anjali Malhotra. 

Was Shruti possessed?

Dr. Aditya Rawat was back home one day to find Shruti acting strange, and a while later she jumped off the balcony of their home. Shruti did not die and sprinted across the forest while Aditya drove behind her. Gajraj was also witness to these occurrences, and he eventually saved Shruti from being run over by a truck. Shruti was brought back home, and the doctors treating her revealed she was pregnant. Dr. Aditya was not happy with the news, on learning she conceived on the night her husband was drunk, and he felt manipulated. Shruti again was possessed, yet he calmed her down with her depression medication. Dr. Aditya had mentioned that Shruti was in deep depression, which led to several episodes where she was not herself. This made Gajraj question Dr. Aditya, who seemed to be at the center of this whole mess. 

What was Mary Mathews’ back story?

Gajraj’s investigation into Mary Mathews/Anjali Malhotra uncovered that the girl was in a serious car accident several years ago and was treated at Dr. Aditya’s GoodLife Hospital in Anantvan. On questioning, her father revealed she had also gone to Los Angeles in America for extensive facial surgery, which further confused Gajraj as to why she changed her identity. Anjali/Mary’s father, the rich businessman Rakesh Malhotra, claimed she’d wanted to make an identity for herself and not use her father’s name. This was his reasoning behind why she stayed away from him and started an NGO for people like her who’d survived an accident and wanted to move on. Gajraj also learned that Anjali had been scared of dogs, though the new version of Anjali/Mary after the accident was an avid animal lover. 

Who did Mary Mathews attack in the church?

To find out the reasons behind the animosity Mary Mathews had for Dr. Aditya, he got him and Shruti to the church frequented by the so-called antagonist. Initially, this provoked no reaction. However, Anjali/Mary came back when the church only had Dr. Aditya and began to use her power on him. This freaked out everyone in the church at the moment, including Mary Mathews herself, and yet none of them were close to finding out what led Anjali/Mary to have such anger and resentment towards Dr. Aditya and his wife. 

What did Gajraj find out about Mary Mathews?

Gajraj was clueless about how to solve the case until he came across a home where an elderly couple lived. There was no indication how Gajraj came to the conclusion the old couple had a connection to Anjali Malhotra or Mary Mathews. He immediately had to inform Shruti about it, but she was not ready to hear him out. Dr. Aditya had asked Gajraj to step aside from the case, which only made things worse, as it confirmed a lot of his doubts about the couple that assigned him the case in the first place. On arriving at the hospital for the soft opening of a wing, they were confronted by Gajraj, who seemed to know what had transpired in the hospital many years ago. Before he could reveal what he knew, all of them were attacked by a possessed Mary Mathews, who just wanted to harm everyone, especially Dr. Aditya and his wife. There was no explanation as to why this was happening.

Who made the decision about Amy R. Mathews’ life?

Gajraj was probably aware of why Anjali/Mary Mathews was behaving the way she was. Gajraj revealed he had to get to the hospital records to find out the details of the accident that almost killed Anjali Malhotra, who suffered a major heart issue as a result and needed an immediate surgery. These details were not shared by any of them with Gajraj, which was why he had to dig deep to find out if Aditya and his wife did something to become the targets of these seemingly unsolicited attacks. Gajraj learned that Dr. Shruti had also been a surgeon in the same hospital when Anjali was brought in. She suggested a heart transplant and used Amy R. Mathews’ organ to do so as she was a coma patient. This was insensitive advice because she planned to do this without the consent of the parents of the coma patient. It turns out Dr. Shruti was the culprit, as she pulled the plug on Amy R. Mathews without thinking twice, which enraged Dr. Aditya. Rakesh Malhotra, who was at the hospital, offered to buy the establishment and make Aditya the head of it. Dr. Aditya was not sold on this, as he had a conscience. All of these were ridiculous turns of events, as nothing of this sort would ever happen. For the sake of drama, the makers took cinematic liberty and took advantage of viewers’ suspension of disbelief to concoct a backstory for Anjali and Amy R. Mathews. Amy R. Mathew’s soul was a witness to this atrocity, but she was helpless as she was in a coma. 

What happened to Dr. Aditya and Shruti Rawat?

Gajraj’s investigation revealed that Anjali/Mary Mathews was taking medication for the heart ailment, among other prescribed drugs. Through this, he concluded that the real Amy Mathews was killed so that her heart could be transplanted in Anjali to save her. This again proves Aditya and Shruti took a decision purely for financial gain and killed a person without worrying about the consequences. Everyone assumed Anjali to be the villain, but as predictable as the story was, Dr. Shruti was the villain, as she’d started a chain of reactions because of her actions. Dr. Shruti saved the hospital, but her guilt caught up to her, which led to her marriage deteriorating. Dr. Aditya was also not happy with the decision his wife made. This failure of marriage was bound to happen because the decision to kill Amy R. Mathews made Aditya question his wife’s values, and he could not help but resent her. It could have been her depression diagnosis that made him stay in the marriage. Dr. Aditya was indeed a good person, but sadly he got dragged into this.

Anjali had to bear the brunt of the mistake Dr. Shruti made, and she claimed to have experienced out-of-body delusions after the transplant. This did not make sense, as medically it was not possible for the receiver of the heart to behave like the donor. This was again the makers taking advantage of suspension of disbelief and not using logic to explain Anjali’s possession state. This was opposite of what Gajraj claimed, which was that every freak event had a logical root, but this one didn’t. 

Adbhut ended with Dr. Shruti and Dr. Aditya getting arrested for the crime they committed years ago. Shruti gave birth in the hospital but was sent to prison after the delivery. The authorities took the child away, and Gajraj decided to raise the child with his wife, as he had mentioned he and his wife had stopped trying for a second child. The last shot of the movie had Gajraj speaking to his mentor about the work he just finished. It was surprising to find out the person he was speaking with was a figment of his imagination. The most logical explanation would be that Gajaraj may have experienced something traumatic when he lost this elderly gentleman; the figment of his imagination could be his mind hallucinating. It wasn’t made clear why Gajraj had these hallucinations; viewers can only speculate that things from his past were affecting him, and these hallucinations helped him stay grounded and find solutions for his personal and case-related problems. The hallucination disappeared, perhaps because Gajraj got the closure he needed.