Director: Faruk Kabir
Author: Faruk Kabir
Forged: Vidyut Jammwal, Sheevalika Oberoi, Sheeba Chadha
Khuda Haafiz 2 – Agni Pariksha capabilities most successfully as a gore take a look at — which means the movie serves as a barometer of how a lot brutality you possibly can watch with out flinching. There are horrific rapes. Males stab one another with any sharp object they will discover. A toe is smashed in close-up, a steel hook is used to tear aside a throat and consider it or not, in a single scene, a prisoner, maybe a Mike Tyson fan, bites one other prisoner’s ear off. Which is once I shut my eyes.
A lot of this stomach-churning violence is stuffed into the second half. The movie really begins on a quieter word. Khuda Haafiz 2 is a literal sequel with the occasions going down one yr after the occasions of the primary movie. Sameer (Vidyut Jammwal) and Nargis (Shivaleeka Oberoi) are attempting to get better from her kidnapping and rape. Nargis is scared and scarred. Then a five-year-old woman, Nandini, comes into their lives. Nargis is on melancholy remedy, however inside per week, Nandini finds a method to Nargis’s coronary heart and miraculously begins to heal her wounds. Which isn’t very medically sound, however writer-director Faruk Kabir levels it with sincerity. We see Sameer and Nargis’s classes with a counsellor who reads Faust and doles out recommendation that appears straight out of a self-help guide. Nevertheless it’s refreshing to have a Vidyut Jammwal motion car spend high quality time specializing in the trauma of a survivor.
Kabir is without doubt one of the few filmmakers who insists that Jammwal act as a lot as he fights. Within the first movie, the motion began when the primary hour was nearly over. Right here too, the primary half positions Sameer as a “mamooli aadmi”. He’s a middle-class man in Lucknow who drives a Santro and makes breakfast for his spouse on their anniversary. However as soon as Nandini disappears, all hell breaks free. Within the second hour, Sameer transforms into an avenging angel who will cease at nothing, together with actually, breaking balls. The motion strikes to Egypt and the climactic battle occurs with the pyramids within the background. The visuals are spectacular.
However Kabir isn’t content material to create a light-weight motion thriller across the formidable combating expertise of his main man. Khuda Haafiz 2 additionally makes an attempt to supply social commentary on the state of the nation. A lot of it’s spouted by Rajesh Tailang, who performs Ravi Kumar, a thinly-disguised model of journalist Ravish Kumar. Can this nation be referred to as nice anymore, Ravi asks his viewers. He additionally justifies the violence Sameer inflicts because the acts of the frequent man annoyed by “system ki kamzori”. The movie aspires to be hard-hitting and reveal the rot, however the writing isn’t erudite sufficient to have an effect. The script cuts too many corners – working example: the flimsy motive supplied for the plot to maneuver to Egypt. Or for Nargis to go away house.
Essentially the most attention-grabbing side of Khuda Haafiz 2 is the casting. The masterstroke is Sheeba Chadha because the fearsome godmother Sheela Thakur, who different characters check with as Thankurij. Chadha is a terrific actor who’s often solid in additional amiable roles – one among my favourites is the mild-mannered mom in Badhaai Do. Thakurji is a pointy distinction and Chadha thrives in her malevolence. In a single scene, she tells her son, “Jab tak tumhara amma jinda hai chaude mein raho bachua.” However like the remainder of the movie, Thankurji isn’t written with sufficient depth. Her character is essentially outlined by her stare, her sluggish drawl, her most well-liked beverage – kachha doodh — and her intimate relationship along with her handmaiden. The final turns into yet one more marker of her utter lack of compassion and morality. This conflation of sexual preferences with deviancy is sloppy and problematic.
Kabir fills the display with superb actors – other than Chadha and Tailang, there’s Dibyendu Bhattacharya taking part in a murderous butcher (a cliché maybe originating from Sultan in Gangs of Wasseypur, which has now run its course). Bhattacharya principally seems to be grim and says “ho jayega” to every part that Thankurji asks for. Danish Husain additionally makes a quick look as Sameer’s mentor in jail. The movie is essentially propelled by Jammwal who’s in nearly each scene. His appearing is competent however as common, his actual talent lies in motion, a few of which he has additionally designed. As soon as once more, we see him cut up a person’s jaw aside by ramming it towards a wall – this was additionally the cash shot within the first Khuda Haafiz. As soon as once more, I shut my eyes.
I believe Khuda Haafiz 2 needs to be so purposefully disturbing that it shakes viewers out of their lethargy and complacency. Which could have occurred if the narrative had extra heft. Violence must be rooted in perception. In any other case, what’s the purpose of putting up with it? Additionally, a request to filmmakers – can we please cease brutalising ladies so males may be heroes