Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga: Of Heist, Hate & Hijack

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Maddock Films and producer Dinesh Vijan are known for medium-budgeted films of varying genres (but for a 3-D Bhediya) and the list includes Stree, Bala, Luka Chhupi, Mimi and more. It now adds an engrossing and crisp saga that intertwines hate (or rather revenge), heist and hijack in a dramatic saga with some unusual turns.

Ankit (Sunny Kaushal) befriends an airhostess named Neha Grover (Yami Gautam Dhar) when she offers her own vegan meal on board as he has been wrongly listed as “non-vegetarian” passenger. Friendship gradually leads to a roll in the hay and Neha gets pregnant. Ankit is thrilled and decides to marry a rather surprised Neha.

However, Ankit seems to be hiding something from her: he finally confesses that he has to repay Rs 2 billion to a man who sends his hoods to threaten him frequently. Ankit assures her that he will find a way to do it, but when this happens the next time, the hoods turn on her when she intervenes as they manhandle him and kick her in the stomach. Neha loses her unborn child and is shattered.

When the threat continues despite all this, it is Neha who tells Ankit that they must rob a politician (Barun Chanda)’s man who is carrying diamonds worth that amount on a flight to India, as per the directive of the hoods’ boss. A plan is devised to stage the robbery in-flight, but unknown to them, the plane is suddenly hijacked by a Kashmiri separatist’s group.

The field marshal (Indraneil Sengupta) on board is tied up by the hijackers and soon, Ankit ends up antagonizing them in his panic and getting badly beaten up. The hijacker trio is however killed even before the plane lands at Kulu airport (where they demand that the flight to Delhi is diverted). But when it does land, the three bodies and the field marshal are nowhere to be found in the panic that ensues as Ankit is found tied up and a ticking bomb is on his body!

The best that the authorities can do later is to investigate each passenger. But the truth lies elsewhere. So was it a hijack at all? Or was it a heist as the diamonds too have disappeared from the carrier’s bag? And now, what will Ankit and Neha do?

Despite some obvious stretching of logic, the film holds attention and is intriguing and interesting throughout. The screenplay is racy, the dialogues are to-the-point and the debutant Ajay Singh’s direction skilled. Ketan Sodha’s background song is good, while the lone song, Jaaniye, composed by Vishal Mishra, is heard-now-gone-instantly with its Pujnabi overtones and fashionably accented singing.

Technically good, the film boasts also of great cinematography by Gianni Giannelli, while Charu Thakkar’s editing is sharp. The film has decent performances from Sunny Kaushal and Yami Gautam Dhar, with a nicely sardonic turn from Sharad Kelkar as the RAW officer. The rest of the cast has nothing significant to contribute but do it competently.

As a home-watch, this is a film I would recommend as an invigorating way to spend of 110 minutes. But the last scene, designed to be a surprise and a twist, pulls down the grip (and my rating!) and makes it predictable, denoting a sequel that is coming up. My view is that even the sequel, as with Drishyam, should have been a surprise as the storyline was complete here.

Rating: ***1/2

Netflix presents Maddock Films’ Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga  Produced by: Dinesh Vijan & Amar Kaushik Directed by: Ajay Singh Written by: Shiraz Ahmed, Amar Kaushik & Trishant Srivastava  Music: Vishal Mishra Starring: Yami Gautam Dhar, Sunny Kaushal, Sharad Kelkar, Indraneil Sengupta, Barun Chanda,  Priyanka Karunakaran & others