Awarapan 2 movie review: Emraan Hashmi returns as wounded hero, keeps it humming

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen the original. Like a faithful sequel, there are enough flashbacks to tell us how Shivam betrayed his mob boss, even as the woman he loved died to keep him safe. Kakkar elevates the design, while keeping crime thriller conventions in place, with slick production values, and a cracker ensemble: this collection of goons is headed by Zorawar (Puran Gabbi), his closest aides JD (Suvinder Vicky) and (Vijayant Kohli), a formidable rival in the shape of Nafisa (Shabana Azmi), an Interpol officer (Atul Kumar), as well as Zorawar’s sister Zara (Disha Patani) and brother Sikandar (Aniruddh Rawal) who has special needs.

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The mix of the comparatively fresh and experienced faces gives this Bangkok-set caper an initial kick which takes us smoothly through the first half, which uses the city well, giving us a real sense of it. It also gives us an interesting new antagonist: Puran Gabbi’ pitches in his version of the hopped-up, ultra-vicious baddie, who kills in the blink of an eye. Gabbi, who turns out to be Wamiqa’s brother, is playing a trope, armed with the long trench coat, razor-sharp hair, and hopped-up manic gleam, but leaves an impact.

It was going to be an inevitability that mainstream Bollywood would discover the terrific Suvinder Vicky, but as a guy shuttling between mob bosses, the texture that makes him a special actor is sandpapered. And those new to Vijayant Kohli may find him interesting here, as the other bad guy, but again, if you have to see the level of menace he’s capable of, I suggest you watch Sapne vs Everyone, in which he was truly spine-chilling.

Shabana Azmi in Awarapan 2.

The sufi-coded music is all over the film, but it’s just background. And finally, after the film begins losing steam in the second half, and the screenplay’s holes start appearing more glaring, you wish that Shabana Azmi, in her Godmother-style redux, had been given more to do. Disha Patani, as the girl who wants to escape her criminal past, is given some soft-focus scenes with Hashmi, even as she spends time playing the cello.

Disha Patani in Awarapan 2.

Hashmi keeps it all humming, and till Awarapan sails along coasting on some eye-catching, snazzy sequences, we enjoy this outing with our brave anti-hero, jiska dard se puraana rishta hai. It’s a pity that the film falls into a repetitive dull third act, which makes us nearly forget the competent genre beats of the rest.

Awarapan 2 movie cast: Emraan Hashmi, Disha Patani, Puran Gabbi, Aniruddh Rawal, Shabana Azmi, Suvinder Vicky, Vijayant Kohli, Atul Kumar
Awarapan 2 movie director: Nitin Kakkar
Awarapan 2 movie rating: 2.5 stars