Sector 36 movie review: Vikrant Massey, Deepak Dobriyal shine in Netflix film

‘Sector 36’ is clearly based on the Nithari killings, but its opening disclaimer steps back from claiming ‘authenticity and accuracy’. Names are changed. Nithari becomes Seelampur/Shahdara, Pandher becomes Bassi, and Surinder becomes Prem. The cops who came under the scanner for ignoring the complaints of the parents of the missing children, are turned here into one who has a change of heart and starts taking things seriously, with the ostensible help of his colleagues.

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The film is fashioned as a cat-and-mouse game between the psychopathic Prem (Vikrant Massey) and Inspector Ram Charan Pandey (Deepak Dobriyal), and in the first half, it succeeds in creating fear and revulsion as we watch the making of a monster. Massey, in a 360 degree turnaround from the sincere student of 12th Fail, works at making his Prem believable, his unctuous smile and creepy banter hiding his real self: this is not a man you would want waiting for you on a dark street.

But it unravels at the exact point when he is allowed a long diatribe which doubles up as a confession, the build-up of the dread dissipating as he rants on. Darshan Jariwala, playing Pandey’s superior, with old links with Bassi, comes off as your standard movie cop, trying to save his skin. Akash Khurana as the dodgy Bassi could have been more if his character hadn’t been dealt with so gingerly: he is clearly a paedophile, but he is let off too lightly. It is Deepak Dobriyal, spot-on in the way he draws a bead on the suspect after being forced to lift his blinkers, who keeps you watching.

Sector 36 movie cast: Vikrant Massey, Deepak Dobriyal, Akash Khurana, Darshan Jariwala
Sector 36 movie director: Aditya Nimbalkar
Sector 36 movie rating: Two and a half stars