Awarapan
- Director
- Mohit Suri
- Studio
- Vishesh Films
- Release Date
- 28 July 2007
- Running Time
- 133 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹18.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹12.26 Cr
Review
Emran Hashmi's *Awarapan* is a film that mistakes brooding intensity for depth, wrapping a predictable crime-romance in moody cinematography and calling it substance. The premise—a loyal gangster caught between duty and rediscovered love while serving a paranoid crime boss—has potential, but the execution is plodding and overwrought. Emraan Hashmi delivers a performance that's more sulk than nuance; he mopes his way through the film with all the emotional range of a man perpetually constipated. The direction opts for style over story, drowning scenes in unnecessarily drawn-out sequences that confuse slowness with gravitas. The supporting cast, particularly the various antagonists vying for screen time, feels scattered and underdeveloped, making the supposed "tension" ring hollow.
Where the film completely derails is in its central emotional conflict. The romance between Shivam and Reema should anchor the narrative, but instead it's treated as a convenient plot device rather than a genuine exploration of connection and redemption. Mahie Gill tries her best with a thankless role—a trafficking victim reduced to a love interest—and the script does her no favors. The Hong Kong setting looks glossy but feels empty; it's all neon and nightclubs with no real sense of place or consequence. What we're left with is a crime drama that's neither thrilling nor touching, a film that mistakes desperation for drama and calls it an ending.
Rating: 4/10
Storyline
So this movie's about this guy Shivam who's basically this tough gangster working for this big crime boss named Bharat Malik in Hong Kong. Shivam's super loyal and good at his job running one of Malik's hotels, which makes him basically like the golden child in Malik's eyes – way more trusted than Malik's actual son Ronnie. Obviously that creates a ton of tension because Ronnie's jealous as hell, and there's also this uncle and cousin of Malik's who have their own beef with Shivam. It's basically a situation where everyone's watching each other with suspicion.
Then Malik asks Shivam to spy on his young mistress Reema while he's away on a trip, because he's worried she might be cheating on him. Reema's this Pakistani girl who got caught up in human trafficking and Malik essentially bought her out of that situation. But here's where it gets interesting – when Shivam starts spending time with Reema, she reminds him of someone from his past, this woman named Aliyah who he had feelings for and lost.
The whole thing becomes this complicated emotional situation where Shivam's being pulled in different directions. He's supposed to be watching Reema for Malik, but he's also dealing with all these memories and feelings about his past love, and meanwhile there's all this tension with the other characters who don't like him. It's got that classic Bollywood drama vibe where you've got crime, betrayal, romance, and a whole bunch of people with secrets and grudges.
