Malang (film)


Malang is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language romantic action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Luv Ranjan, Ankur Garg, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Jay Shewakramani. It stars Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani and Kunal Khemu, with a guest appearance by Shaad Randhawa.
The film was announced on 4 March 2019. Principal photography commenced in Goa on 22 March and ended on 7 October 2019..

Plot

Advait is a young man who has been released from jail after five years. Inspector Anjaney Agashe is a rugged drug-addicted cop who gets rid of known criminals by killing them and making it look like an encounter. Upon release, Advait immediately calls Agashe and informs him of an upcoming murder of a police officer and also a good friend of Michael Rodrigues who is a cop who plays by the rules though his personal life is breaking down, as his wife, Teresa is having an affair with another man. Later after the murder, he learns that his friend and coworker, Victor, has been brutally murdered. At the crime scene, Michael meets Agashe and the two are instantly at odds with each other: Agashe wants to kill the murderer, while Michael wants him in prison. It is implied that Advait committed the murder, and slowly, his connections to both Agashe and Michael are revealed.
Actually five years ago, Advait, then a cheerful, happy-go-lucky guy, meets Sara Nambiar at a rave party in Goa. The two fall in love and decide to travel and party together as vagrants. One day, Sara finds out that she is pregnant with Advait's child. The two decide they will abort. At another rave party, Sara watches a young girl named Vani talking on the phone to her father, who is Agashe. Agashe then gatecrashes the same party to capture drug dealers there. Crossfire ensues and Vani gets shot by Agashe's bullet, dying in her father's arms. Sara witnesses this, seeing Agashe break down at the loss of his child. This affects her and she decides not to abort and quits her earlier decision to abort the child of Advait and hers. Vani's death leads to Agashe's alcohol and drug addiction, and his change in personality. Sara tells Advait of her decision not to abort the baby and that she no longer wants a nomad life. Advait, having a fear of commitment, leaves Sara and goes off towards the northern mountains to meet a friend.
In the present day, Advait murders two more cops, Nitin and Deven and to the co incidence both were close friends of Michael and later Michael becomes suspicious of Jessie, a drug-addicted prostitute who is Advait's friend and has been helping him with the murders. Michael notices her in room and followed her till her presiding place and on knowing this Jessie tries to burn down the evidence at her place but Michael enters and sees that he is also one of the targets on Advait's hit list. In a turn of events after killing 3 officers, Advait surrenders himself to Agashe.
Michael's past, and what really happened to Sara and Advait is revealed: Michael grew up in an abusive family. As an adult, he is about to marry his girlfriend Teresa, but due to the abuse, he is uncomfortable with sex and intimacy and rejects Teresa when she touches him before marriage giving the excuse that he doesn't want such relations before marriage. However, fearing that his lack of sexual experience will make him "less than a man", Michael goes to Jessie to lose his virginity. Sara has been living with Jessie after Advait left her. Michael enters while Jessie was away to the market and thinks that Sara is the prostitute. In the meantime, Advait returns to Goa, having realized his mistake. He arrives at Jessie's house, only to find Michael trying to rape Sara. He intervenes and calls the police. Michael's cop friends, Nitin, Deven, and Victor, arrive. In the police van, Advait and Sara reconcile. Instead of the station, Michael and his posse drag Advait and Sara onto a bridge, planning to frame them for drug peddling to avoid scandal of Michael, a cop, visiting a prostitute. Michael injects a lethal drug into the couple before throwing Sara off the bridge while Advait is sentenced to five years in jail. Advait has been taking revenge for Sara's death.
In the present day, Michael reveals to Advait at the station that he raped and killed Jessie after the house burnt. He then leaves so that Agashe can do his "encounter". However, before leaving, Michael says "Happy Solstice" to Agashe that makes Agashe realize that he is the reason behind Advait's vengeance as Advait had been calling Agashe before each murder and saying the same thing. Agashe takes Advait to the same bridge where it all started, where Advait tells him that Michael and his friends killed Sara. At the same time, Michael goes home and sees that Teresa is about to leave him. Michael suffers a psychotic break and attempts to murder his wife. As he is choking her, he is suddenly injected in the neck with a drug. When he turns around, he sees Sara, alive and well wearing the same jacket as Advait was wearing.
It is shown in flashback that Jessie had saved Sara from the fall but Sara lost her baby. Over the course of five years, Sara and Advait had been planning revenge together and it is also shown that the murders were committed by both Sara and Advait together. Suddenly a call comes to the assistant of Agashe and it is informed that Michael has been murdered in his own home. Advait laughs as a shocked Agashe wonders who killed Michael if Advait is right in front of him. He reluctantly releases Advait as there is no evidence and Teresa tells the police she saw a man, thus protecting Sara. Advait and Sara find peace and start a new life.
The film ends with Agashe getting a phone call from an unknown female caller, informing him about an upcoming murder just like he was informed by Advait, thus paving way for a sequel.

Cast

Filming

The filming began on 16 March 2019. The principal photography began on 22 March in Goa. The Mauritius schedule was shot in the first week of May. The film was wrapped up on 7 October 2019.

Marketing and release

The all lead cast first look posters of the film were released on 3 January 2020. On 6 January the official trailer was launched by T-Series. The film was initially scheduled to be released on 14 February 2020; later on 26 December 2019, it was moved earlier by a week to 7 February 2020. The movie was made available in Netflix on May 15.

Reception

Malang received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Harshada Rege of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars stating, "In this film, none of the characters are uni-dimensional, which makes them interesting. 'Malang' begins well with a power-packed action scene, and dives straight into the drama." Madhuri V of FilmiBeat also gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and said, "After the lacklustre Half Girlfriend, Mohit Suri returns back to his favourite genre- thrillers and we must say, the man pulls it off quite well when it comes to calling the shots." According to Bollywood Hungama, which also gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, The Disha Patani – Aditya Roy Kapur starrer Malang is high on style with good performances and thrilling moments but has an average storyline. Apart from positive reviews, the film also received some average critical reviews. Rajeev Masand of News18 India stated in his review "the plot of the film was unconvincing and doesn't justify the indulgence. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote "Malang is a tepid thriller and it's twists don't really take you aback". Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times stated that the story was predictable with a whittled away second half and a limping plot.

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by with Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Ved Sharma, The Fusion Project, Adnan Dhool and Rabi Ahmed with lyrics written by Sayeed Quadri, Kunaal Vermaa, Prince Dubey, Haarsh Limbachiyaa and Adnan Dhool.

Home media

The film was made available to stream on OTT platform Netflix on 15 May 2020.

Box office

Malang earned 6.71 crore net at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹8.89 crore net and 9.76 crores on its third day, taking the total opening weekend collection to ₹25.36 crores.
, with a gross of 70.23 crore in India and 14.27 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of 84.50 crore.