Star Cast: Vikrant Massey, Deepak Dobriyal and Akash Khurana

Director: Aditya Nimbalkar

What’s Good: The star cast is trying their best to captivate!

What’s Bad: The casual handling of a gory premise!

Loo Break: Avoid, it would be difficult to reconnect!

Watch or Not?: If You Love Psychological Thrillers No, Else Yes

Language: Hindi

Available On: Netflix

Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes

User Rating:

Sensationalizing crime has been a part and parcel of cinema. A glorified version of violence that we enjoy guilt-free. However, is there a line we need to draw? Probably not, because lines often get blurred or washed out! But is there a rulebook we need to follow while metamorphosing a crime event into a cinematic experience? I think, Yes. While many might agree to disagree but glorifying violence should, at some point, instill that fear, that feeling of numbness, the shaking of beliefs, and the sudden disbelief in homo sapiens – all of which should have been taken into consideration and prioritized when Maddock Films decided to turn the horrific episode of the Nithari Killings into a film called Sector 36.

Sector 36 is a loosely adapted retelling of the infamous and gruesome Nithari Kand, which none must have forgotten. A businessman, Moninder Singh Padhi, and his domestic help, Surinder Koli, were accused of killing children, chopping their bodies, and burying them in the premises of their building itself. Skulls and bones of children were dug out after the two accused were arrested, and the film is a straight retelling of the incident.

Vikrant Massey, as Prem, tries to embody the house-help Koli, who came out as the main accused of the crime, and the film, from the very first scene, delves right into the start of the event. Meanwhile, Deepak Dobriyal plays the police officer who solves the case after his own daughter escapes the horror by a whisker.

 

Sector 36 Movie Review: Script Analysis

The premise of the film is sorted. However, it tries to take some creative liberty and establish other angles, such as corrupt police officers, the classic hierarchy politics in the profession, and the rich vs poor rage. But, unfortunately, nothing strongly connects with the film. Director Aditya Nimbalkar, starts the film on a very strong note when Deepak Dobriyal tramples a cockroach and says, “Cockroach jitni bhi body bana le jeet hamesha joote ki hoti hai.”

However, while the film creates brilliant intrigue in the first 15 minutes, with introducing Vikrant Massey as a psychopath cannibalistic serial killer, it fails to live up to the intrigue that is built. The story starts going bland and turning into a Saavdhan India episode. In fact, if it would have had to go that way, choosing a Crime Patrol path would still have been a better road to travel!

But the treatment of the story goes so casually as if nothing is happening. It is just another day in Noida. Now, this could have been a brilliant underplaying, giving chills at the moment, but Aditya Nimbalkar does not even try to play on this part. He takes an altogether different route, making conversations about an important aspect of Sector 36 with an officer who tries to explain why keeping country above oneself is not really appreciated since “Country is something celebrated twice a year!”

No doubt, these conversations could have been an integral part of the story, loosely based on Nithari Killings of 2006. But all such little yet strong conversations just happen to be there without any connection to the story whatsoever.

Sector 36 Movie Review: Star Performance

There is a scene in the film when Deepak Dobriyal’s wife grabs him by the collar and asks him to go find the man who tried to abduct his daughter. That one scene had more impact than the entire film trying to retell the horrific details of one of the most gruesome serial killings in the history of mankind.

Deepak Dobriyal plays the police officer, and Vikrant Massey plays a psychopath serial killer in this social drama. Massey struggles, but his innocent on-screen presence overpowers his psychotic act despite the actor trying way too hard to convince him. In fact, he does surprise in the opening scene but the act keeps on getting mild, probably due to the lack of strong writing. In fact, his confession scene, that should have been the highlight of the film just fails to impress.

What adds to the blunder is an empathetic backstory for Vikrant Massey’s character that keeps you yearning more for this ‘poor man.’ Coming to Deepak Dobriyal, the actor has impressed a lot of times as the negative lead, but here he takes the baton to walk towards the good, and this might be a classic error of judgment. Considering if the roles were reversed, who knows, the film could have a little more impact. However, I still feel that the major flaw in the film is the writing part that could not help the actors sail, and it failed to connect!

 

Sector 36 Movie Review: Direction, Music

Aditya Nimbalkar picks up the most interesting yet heartbreaking topic to create a film, and he puts everything that was needed to make this into a hard-hitting remembrance of reality. However, despite doing everything right, it is the execution that faltered and broke the momentum of this film that picks up brilliantly but fizzles in the first 15 minutes. Despite having to look at the most gory visuals of skeletons, chopped bodies, blood, and a cannibal man admitting to his crimes in a chilling confession, nothing hits the right way. Be it Deepak Dobriyal’s change of heart from a bad man to a good man or be it Vikrant Massey’s portayal of a cold-blooded murderer.

There were instances in which built the hype so perfectly – like the opening sequence talking about Newton’s third law of motion – Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But it never gets the poetic justice it should have. The film tries to cover all the angles that were associated with the Nithari Killings, right from the cannibal serial killer to child pornography to illegal organ donation. But what probably did not help Sector 36 fly was a lack of research and an inhibition to not go overboard. Considering what a film like Talvar did with the possibility of ‘What could have happened in the Arushi Talwar murder case’ blending fact with fiction so brilliantly, expectations also went high with Sector 36 since Aditya Nimbalkar has been a part of Talvar’s brilliant world.

Even the songs in the beginning and end are just a misfit. Meanwhile, Vikrant Massey’s Prem is obsessed with a game show like KBC, which does not make sense, and nothing adds up. Initially, it gives an impression that he is a well-read man and thus obsessed with the game show, but he turns out to be a man who finds it unfair that he is poor and others are rich. But still, why would this man, who is a full-time serial killer and a part-time KBC-type game show fan, obsess over a quiz reality show and crib over contestants getting a chance to win be beyond logic after a point?

Sector 36 Movie Review: The Last Word

The film, due to its lack of research, wastes a brilliant opportunity to present a man like Vikrant Massey as a psychopath. The film just turns into a mild version of the gruesome act of walking the road of a Savdhaan India or Crime Patrol episode.

2.5 stars.

Sector 36 Trailer