Awarapan 2 isn’t trying to be the same film again, and that is probably its biggest advantageIt is bigger, more action-driven and more conventional as a thriller, but it still understands that Shivam Pandit’s real battle has always been with himself.
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Disha Patani and Emraan Hashmi in Awarapan 2 (PC-Instagram)
Director – Nitin Kakkar
Cast – Emraan Hashmi, Disha Patani, Shabana Azmi
Duration – 140 Minutes
Rating – 4
Indian film market is buzzing with epics, with massive budgets and super special effects, CGI and what not, the films feel like a package deal, more than anything elseAnd in the midst of this corporate mayhem, Vishesh Films teams up with filmmaker Nitin Kakkar, and super talented Emraan Hashmi, and revive one of the most iconic character Shivam Pandit from Awarapan franchiseWe remember the hitman not because he was a conventional gangster, but because of the pain behind the violence, the choices he made and the redemption he desperately searched for, his intoxicating screen presence oozed with relatability, and now he is back, and he is back with rage and hopefully a shot at redemption.
The film doesn’t simply recreate the 2007 storyIt moves Shivam’s life forward and places him in a much bigger worldWhen we meet him again, he is visiting Aaliyah’s grave and still living with the memories of everything he lostIt is there that he discovers an abandoned baby girlHe takes her to an orphanage, starts paying for her care and gives her the name Aaliyah.
The decision to name the child Aaliyah tells us more about Shivam than any action scene couldHe has clearly not escaped his past; he has simply learned to live with itWhen a couple arrives and adopts the girl, Shivam accepts the situation despite her reluctance, believing that a proper family can give her the life he cannotThen the story takes a much darker turnInterpol approaches Shivam because they want his help in dismantling an international child-trafficking syndicateHe refusesShivam has already walked away from that life once and doesn’t want to go backBut when he learns that the same syndicate has abducted Aaliyah, the choice disappearsThe people who took her were connected to the couple who adopted her, and Shivam once again finds himself inside the world he had tried to leave behind.
That is where the sequel separates itself from the originalAwarapan was a relatively intimate story about one man’s moral and emotional awakeningAwarapan 2 takes that foundation and builds a larger crime thriller around itThere are trafficking networks, gangsters, drugs, revenge and international stakes, along with action sequences designed on a much bigger scaleBut the central question remains the same: can someone who has spent his life around violence really find peace? Shivam’s return isn’t driven by greedIt comes from guilt, responsibility and the need to save someone he feels he failedThat gives the action an emotional reason to exist.
Emraan Hashmi slips back into Shivam Pandit’s skin with surprising easeThere is no attempt to make the character younger, flashier or more fashionableThe tiredness is still there, and so is the quietness that made him interesting in the first placeWhen Shivam has to become violent, Hashmi doesn’t need to overplay itHis screen presence does enoughThis is also where his long association with Vishesh Films becomes importantEmraan and the Bhatt family’s production house have created a particular kind of emotional crime cinema together, and Awarapan 2 feels like an extension of that relationshipThe nostalgia works because it is attached to a character audiences actually remember.
The other characters give the film more textureDisha Patani plays Zara, who finds herself caught in a criminal world largely because of her familyHer brother Zorawar, played by Puran Gabbi, is a gangster involved in drug deals, and Zara becomes an unwilling casualty of the life he has chosenPatani gets a role that requires more than simply being the emotional presence around the hero, and she brings vulnerability to ZaraGabbi is particularly interestingHe has an unpredictability that makes Zorawar watchable and, in many ways, feels like one of the film’s discoveriesShabana Azmi plays Nafisa, the woman running the notorious trafficking network, and brings the authority and restraint that the role needsSuvinder Vicky as Jaideep, Vijayant Kohli as Mehmood, Atul Kumar as Samarth and Aniruddh Rawal as Sikandar also contribute to the film’s wider criminal world.
Then there is the music, which has always been inseparable from the Awarapan identityMithoon, Amaal Mallik and Jeet Gannguli handle the soundtrack, with lyrics by Sayeed Quadri and Rashmi ViragMithoon’s reimagining of “Tera Mera Rishta” and “Toh Phir Aao” is clearly designed to reconnect audiences with the original, while “Yeh Awarapan”, sung by Arijit Singh, carries the same emotional melancholy the franchise is known forBut these songs aren’t simply placed in the film to remind audiences of 2007The music is part of the storytellingIt reflects the characters and the mood of the narrativeAnd this is something that really benefits from a theatreThe sound, the scale of the compositions and the way they sit alongside the visuals create an audio-visual experience that is difficult to replicate outside the big screen.
Interestingly, the marketing campaign also makes more sense after watching the filmThere are things about the story that are better discovered inside the theatre rather than through promotional materialThe campaign has managed to create curiosity without completely giving away where Shivam’s journey goes, and that matters because Awarapan 2 is not surviving only on the memory of the first filmVishesh Bhatt’s vision is central to thatAs co-producer of Awarapan and now the writer-producer of its sequel, Bhatt has been instrumental in turning the film into a franchiseHis creative vision gives the sequel its direction, while Kakkar and the team follow that larger planThe story has moved from 2007 to 2026, and the film treats it as the next chapter in Shivam’s life.
Awarapan 2 isn’t trying to be the same film again, and that is probably its biggest advantageIt is bigger, more action-driven and more conventional as a thriller, but it still understands that Shivam Pandit’s real battle has always been with himselfEmraan Hashmi remains the film’s strongest asset, Disha Patani gets a meaningful part, Puran GabbiAwarapan 2 isn’t trying to be the same film again, and that is probably its biggest advantageIt is bigger, more action-driven and more conventional as a thriller, but it still understands that Shivam Pandit’s real battle has always been with himselfmakes an impression and Shabana Azmi brings weight to the antagonist’s sideThe music carries the franchise’s soul, while Vishesh Films and Vishesh Bhatt’s long-term vision gives the sequel a purpose beyond nostalgiaFor fans of the original, there is plenty here to reconnect withFor a new audience, there is a larger crime thriller waiting underneath it.
