Maddock Films’ Prahaar (UA) is the story of public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam insofar as his court battle to get Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kassab the death penalty is concerned.
Ujjwal Nikam (Rajkumar Rao), who is known for his arguments in the court, works very hard to get the court to pronounce the death sentence for Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab. When the court case is in progress, he even ignores his family as he is consumed by the case and his single-minded mission to have Ajmal Kasab hanged to death. The defence lawyer is Abbas Kazmi (Sikandar Kher). Judge M.L. Tahiliani (Ashish Vidyarthi) hears arguments on both the sides and permits examination and cross-examination of witnesses before he pronounces the death penalty for Kasab who was part of a Pakistani team of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who created havoc in Bombay city on 26th November, 2008.
Sumit Roy has written an interesting story based on the real-life story of terror attacks in November 2008, with additional inputs by Vishal Tiwari. Although one knows the story of the terror attacks, Sumit Roy and Vishal Tiwari’s story gives several details which were not public knowledge. Sumit Roy’s screenplay, with additional screenplay by Vishal Tiwari, is engaging, interesting as well as entertaining. The drama moves at a fast pace and doesn’t give the viewers time to think. In parts, the interest level may dip for a few minutes, but the drama soon engages the audience with some incident or the other. The stories which the witnesses narrate in court often shock the viewers beyond imagination. A good point about the screenplay is that it also captures the personal life of Ujjwal Nikam. The tension between Ujjwal and his son, Aniket (Ritvik Sahore), is so beautifully written that the scenes between father and son often bring tears to the eyes of the audience. If the confrontation scenes between Nikam and Kazmi in court are exciting, the couple of scenes of conversation and arguments between Ujjwal Nikam and his Pakistani counterpart, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali (Jaideep Ahlawat), are also wonderful. The closing statements of Nikam in court before the judge’s verdict are terrific. Having said all this, it must be added that the proceedings hold more appeal for the class audience. Also, although the drama in the film is unlike other films made on the terror attacks of November 2008 in Bombay, the audience seems to be not too much in a mood to watch films based on those horrifying attacks and hence may not give this film a chance in spite of the fact that this one is very different from the earlier films based on the attacks.
Sumit Roy’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Dushyant Arora, are fantastic.
Rajkumar Rao delivers a praiseworthy performance as public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. He sinks into the character and comes out with flying colours. His acting could fetch him awards. Wamiqa Gabbi is beautifully restrained as the understanding wife of Nikam, Jyoti. Jaideep Ahlawat leaves a wonderful mark in a brief role as Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali. Sikandar Kher is first-rate as defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi. Ashish Vidyarthi is lovely as judge M.L. Tahiliani. Lalit Prabhakar is natural in the role of Mohd. Ajmal Amir Kasab. Ritvik Sahore is outstanding as Aniket Nikam. His realistic acting draws tears from the viewers’ eyes in scenes of confrontation between him and his father. Milind M. Ukey is nice as Rajesh Bhale. Ajinkya Deo lends fine support as Bipin Naria. Sandeep Kulkarni has his moments as Arvind Desai. Dior Ranju Varghese is terrific as witness Komal Ahirwar (who loses her mother in the terrorist attack at CST station). Pradeep Bhaskar and Tina Bhatiya Das (as parents of Komal Ahirwar) make their marks. Chandrakala Satam makes her presence amply felt in a tiny role as the Cama Hospital nurse. Nasser (as P. Chidambaram), Shivraj Waichal (as Sriram), Sharad Jadhav (as Bhaskar Kadam), Rajendra Kamble (as Hemant Bavdhankar), Prasanna Ketkar (as Sanjay Govilkar), Swapnil Dhondge (as Arun Jadhav), Vipul Deshpande (as Vijay Salaskar), Vikas Gawju (as Ashok Kamte), Pranali Ghogare (as Sharvari Nikam), Gaurav Chaudhary (as Sharvari’s husband, Mahesh), Girish Kharat (as cell guard Kale), Pachku Gaikwad (as cell guard Umesh), Aniket Jadhav (as cell guard Sawant), Suhas Sirsat (as K.P. Pawar), and the rest of the artistes perform excellently.
Avinash Arun’s direction is superb. He has handled the subject with the right amount of sensitivity. Not just the courtroom scenes but even the family scenes have been wonderfully narrated by Avinash Arun. Vishal Mishra’s music is nice. There is only one song and it is beautifully written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Aloknanda Dasgupta’s background music is extraordinary. Action and stunt scenes (choreographed by Aejaz Gulab and Amritpal Singh) are very thrilling. Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray’s production designing, and Nilesh Vishwakarma’s art direction are of a fine standard. Charu Shree Roy’s editing is super-sharp.
On the whole, Prahaar is a lovely entertainer, but it has three things going against it: it is meant more for the city audience; it is another film on the terror attacks of November 2008, which the public seems to have taken an aversion to; and it has opened to miserable houses. It deserves to do well at the box-office because of the nationalist flavour, but it will definitely not get the box-office numbers matching its merits.
Released on 16-10-’26 at Inox (daily 7 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Jio Studios. Publicity: fair. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark everywhere.
