‘HAIWAN’ REVIEW | 19 January, 2024

Black Hill Film Production House Pvt. Ltd.’s Haiwan (UA) is the story of Anguli (Birat Kshatriya) who was born to a mentally deranged woman in a village. Following his mother’s demise a few years after his birth, Anguli was looked after by a social worker (Deepika).

Anguli is now a grown-up young man. He goes abroad. There he meets Sapna (Anjali Banerjee) on social media. Back in India, he marries Sapna and takes her to his village. But since Sapna doesn’t like the village, she returns to the city with Anguli. Frankly, Sapna has married Anguli for his money. She has a good time with her boyfriend, Kabir, in the city once Anguli goes abroad for work. What’s more, she even sells off his property besides living off him.

On his return from abroad, Anguli is devastated to know the truth about Sapna and Kabir. He kills them after tracking them down because they had gone underground. That done, Anguli kills a sandalwood smuggler and becomes a don. He asks his men to kill every beautiful girl they meet. One day, Anguli meets Roshni (Roshni Thakur) whose husband had married another girl, forcing her to desert him. After that, she had been raped by a man named Blacksy (Sumitabh) who had then pushed her in to the flesh trade. Roshni asks Anguli to eliminate Blacksy, which he does.

Birat Kshatriya has written an irritating story and a silly screenplay, both of which don’t appeal to the viewers at all. The dull drama is complemented by terrible dialogues.

Birat Kshatriya is not hero material at all. If he lacks the looks of a leading man, he also does not possess acting skills. Roshni Thakur is so-so as Roshni. Anjali Banerjee is okay as Sapna. Deepika is average as Anguli’s guardian. Sumitabh lends ordinary support as Blacksy. Kiran Kumar (as the sarpanch), Pooja Dadwal (as Roshni’s mother, Malti), Ramesh Goyal (as Mulchand) and Ehsaan Qureshi (as the landlord) provide ordinary support. Others fit the bill.

Birat Kshatriya’s direction is dull. Deen Mohammad’s music and Sidhant Chhetri’s lyrics are weak. Prem Prakash Arya’s background music is below the mark. Camerawork (by Amit Chhetri and Kunal) is nothing to shout about. Mimo Jadhav’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.

On the whole, Haiwan is a poor fare which will face rejection at the box-office.

Released on 19-1-’24 at Glamour (daily 1 show) of Bombay by Black Hill Film Production House Pvt. Ltd. thru Jadhav Films. Publicity & opening: very weak.