Saarthie Entertainment and Aliens Pictures’ 72 Hoorain (A) is the story of two spirits who wait for their entry into heaven.
Hakim (Pavan Raj Malhotra) and Bilal (Aamir Bashir) are troubled spirits because they have died in bomb blast disasters conducted by them in Bombay. They were Pakistani nationals who had been instigated by Pakistani maulvi Sadiq Sayed (Rasheed Naz) to kill innocent people in India by exploding bombs. The maulvi had told them that participating in jihad activities like this would ensure that they would gain entry into heaven where they would be allowed to romance 72 angels.
Their hope turns into despair because they soon realise that their injured and dead bodies are lying unclaimed in Bombay and, therefore, there was no way they would reach heaven. When their dead bodies are finally buried, they realise that the maulvi had fooled them because not a single angel is there to welcome them.
Anil Pandey and Justin Williams have written a terribly weak story which hardly moves forward. Their screenplay is dull — and that’s putting it mildly. The drama keeps on harping on the same point till it bores the audience no end. The script is devoid of emotions, comedy, drama or melodrama. The duo’s dialogues are weak.
Pavan Raj Malhotra is good as Hakim. Aamir Bashir does a fair job as Bilal. Rasheed Naz gets very limited scope and is okay as maulvi Sadiq Sayed. Saru Maini (as Hakim’s wife, Mehar), Namrata Dixit, Ashok Pathak, Narottam Bain and Bhavani Bashir Yasir (as the maulana in Bombay) lend routine support.
Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s direction is too class-appealing to be true. Mathias Duplessy’s background music is commonplace. Chirantan Das’ cinematography is alright. Kesto Mondal’s art direction is nothing to shout about. Editing (Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, Sandeep Bajeli and Sandeep Patwal) is just about okay. Even though the film has a running time of only 81 minutes, it bores the viewers.
On the whole, 72 Hoorain is a poor fare.
Released on 7-7-’23 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru August Entertainment. Publicity: fair (due to the controversy surrounding it). Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.