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Zee Studios, Cinergy and Panorama Studios’ Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2: Agni Pariksha (UA) is a sequel to Khuda Haafiz (2020). Sameer (Vidyut Jammwal) and Nargis (Shivaleeka Oberoi) are trying to lead normal lives after Sameer has gotten back Nargis from the Sultanate of Noman where she was raped multiple times. But the trauma is too much for Nargis to come out from, and this is adversely affecting their married life. Sameer adopts a little girl, Nandini (Riddhi Sharma), just so that Nargis could return to normalcy as her attention would at least be diverted. However, calamity befalls the couple when Nandini is also kidnapped and raped. Not just that, the rapists also murder the little child. Sameer swears revenge when the police is not too willing to help.
Faruk Kabir’s story is routine although his screenplay has several twists and turns. However, the biggest drawback of the story and screenplay is that the same kidnap and rape drama unfolds for the second time in Sameer and Nargis’ life. Kidnap and rape are not such common occurrences that the same family would have to go through the trauma twice in a lifetime. This looks rather unbelievable. Also, the interval point looks too far-fetched and silly, if one may say so. Nargis actually punishes Sameer for Nandini’s rape and death. The viewers are left wondering why Sameer should be penalised for something he is not even remotely responsible. Another drawback of the screenplay is that the first half is almost completely devoted to the family drama. The audiences for a Vidyut Jammwal film are interested in watching him do action and stunts and eliminate the evil guys, not in understanding how good a husband and father he is. In other words, the writer should have established all this in a couple of reels and come straight to the action part of the drama. In the screenplay, the action drama starts too late in the day. Once that does, the pace picks up and the interest level of the audience also increases. In comparison, the first half is very slow-paced. The track of TV news anchor Ravi Kumar (Rajesh Tailang) does not have half the impact it ought to have had. Climax is alright.
Vidyut Jammwal acts well and breathes fire into the action scenes. It is sheer delight to watch him seek revenge by breaking people’s bones and killing them ruthlessly like a man possessed. Shivaleeka Oberoi suffers on account of a weak characterisation. Although her trauma is understandable, her behaviour is not. She does a fair job. Sheeba Chaddha is lovely as Sheela Thakur. Rajesh Tailang (as Ravi Kumar) is good but it is sad to see his talent wasted in a role that is quite inconsequential. Dibyendu Bhattacharya is menacing enough as butcher Rashid. Rukhsar Rahman makes her presence felt as the doctor. Ashwath Bhat has good screen presence as Kamlesh Thakur. Ishtiyak Khan has his moments as the driver. Ritik Ghansani leaves a wonderful mark as Saharsh, brother of Seema. Bodhisattva Sharma has his moments as Bachu. Riddhi Sharma is cute and endearing as little Nandini. Siddharth Bhardwaj leaves a fine mark as Badr Khalu. Anushka Marchande is effective as Seema. Monica Sharma impresses as Sheela Thakur’s help. Danish Hussain (as Talha Ansari), Varun Pande (as Kapil Jaiswal), Satish Sharma (as police inspector Amit Tyagi), Bachchan Pachera (as the ice cream vendor) and Lokesh Mittal (as SSP Avinash Thakur) provide good support. Md. Said (as Abhinav Kanoj), Ashutosh Srivastava (as Shardul Gupta), Saad Bilgram (as Harris Ansari), Deepak Harpal Singh (as Haashim), Anurekha Bhagat (as Nargis’ maid) and the others are adequate.
Faruk Kabir’s direction is fairly nice. Music (Mithoon, Vishal Mishra and Shabbir Ahmed) is appealing but none of the songs has become popular. Lyrics (Manoj Muntashir, Shabbir Ahmed, Ayaz Kohli, Vishal Mishra, Kaushal Kishore and Faruk Kabir) are weighty. Amar Mohile’s background music is okay. Jitan Harmeet Singh’s cinematography is very good. Action scenes have been excellently choreographed by Andrew McKenzie, Yannick Ben, Amin Khatib, Vidyut Jammwal and Faruk Kabir. Ashwini Shrivastav’s production designing is okay. Sandeep Francis’ editing should’ve been tighter.
On the whole, Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2: Agni Pariksha is an ordinary fare with some glaring drawbacks in the screenplay. It will, therefore, not be able to sustain at the box-office.
Released on 8-7-’22 at Inox (daily 4 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Panorama Studios and Action Hero Films. Publicity: quite good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was not up to the mark at most of the places.