Murder 2

Murder 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mohit Suri
Produced by	Mahesh Bhatt (Presenter) Mukesh Bhatt
Written by	Shagufta Rafiq (Screenplay & Dialogue)
Story by	Mahesh Bhatt
Starring	Emraan Hashmi Jacqueline Fernandez Prashant Narayanan
Music by	Songs: Harshit Saxena Mithoon Sangeet Haldipur Siddharth Haldipur Background Score: Raju Singh
Cinematography	Ravi Walia
Edited by	Devendra Murdeshwar
Production company	Vishesh Films
Distributed by	Vishesh Films T series
Release dates	8 July 2011
Running time	128 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi[1]
Budget	₹100 million (US$1.5 million)
Box office	₹100 crore (US$15 million)[2]

Murder 2 is a 2011 Indian psychological thriller film and the quasi-sequel to the 2004 film, Murder and the second film in the series. It stars Emraan Hashmi, Jacqueline Fernandez and Prashant Narayanan in leading roles, with Sulagna Panigrahi featuring in a pivotal role. Directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Mukesh Bhatt, the film released on 8 July 2011. The theatrical trailer of the film was revealed on 1 June 2011 and also in cinemas with Ready. It was the second film in a series of quasi-sequels released under the Bhatt Banner including Raaz – The Mystery Continues, Jannat 2, Jism 2, Raaz 3D and 1920: Evil Returns, each of which had nothing to do with their respective prequels, but somehow fell into the same genre following a similar story. Murder 2 is an uncredited remake of South Korean film The Chaser (2008), with the only major difference being the addition of a love interest for the protagonist.^[3] The film did well at the box office and was declared a "blockbuster" by Box Office India.^[4] It is one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2011.^[3][5]

Plot

Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi) is an ex-police officer who is hungry for money and earns his bread by doing wrong things. He is an atheist (Nastik) but regularly visits church to donate money to orphans. Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez), a model, is in a passionate but confused relationship with Arjun. Whilst Priya is in love with Arjun, Arjun merely lusts for her and he forces upon her in the beginning of movie but she too enjoys his company.

Arjun meets a gangster, Sameer, who has been going through a slump in his business due to an unexplained disappearance of his hookers. Sameer offers him a huge amount of money to locate the missing girls, which Arjun accepts. During his investigation, Arjun finds a phone number linked to the missing girls. He tells Sameer to send a prostitute to the number. Sameer decides to send Reshma (Sulagna Panigrahi), a 17-year-old college newcomer in the business, who has entered prostitution to feed her family, though keeps this a secret from them. Reshma is sent to the house of Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan), who is actually a psychopathic murderer responsible for torturing and killing the missing hookers. He decides to do the same with Reshma and throws her in a dark well, with the intention of torturing her till she dies.

Arjun finds out that Dheeraj is the murderer and tells the police. While Dheeraj is held in jail, the commissioner calls a psychiatrist to extract his confession. Dheeraj tells the doctor that he kills women because he thinks they take advantage of men. He also reveals that he castrated himself and became a eunuch to get rid of his sex addiction, with the help of a fellow eunuch and big-shot politician, Nirmala Pandit. Dheeraj is eventually let out under Nirmala Pandit's influence. Meanwhile, Reshma escapes from the well and tries to find her way out through the forest.

Arjun meets Dheeraj's family, who reveal that Dheeraj used to beat his wife. He next meets a private dancer, Sonia, who had also been tortured by Dheeraj, but managed to escape. Arjun then meets an idol-maker who used to work with Dheeraj. The maker tells him that Dheeraj used to make idols of devils instead of deities and killed the factory-owner who tried to stop him. Inspector Sadaa (Sudhanshu Pandey) informs Arjun that Dheeraj is free, and the police try to track him down as quickly as possible. Nirmala and Dheeraj enter the same temple where Reshma is hiding. Nirmala and the priest, who had both been unaware of Dheeraj's true nature, are killed by Dheeraj, but not before the priest reveals that Reshma is there. Dheeraj finds the terrified Reshma and brutally murders her, escaping just before Arjun and the cops arrive. Arjun finds Reshma's body and breaks down, feeling guilty and responsible for her death.

Dheeraj targets Priya next whom he calls for a photoshoot and tries to torture, but Arjun saves her, engaging Dheeraj in a fight as police officers show up. They request Arjun not to kill Dheeraj. Dheeraj then plays the tape he recorded when he was torturing Reshma. Hearing Reshma's pleading cries, Arjun, tormented by her death and blaming himself for it, angrily kills Dheeraj, ending his reign of terror once and for all.

The film ends with Arjun visiting a church with Priya, implying that Priya's near death has made Arjun realize his love for her.

Cast

Actor(s)	Role	Description
Emraan Hashmi	Arjun Bhagawat	An ex-police officer turned wrong doer, who is an atheist and is in no strings attached relationship with a model Priya. He tries his best to search and protect the missing hookers including Reshma.
Jacqueline Fernandez	Priya	A lonely model, who is in a passionate but confused relationship with Arjun.
Prashant Narayanan	Dheeraj Pandey	An straight-man turned psychopathic serial killer and crossdresser, who hates the womens, pretends as a customer, calls the hookers and murders them mercilessly.
Sulagna Panigrahi	Reshma	A young, poor, college girl, who helplessly enters a prostitution to feed her family. She later becomes a victim of Dheeraj Pandey and is killed by him.
Sudhanshu Pandey	Inspector Sadaa	An inspector who supports Arjun, to save the missing hookers.
Sandeep Sikand	Nirmala Pandit	A gay who is also killed by Dheeraj, who used to be his friend.
Bikramjeet Kanwarpal	Commissioner Ahmed Khan	A commissioner who tries to solve the case of the murder.
Shweta Kawatra	Psychiatrist Dr. Sania	(Special Appearance)
Yana Gupta	Jyoti	Special Appearance in song "Aa Zara", also a victim of Dheeraj Pandey.
Amardeep Jha	Reshma's mother	Cameo
Abhijit Lahiri	Dheeraj Pandey's father	Cameo
Jhuma Biswas	Hostel Warden	Cameo

Production and filming

Emraan Hashmi during the promotion for Murder 2.

The film was shot in Mumbai and Goa. Earlier, Bipasha Basu was offered the part of the leading lady, but she refused. Then Mohit Suri offered the leading role to Asin Thottumkal but, she thought the role of leading lady is not so powerful so she also refused to do this role. The part then went to Jacqueline Fernandez, after also considering actress Sonal Chauhan. Basu was also offered the item number "Aa Zara". When she refused, the song was given to Yana Gupta.^[6]

The song "Haal-E-Dil" had to be re-shot to make it more suitable for television promos.^[7]

Yana Gupta's item number "Aa Zara" was not aired on television promos as it was too explicit and suggestive for audiences under 18. Instead, the number was shot with Jacqueline Fernandez and Emraan Hashmi, which was aired on television. The original number with Yana was retained in the film.^[8]

The DVD of the film was released on 1 August 2011.

Reception

Critical reception

Murder 2 received mixed to positive reviews from various critics of India. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 4/5 stars and stated "Murder 2 is one of the finest crime stories to come out of the Hindi film industry. Also, as a film, it lives up to the expectations that you may associate from a sequel of a smash hit."^[9] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times Of India gave it 3.5/5 stars commenting,'Murder 2 has enough to give the masses a mast time'.IANS gave it 3/5 stars. Komal Nahta of Koimoi rated Murder 2 with 3/5 stars and said – " It doesn’t have too much to offer in terms of entertainment as it is a dark film but its plus points are the abundant sex scenes and the good music. Its reasonable budget on the one hand, and wonderful recovery from sale of its satellite, music and worldwide theatrical rights on the other have ensured that the producers have made a handsome profit before release."^[10] Pankaj Sabnani of Glamsham gave it 3/5 stars while writing that 'An intriguing plot supported by superb performances, make MURDER 2 a 'killer' film'. Daily Bhaskar also gave it 3/5 stars, stating that 'If Emraan plus Jacqueline under the name 'Murder 2' don't arise your interest enough, then the story will surely do the trick'.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the movie 2.5/5 stars.^[11] Raja Sen of Rediff gave it 1.5/5 stars and wrote in his review – "Murder 2 is flat, boring and not worth talking about. Even Emraan, sporting less stubble than usual, seems baby-faced as he goes through the motions. It might be inspired by some obscure film, but I don't even care enough to look for its name. By now, I've come to accept that the Bhatts have a bigger DVD collection than me. I do wish they'd stop flaunting it, though."^[12]

Box office

The film opened with full houses across India with occupancy ranging from 70–100%, earning ₹7 crore (US$1.0 million).^[13] The film grossed ₹22.75 crore (US$3.4 million) in its opening weekend.^[14][15] After the weekend, the film grossed ₹4.75 crore (US$710,000) on Monday, ₹3.75 crore (US$560,000) on Tuesday and ₹3.25 crore (US$480,000) on Wednesday.^[16] The film went on to gross ₹36.5 crore (US$5.4 million) in its first week, although collections were affected on 13–14 July due to the bomb blasts in Mumbai on 11 July 2011.^[17] As of February 2012, Box Office India claimed that it was the 28th biggest opening week of all time.^[18] The movie dominated the single screens despite new releases ^[19] and grossed ₹20.50 crore (US$3.0 million) in the second week despite limited multiplex release. Murder 2 grossed approximately ₹85 crore (US$13 million) at the Indian box office. The all India distributor share stood at ₹25 crore (US$3.7 million).^[20] It was elevated to Blockbuster status all over India.

Soundtrack

Murder 2
Studio album by Harshit Saxena, Mithoon, Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur
Released	30 May 2011
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	T-Series

Tracklist

The film's score was composed by Raju Singh while the songs were composed by Mithoon, Harshit Saxena & Sangeet-Sidharath. Lyrics are penned by Mithoon, Kumaar & Syeed Quadri. Songs are as follows : -

Track No	Song	Singer(s)	Composer
1	Haal-E-Dil	Harshit Saxena	Harshit Saxena
2	Aa Zara	Sunidhi Chauhan	Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur
3	Aye Khuda	Mithoon, Kshitij Tarey & Saim Bhat	Mithoon
4	Phir Mohabbat	Mohammad Irfan Ali, Arijit Singh & Saim Bhat	Mithoon
5	Tujhko Bhulana	Sangeet Haldipur & Roshni Baptist	Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur
6	Aa Zara (Reloaded)	Sunidhi Chauhan	Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur
7	Haal-E-Dil (Acoustic)	Harshit Saxena	Harshit Saxena
8	Aye Khuda (Remix)	Mithoon, Kshitij Tarey & Saim Bhat	Mithoon

Reception

The album received positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama gave the album a 3/5 stars saying that "Murder 2 turns out to be a good deal overall." Musicaloud gave the album 3.5/5 stars.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Result	Recipient	Source
Screen Awards	Best Actor in Negative Role	Won	Prashant Narayanan
Stardust Awards	Best Actor (Thriller/Action)	Won	Emraan Hashmi	[21]
Stardust Awards	Best Actress (Thriller/Action)	Nominated	Jacqueline Fernandez	[21]
Stardust Awards	Stardust Award for Breakthrough Supporting Performance – Male	Nominated	Prashant Narayanan	[21]
Stardust Awards	Stardust Award for Standout Performance by a Music Director	Nominated	Sangeet & Siddharth Haldipur – Tujhko Bhulaana And Aa Zaraa Murder 2	[21]
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Actor	Won	Emraan Hashmi
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Performance in Negative Role	Nominated	Prashant Narayanan
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Actress in Supporting Role	Nominated	Sulagna Panigrahi
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Playback Singer – Male	Nominated	Mohammed Irfan
Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Playback Singer- Female	Nominated	Sunidhi Chauhan

Sequel

After the success of the first two installments, the producers released a third film Murder 3,^[22] on 15 February 2013. The film, which was an official remake of Spanish film The Hidden Face,^[23] starred Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren in lead roles. However, unlike the earlier parts, it only performed moderately well at the box office^[24]

References

1. "Murder 2: Complete cast and crew details". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
2. "2011 Worldwide Figures: Twenty Films Cross 50 Crore". Box office India. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
3. Murder 2 plot lifted from Korean flick(The Chaser(2008)), NDTV, retrieved 2011-07-08
4. "Huge July With Surprise MURDER 2 Topping".
5. "Emraan- "'Murder 2' is not just about erotica"". Asianet India. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
6. "Yana Gupta replaces Bipasha Basu for an item number". ZoomTv.SmasHits.com. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
7. "'Murder 2' toned down for television". Times of India. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
8. "Yana's Item Is Number Too Hot To Handle". NDTV. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
9. Adarsh, Taran (7 July 2011). "Murder 2 : Movie Review by Taran Adarsh". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-07-08.
10. Nahta, Komal (8 July 2011). "Murder 2 Review". Koimoi. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
11. Chatterjee, Saibal. "Review: Murder 2". NDTV. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
12. Sen, Raja. "Review: Murder 2 isn't worth it without Mallika". Rediff. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
13. Nahta, Komal (8 July 2011). "MURDER 2 Murders CHILLAR PARTY at Box-Office!". Koimoi.com. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
14. "Murder 2 kills all competition". Times of India. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
15. "Box Office Top 5:Midweek: 'Murder 2' is a monstrous hit, 'Chillar Party' has healthy pick up". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
16. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=3172&nCat=box_office_news
17. "Box Office Top 5:Top 5: 'Murder 2' is a smash hit, 'Delhi Belly' is rocking too!". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
18. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/arounddetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4015&nCat=
19. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=3178&nCat=box_office_news
20. http://boxofficeindia.com/npages.php?page=shownews&articleid=3922&nCat=
21. "Stardust Awards 2011–2012 Nominations". Indicine.com. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
22. Murder 3 next year, Hindustan Times, 15 July 2011, retrieved 12 August 2011
23. "Murder 3 is a remake of Spanish film". Retrieved 2013-03-16.
24. Adarsh, Taran (22 February 2013). "Top 5: 'Murder 3' recovers cost, in profit zone!". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 19 October 2013.

External links

• Murder 2 at the Internet Movie Database