Bhavesh Joshi Superhero

Bhavesh Joshi Superhero is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language vigilante action film directed by Vikramaditya Motwane under Phantom Films banner and co-written by Motwane along with Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Koranne. It stars Harshvardhan Kapoor in the lead role along with Priyanshu Painyuli, Ashish Verma and Nishikant Kamat in the supporting roles. This was Kamat's last appearance before his death on 17 August 2020.

Bhavesh Joshi Superhero released theatrically on 1 June 2018, and was also screened at Neuchatel Film Festival. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics and became a box-office bomb grossing ₹4.35 crore on a budget of ₹21 crore. However, the film has garnered a cult following based on the societal relevance and themes of the story.

Plot
Bhavesh Joshi, Sikandar "Siku" Khanna and Rajat are three young men, who meet in an anti-corruption rally and become friends. They later come up with a YouTube channel Insaaf TV, creating an online show about justice and trying to show the people about the common wrongdoings and corruption which are rampant in the city. Initially, their show garners success, where they wear paper-bag masks and help to solve or confront some small scale corruptions in and around their neighborhood. Time goes by; Siku and Rajat get jobs at the corporate sector after completing their graduation. Their interest for Insaaf TV gradually fades out except for Bhavesh, who gets obsessed about eradicating corruption from society and continues with his vigilante acts, despite a fall in their channel viewership.

Bhavesh receives an email from an elderly citizen about water problems existing in and around his locality and starts investigating the case. Bhavesh discovers that the water pipes across the city meant for delivering water to the households have been fitted with extra pipes to siphon out water to water tankers which are then delivered to the various neighborhoods making people buy the same water which they were supposed to receive for free from the municipality. Bhavesh leaks this news to his channel, and this results in the water crime syndicate leader Patil, who is responsible for this act, to order a manhunt to look into the true identity of the masked man behind Insaaf TV.

Meanwhile, despite providing all the proper documents and doing multiple follow ups with the local police station, Siku's police clearance for his visa processing to move to the US doesn't get approved, until he pays a bribe to the police officials to get the things done. Bhavesh becomes furious knowing this, and they initially get into a verbal argument. An enraged Bhavesh tells that all the government officials and politicians are corrupt and should be eradicated to cleanse the society, with Siku recording his dialogues on his phone. Bhavesh later punches Siku, breaking his nose. An enraged Siku uploads the video on the Insaaf TV channel.

Soon, Bhavesh is termed by the media as national fugitive and is beaten by an angry mob and also arrested by the police and his identity gets exposed to Patil, who warns him; desperate to prove his innocence and uncover the truth to people, Bhavesh sets out to gather evidence despite being injured. He gets caught in the process and Patil beats him to death. The police hand over his body to Siku for last rites claiming it to be a road accident, and further warn him not to get involved into this. Blaming himself for Bhavesh's death, Siku tricks the police into believing that he has left for US and takes refuge in an abandoned hotel which previously served as a safe house for their gang. He sets out covering his face in a mask and inadvertently blows up Patil's pump house, where he used to fill the siphoned water to the water trailers.

It is then revealed that Patil has backing from the local minister Rana. Siku gets himself a new vigilante costume, buys a motorcycle, customizes it by fitting nitro cylinders and interrogates government officer Subhash Mhatre, who reveals that Bhavesh was killed by Patil as he was about to uncover his illegal water supply activities. A fight breaks out between him and Mhatre's men during the interrogation, and a nearly defeated Siku is saved by Bhavesh's martial arts trainer. Siku posts his interrogation video in Justice TV and reveals that he himself as the still-alive Bhavesh Joshi and also starts learning martial arts and other combat skills from the martial arts trainer.

As the video goes viral, Patil gets arrested by the police. However, Mhatre gets killed, with police claiming it to be a suicide and Patil is released due to a lack of evidence. Siku disguises himself and visits the dance bar which Patil visits every night. He plants a bug in Patil's VIP room and gets to know that he is planning to blow up the water pipes across the city to create an acute shortage of drinking water. However, Inspector Sunil Jadhav discovers him in the bar one night, and after a long drawn-out motorcycle chase, Siku escapes, causing an angered Patil to kill a constable and forcing police to frame Bhavesh for the constable's death.

Suspicious about the person behind Justice TV after Bhavesh's demise, Rajat spies on Siku's girlfriend Sneha and discovers that Siku is still in India and has assumed Bhavesh's identity. Siku arrives at the place targeted by Patil's men and fights them, later being defeated and unmasked in the process. They succeed in their mission of blowing up the water pipes with a wounded Siku watching in vain. Patil and Rana tell Inspector Jadhav to kill Siku and dump his body in water, thus blaming Bhavesh for this act against Mumbai.

Jadhav hesitantly shoots and injures Siku. Rajat follows Siku and captures everything on camera. Once Siku is thrown into the water, Rajat rescues him and takes him to a hospital. However, Siku suggests him to fake his death and Rajat admits him to the hospital under a fake name. As Siku recovers, Mumbai suffers from the acute drinking water crisis. Rana meets the CM and tells him that he can arrange for water free of cost, but instead should get the contracts of all future water related projects. Everyone gets drinking water for free, and both the CM and Rana become heroes in common people's eyes.

Rajat delivers the video of that night to Jadhav through a kid and forces him to open an investigation about the blast. As the true news spreads across the city, Bhavesh starts gaining support and protests begin everywhere. One night, Siku infiltrates Rana's house; Rana comes down, sees all his bodyguards knocked out and encounters Insaaf-Man (based on Rajat's graphic novel) at the balcony.

Cast

 * Harshvardhan Kapoor as Sikander 'Siku Khanna / Bhavesh Joshi / Insaaf-Man
 * Priyanshu Painyuli as Bhavesh Joshi
 * Ashish Verma as Rajat
 * Shreiyah Sabharwal as Sneha
 * Pratap Phad as Patil
 * Pabitra Rabha as Thapa
 * Chinmay Mandlekar as Sunil Jadhav (credited as Chinmayee Mandlekar)
 * Nishikant Kamat as Rana
 * Hrishikesh Joshi as Subhash Mhatre
 * Dipesh K. Shrestha as Taja Bhau

Additionally, Arjun Kapoor, Sharib Hashmi, Shibani Dandekar, and Anusha Dandekar made special appearance in the song "Chavanprash."

Development
The film was officially announced sometime in April 2014. The title of the film was said to be Bhavesh Joshi.

Casting
The makers of the film initially decided on Imran Khan for the lead. The role then went to Sidharth Malhotra, but he was eventually replaced by Harshvardhan Kapoor due to frequent delays in the film's pre-production schedule.

Filming
The principal photography of the film commenced in July 2016. The film shooting ended on 30 May 2017.

Music
The music of the film was composed by Amit Trivedi while the lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Anurag Kashyap, Babu Haabi and Naezy. The first song of the film to be released was Hum Hain Insaaf which is sung by Babu Haabi and Naezy and was released on 12 May 2018. The second song of the film titled as Chavanprash featuring Arjun Kapoor, sung by Divya Kumar, Pragati Joshi and Arohi Mhatre, was re-released on 16 May 2018. The soundtrack of the film was released on 23 May 2018 by Eros Music.

Release
The film was released theatrically on 1 June 2018. It was also officially selected for the 2018 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.

Home Media
The film premiered on Netflix on 16 August 2018.

Critical response
Neil Soans of The Times of India gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Vikramaditya Motwane’s take on the superhero genre with gritty, realistic action and a masked vigilante’s story that hits close to home, is worth a look". Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Harshvardhan Kapoor’s film is darker than any other Hindi superhero film you have seen. It’s earnest and deals with the idea of vigilante justice in its raw form". Raja Sen of NDTV gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The vigilante film is well meaning and has good actors, but it is ultimately a boring effort". Rajeev Masand of News18 gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Bhavesh Joshi Superhero is an impressive, admirable attempt at creating a vulnerable middle-class superhero in the real world, committed to tackling everyday challenges faced by the ordinary citizen. But it’s also bloated and indulgent, and that comes in the way of Motwane realizing the full extent of his vision". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 2/5 stars and wrote "The film clearly intends to be dark, edgy and cool. Trouble is, it spends too much of its time underlining its purpose, even getting a character to say these three adjectives".