Malang (film)

Malang is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language vigilante action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri. It stars Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani and Kunal Khemu. The film released on 7 February 2020 to a positive critical reception, and was commercially successful at the box office.

Plot
Inspector Anjaney Agashe is a rugged drug-addicted cop who gets rid of known criminals by killing them and staging their deaths like a police encounter as his daughter Vaani had been shot during a raid in Goa. A released convict named Advait Thakur immediately calls Agashe and informs him of an upcoming murder of a police officer and wishes him Happy Solstice. Michael Rodrigues is Agashe's colleague and a plays-by-the-rules cop whose personal life is breaking down as his wife Teresa is having an affair with another man. Later, Michael learns that his friend and co-worker Victor has been brutally murdered.

At the crime scene, Michael meets Agashe and the two are instantly at odds with each other: Agashe wants to kill the murderer, while Michael wants the murderer to be imprisoned. It is implied that Advait is behind Victor's death. Advait soon kills Michael's colleagues Nitin and Deven, where Michael becomes suspicious of a drug-addicted prostitute named Jessie, who is Advait's friend and has been helping him with the murders. Michael notices her in the room and follows her to her presiding place. On knowing that Michael is following her, Jessie tries to burn down the evidence at her place, but Michael enters and learns that he is also one of the targets on Advait's hitlist. Advait surrenders himself to Agashe and Michael's past with Advait is revealed.

Past: Advait is a cheerful and happy-go-lucky guy who meets Sara Nambiar at a rave party in Goa. The two fall in love and decide to travel and party together as vagrants. One day, Sara finds out that she is pregnant with Advait's child. The two initially decide to mutually abort the child. At another rave party, Agashe gatecrashes the same party to capture drug dealers and a shootout ensues, where Vaani is killed in the crossfire. Sara witnesses Agashe's breakdown at his daughter's death and changes her mind. Vaani's death leads to Agashe's alcohol and drug addiction and his change in personality. Sara tells Advait of her decision and she does not need a nomadic life. Having a fear of commitment, Advait leaves Sara and goes off towards the northern mountains to meet a friend. Advait soon realizes his mistakes and returns back to Goa.

Meanwhile, Michael is about to marry his girlfriend Teresa, but is uncomfortable with sex and intimacy. Fearing that his lack of sexual experience will make him "less than a man," Michael goes to Jessie to lose his virginity. Sara has been living with Jessie after Advait left her. When Jessie was away at the market, Michael arrives and mistakes Sara for Jessie. Advait arrives at Jessie's house and finds Michael trying to strangle Sara, where he intervenes and calls the cops. Nitin, Deven and Victor arrive and takes Sara and Advait to the station. However, the police take Advait and Sara to a bridge, where they plan to frame them for drug peddling to avoid Michael's scandal of visiting a prostitute. Michael injects a lethal drug into the couple before throwing Sara off the bridge, while Advait is sentenced to five years in prison. Advait has been taking revenge for Sara's death.

Present: Michael reveals to Advait at the station that he strangled Jessie after the house burnt, where he leaves so that Agashe can kill him in an "encounter." Agashe takes Advait to the same bridge, where Advait tells him that Michael and his friends killed Sara. At the same time, Michael goes home and sees that Teresa is about to leave him. Michael suffers a psychotic breakdown and attempts to strangle her, but is suddenly injected and killed with a drug by Sara, who is still alive.

It is revealed that Jessie had saved Sara, who loses her baby. Over the course of five years, Sara and Advait had been planning to exact vengeance together. Agashe's assistant receives a call informing him that Michael has been murdered in his own home. A shocked Agashe wonders reluctantly releases Advait due to lack of evidence and Teresa protects Sara by telling a fake testimony. Advait and Sara find peace and start a new life, while Agashe receives a phone call from an unknown female caller who similarly informs him about an upcoming murder like Advait.

Cast

 * Anil Kapoor as Inspector Anjaney Agashe
 * Aditya Roy Kapur as Advait Thakur
 * Disha Patani as Sara Nambiar
 * Kunal Khemu as Michael Rodrigues
 * Amruta Khanvilkar as Teresa Rodrigues
 * Vatsal Sheth as Victor Ferns
 * Makarand Deshpande as Tony
 * Elli AvrRam as Jessabelle a.k.a. Jessie
 * Keith Sequeira as Nitin Salgaonkar
 * Prasad Jawade as Deven Shivaji Jadhav
 * Sanjeev Dhuri as Borkar
 * Siddhant Ghegadmal as Mady
 * Devika Vatsa as Vaani Agashe
 * Vansh Sayani as Nitin Salgaonkar's son
 * Shaad Randhawa (special appearance) as Advait's friend
 * Shraddha Kapoor (voice cameo) as an unknown caller

Production
Initially, the film was offered to Shraddha Kapoor who could not fit the film into her busy schedule but agreed to do voiceover in the climax.

The filming began on 16 March 2019. The principal photography began on 22 March in Goa. The Mauritius schedule was shot in the first week of May. The film was wrapped up on 7 October 2019.

Release
The film was initially scheduled to be released on 14 February 2020; later on 26 December 2019, it was moved earlier by a week to 7 February 2020. The movie was made available in Netflix on 15 May.

Reception
Malang received mixed reviews from critics. Harshada Rege of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars stating, "In this film, none of the characters are uni-dimensional, which makes them interesting. Malang begins well with a power-packed action scene, and dives straight into the drama." Madhuri V of Filmibeat also gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and said, "After the lacklustre Half Girlfriend, Mohit Suri returns to his favourite genre- thrillers, and we must say, the man pulls it off quite well when it comes to calling the shots." According to Bollywood Hungama, which also gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, quoting that the Disha Patani-Aditya Roy Kapur-starrer Malang is high on style with good performances and thrilling moments but has an average storyline. Apart from positive reviews, the film also received some average critical reviews. Rajeev Masand of News18 India stated in his review, "the plot of the film was unconvincing and doesn't justify the indulgence. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote "Malang is a tepid thriller and its twists don't really take you aback". Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times stated that the story was predictable with a whittled away second half and a limping plot.

Soundtrack
The film's music was composed by with Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Ved Sharma, The Fusion Project, Adnan Dhool and Rabi Ahmed with lyrics written by Sayeed Quadri, Kunaal Vermaa, Prince Dubey, Haarsh Limbachiyaa and Adnan Dhool (for "Ho Ja Mast Malang Tu", a version of his band Soch's earlier single "Bol Hu" - released by Nescafé Basement).

Home media
The film was made available to stream on OTT platform Netflix on 15 May 2020.

Box office
Malang earned ₹6.71 crore net at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹8.89 crore net and 9.76 crores on its third day, taking the total opening weekend collection to ₹25.36 crores.

, with a gross of ₹70.23 crore in India and ₹14.27 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of ₹84.50 crore.

Sequel
A sequel, Malang 2, was officially announced on 31 May 2020. Starring Shraddha Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra and Anil Kapoor.