Malang (transl. Vagrant/Wanderer) is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language romantic action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and produced by T-Series in collaboration with Luv Films and Northern Lights Entertainment with distribution by Yash Raj Films. It stars Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu.
The shooting began in March 2019 and took place primarily in Goa, but it was also filmed in Mauritius. Final schedule was wrapped up in October 2019. The female lead role went to Patani after Sanya Malhotra and Kriti Sanon’s refusal.
Initially announced as a Valentine’s Day 2020 release, Malang was preponed by 1 week to avoid clash with Love Aaj Kal. It was finally released worldwide in cinemas on 7 February 2020. Praised for music and cast performances, Malang has earned ₹84.50 crore (US$12 million) worldwide thus becoming a commercial success.
Plot
 |
This section’s plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
|
A young man is released from jail after five years as he ends his sentence with a brutal fight, finishing off a fellow convict. Inspector Anjaney Agashe is a rugged drug-addicted cop who gets rid of known criminals by killing them and making it look like an encounter. His daughter had been shot during a raid in Goa. Upon release, the young man immediately calls Agashe and informs him of an upcoming murder of a police officer and wishes him “Happy Solstice.” Agashe’s friend and colleague, Michael Rodrigues, is a cop who plays by the rules though his personal life is breaking down, as his wife, Teresa, is having an affair with another man.
Later after the murder, 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 him in prison. It is implied that the young man committed the murder, and slowly, his connections to both Agashe and Michael are revealed.
Five years ago, the man, now revealed to be Advait Thakur, then a cheerful, happy-go-lucky guy, 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, Sara watches a young girl named Vani talking on the phone to her father, later revealed to be Agashe, who then gatecrashes the same party to capture drug dealers there. Crossfire ensues, and Vani gets shot by Agashe’s bullet, dying in her father’s arms. Sara witnesses this, seeing Agashe break down at the loss of his daughter, and changes her mind. Vani’s death leads to Agashe’s alcohol and drug addiction and his change in personality. Sara tells Advait of her decision and that she no longer wants a nomad life. Advait, having a fear of commitment, leaves Sara and goes off towards the northern mountains to meet a friend.
In the present day, Advait murders two more cops, Nitin and Deven, both of whom were Michael’s colleagues. Michael becomes suspicious of Jessie, a drug-addicted prostitute who is Advait’s friend and has been helping him with the murders. Michael noticed her in the room and followed her to her presiding place, and on knowing this, Jessie tries to burn down the evidence at her place, but Michael enters and sees that he is also one of the targets on Advait’s hit list. In a turn of events, after killing the three officers in Michael’s team, Advait surrenders himself to Agashe. Michael’s past and what really happened to Sara and Advait is revealed: Michael grew up in an abusive family. As an adult, he is about to marry his girlfriend Teresa, but due to the abuse, he is uncomfortable with sex and intimacy and rejects Teresa when she touches him before marriage, giving the excuse that he doesn’t want such relations before the wedding. However, 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. Michael enters while Jessie was away at the market and mistakes Sara for Jessie. In the meantime, Advait returns to Goa, having realized his mistake. He arrives at Jessie’s house, only to find Michael trying to strangle Sara. He intervenes and calls the police. Nitin, Deven, and Victor arrive. In the police van, Advait and Sara reconcile. Instead of the station, the police posse drags Advait and Sara onto a bridge, planning to frame them for drug peddling to avoid Michael’s scandal, who shows up there as a cop, 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 jail. Advait has been taking revenge for Sara’s death.
In the present day, Michael reveals to Advait at the station that he raped and strangled Jessie after the house burnt. He then leaves so that Agashe can do his “encounter.” However, before leaving, Michael says “Happy Solstice” to Agashe that makes Agashe realize that he is the reason behind Advait’s vengeance as Advait had been calling Agashe before each murder and saying the same thing. Agashe takes Advait to the same bridge where it all started, 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 break and attempts to murder his wife. As he is choking her, he is suddenly injected in the neck with a drug. When he turns around, he sees Sara, alive and well, wearing the same jacket as Advait was wearing.
It is shown in a flashback that Jessie had saved Sara from the fall, but Sara lost her baby. Over the course of five years, Sara and Advait had been planning revenge together, and it is also shown that the murders were committed by both Sara and Advait together. Suddenly, Agashe’s assistant receives a call informing him that Michael has been murdered in his own home. Advait laughs as a shocked Agashe wonder who killed Michael. He reluctantly releases Advait as there is no evidence, and Teresa tells the police she saw a man, thus protecting Sara. Advait and Sara find peace and start a new life. The film ends with Agashe getting a phone call from an unknown female caller, informing him about an upcoming murder just like he was informed by Advait, thus paving the way for a sequel.
Cast
- Anil Kapoor as Inspector Anjaney Agashe
- Aditya Roy Kapur as Advait Thakur
- Disha Patani as Sara Nambiar
- Kunal Khemu as Michael Rodrigues
- Elli AvrRam as Jessabelle a.k.a. Jessie
- Keith Sequeira as Nitin Salgaonkar
- Amruta Khanvilkar as Teresa Rodrigues
- Vatsal Sheth as Victor Ferns
- Makarand Deshpande as Tony
- Prasad Jawde as Deven Shivaji Jadhav
- Sanjeev Dhuri as Borkar
- 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
Filming
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
|
|
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia’s quality standards. The specific problem is: Grammar, proper typography, italics, etc. (May 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
|
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 back 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, 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 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 it’s 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
| Malang – Unleash the Madness | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by
Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Ved Sharma, The Fusion Project, Adnan Dhool and Rabi Ahmed
|
|||||
| Released | 13 March 2020 | ||||
| Recorded | 2019 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 30:06 | ||||
| Language | Hindi | ||||
| Label | T-Series | ||||
|
|||||
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).
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Chal Ghar Chalen” | Sayeed Quadri | Mithoon | Arijit Singh | 5:40 |
| 2. | “Malang – Title Track” | Kunaal Vermaa, Haarsh Limbachiyaa | Ved Sharma | Ved Sharma | 4:47 |
| 3. | “Humraah” | Kunaal Vermaa | The Fusion Project | Sachet Tandon | 4:59 |
| 4. | “Phir Na Milen Kabhi” | Prince Dubey | Ankit Tiwari | Ankit Tiwari | 4:59 |
| 5. | “Hui Malang” | Kunaal Vermaa, Haarsh Limbachiyaa | Ved Sharma | Asees Kaur | 3:12 |
| 6. | “Ho Ja Mast Malang Tu” | Adnan Dhool | Adnan Dhool, Rabi Ahmed | Adnan Dhool, Hadiya Hashmi | 6:29 |
| Total length: | 30:06 | ||||
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.
As of 19 March 2020, 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 titled Malang 2 was announced on 31 May 2020 and will reportedly star Shraddha Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra.