REVIEW: KHUDA HAAFIZ 2

Producers- Kumar Mangat and Abhishek Pathak

Director- Faruk Kabir

Star Cast- Vidyut Jamwal, Shivleeka Oberoi, Danish Hussain, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Talang

Platform of Release- Theatrical

Rating- ** (Two)

Archaic but Action Packed!

Jyothi Venkatesh

The sequel to 2020 action thriller, Khuda Haafiz, begins with Sameer (Vidyut Jammwal) and Nargis (Shivaleeka Oberoi) struggling to heal from the trauma of the latter’s abduction and gangrape in a fictional country called Noman.

Back to Lucknow from Noman, where she was abducted and gangraped, Nargis and her husband Sameer unsuccessfully try to pick up the pieces.

They find momentary happiness as they adopt Sameer’s friend’s five year old Nandini, a sweet child. When Nandini also is kidnapped and raped, Sameer seeks revenge and hunts the culprits down.

Though the story is as old as the hills and deals with the power play by the rich spoilt boy’s grandmother (a ubiquitous evil Thakur played by Sheeba Chaddha), who manages to get rid of the prime witness, an old ice-cream vendor, a corrupt cop and the bloodthirsty action packed vendetta seeking hero going after all the perpetrators, there is something about the way the director has tackled the subject that makes you sit glued to your seat.

Jitan Harmeet Singh provides him able support as the DOP of the film. Unsurprisingly, though, with Vidyut Jamwal as the leading man, no doubt the action is outstanding — especially when Sameer takes on a jail bully, Jaiswal, who’s given a contract to kill him head on heel inside the jail itself.

The action is of first rate, though music of the film suffers a lot and there is hardly any song that lingers in your mind or heart after the film is over.

Vidyut tries to deliver an excellent performance as a hero, showcasing raw action skills, with plenty of hand-to-hand combat, though he falters at times when it comes to displaying his prowess as an actor emotionally.

Though Shivaleeka is convincing as she bitterly tells her husband off when he says to the therapist (Rukhsar) that things are fine or admits that she is not ready for the responsibility of looking after a child, her role gets side-lined halfway through with the director focusing mostly on the scenes of Vidyut.

By the way, Rukhsar who is a fine actor herself has been wasted in an inane role. Sheeba Chaddha excels in a negative role.

All said and done, I’d say that Khuda Haafiz 2 is worth a watch for the high octave adrenalin raising heavy-duty action and the story that’s high on emotion, in spite of the fact that the plot remains formulaic and what saves the film from sinking is the drama that keeps you going, though I should warn you that those who cannot digest too much blood and gore may find some scenes excruciatingly graphic and totally disturbing to the core.