Rocky Handsome

Rocky Handsome
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nishikant Kamat
Written by	Ritesh Shah
Based on	The Man from Nowhere by Lee Jeong-beom
Produced by	John Abraham Sunir Khetrapal
Starring	John Abraham Diya Chalwad Shruti Haasan Nishikant Kamat Sharad Kelkar
Cinematography	Shanker Raman
Edited by	Aarif Shaikh
Music by	Songs and Score: Sunny and Inder Bawra Guest Composers: Ankit Tiwari Bombay Rockers
Production companies	J.A Entertainment Azure Entertainment
Distributed by	T-Series
Release date	25 March 2016
Running time	126 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹200 million[1]
Box office	₹350 million[2]

Rocky Handsome is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Nishikant Kamat, written by Ritesh Shah, and produced by John Abraham under J. A. Entertainment and Sunir Khetrapal under Azure Entertainment respectively. An official adaptation of the 2010 Korean film The Man from Nowhere,^[3] the film features Abraham and Diya Chalwad in the lead roles while Shruti Haasan, Kamat and Sharad Kelkar appear in crucial supporting roles. The film's story revolves around a man who sets out to take vengeance against the drug mafia after they take away an eight-year-old girl, with whom he shares a special bond.^[4]

The theatrical trailer was released on 4 March 2016, and the film released on 25 March 2016. ^[5]

Plot[]

Based in a city in Goa, Kabir Ahlawat (John Abraham) lives a quiet life running a pawn shop. His next-door neighbor is Anna (Nathalia Kaur), a drug addict and the bar dancer. She lives with her little daughter Naomi (Diya Chalwad), who develops a nurturing relationship with Kabir. Meanwhile, ACP Dilip Sangodkar (Sharad Kelkar) from the Anti-Narcotics Department of the police force is after drug kingpin Mantoo (Uday Tikekar), who is supported by brothers Kevin Ferriera (Nishikant Kamat) and Luke Ferriera (Teddy Maurya), who not only deal drugs but also control a mass racket in organ harvesting with a professional assassin Attila (Kazu Patrick Tang) who cleans up after their mess.

One night, Anna and her accomplice, who is also her boyfriend, steal drugs from Mantoo's henchman Big show. Anna hides the drugs in a camera which she pawns to Kabir. The consignment loss enrages Mantoo, and he insults Kevin by slapping at his bald head and gives Kevin three days to recover the stolen drugs, threatening that if he failed to do so, he would take the money back by selling all four of the brothers' kidneys. Luke and Attila reach Anna's place, where Luke tortures Anna for the camera. However, much to their surprise, Naomi becomes an eye witness to the brutal torments. Unwittingly, Anna reveals to them the location of the drug, as a response to which Big show enters Kabir's house along with Viju, demanding the camera. Kabir is obliged to hand the camera to Luke when he tells him that both Naomi and Anna are his captives. Kabir gets a call from Kevin to make a delivery to Mantoo, and promises that in return, he will set Anna and Naomi free. Kabir goes to deliver the drugs to Mantoo, where he finds that police officers have already raided Mantoo's haven. Mantoo flees, and Kabir chases him, but he is arrested by police. They are shocked to find Anna's naked body with all her organs harvested in Kabir's car. Kevin, infuriated by the insult he faced from Mantoo, decides to murder Mantoo and become the new drug lord, which he does with no hesitation.

During interrogation, Kabir escapes from the police station. The officers are bewildered by his combat skills and find out he was a former decorated RAW Agent and Special Forces soldier who retired after his pregnant wife Rukshida (Shruti Haasan) was murdered. Kabir fights with Attila at a nightclub and is shot, but breaks into a medicine shop and performs an impromptu surgery. He then continues on his journey, and finds and frees several child slaves in a drug manufacturing plant, and in the process, kills Luke. He tracks down Kevin, who says he has had Naomi killed. He shows a container that has what he says are her eyes. Kabir kills all the gang members, including Attila and Kevin.

As Kabir prepares to commit suicide out of utter grief, Naomi emerges. It is revealed she had been saved by Attila before her eye surgery; he took pity on her because she had been kind to him. The eyes in the container belonged to the gangsters' surgeon, who had been killed by Attila when the latter saved Naomi. Kabir is arrested, but the officers allow Naomi to ride with him. Kabir asks if they can stop at a convenience store, where he buys Naomi a backpack and school supplies. He asks her if she can manage until he returns, to which she nods. The film ends with him asking her for a hug, to which she agrees.

Cast[]

• John Abraham as Kabir Ahlawat a.k.a. Rocky "Handsome", a former RAW agent and Special Frontier Force soldier
• Nathalia Kaur as Anna, Naomi's mother
• Diya Chalwad as Naomi, Kabir's best friend, and Anna's daughter
• Nishikant Kamat as Kevin Ferreira^[6]
• Sharad Kelkar as ACP Dilip Sangodkar, a cop from the Anti-Narcotics Bureau
• Shiv Kumar Subramaniam as ACP Rebello
• Suhasini Mulay as Carla Aunty, a child trafficker
• Teddy Maurya as Luke Ferriera, Kevin's brother
• Kazu Patrick Tang as Attila, Kevin's henchman
• as Jihan
• Uday Tikekar as Mantoo
• Sanjay Khapre as Inspector Pitale
• Shruti Haasan in a cameo appearance as Rukshida Ahlawat, Kabir's wife
• Gurpreet Saini as Viju Dempo, Kevin's man
• Nora Fatehi in a special appearance in the song "Rock Tha Party"

Production[]

Haasan was cast as Abraham’s wife, while seven-year-old Chalwad, who was first seen in Kick, plays an important role.^[7] Nathalia Kaur, who was seen in the item number Dan Dan Cheeni in Ram Gopal Varma’s Department, plays the mother of the child. "But the theme of our film is the action. We are getting action directors from abroad—Eastern Asia—for the stunts," said Kheterpal. According to him, the shooting in Hyderabad was for about 45–50 days. While the second schedule was filmed in Goa, the third was in Mumbai.^[8]

Release[]

The film earned ₹70 million (US$980,000) in one day including paid previews in India.^[9] The film went down on day two with collections of ₹42.5 million (US$600,000) crore nett.^[10] The film earned ₹35.0 million (US$490,000) on third day and the film had a very low weekend of ₹188 million (US$2.6 million) crore nett with ₹19.8 million (US$280,000) crore nett on paid previews.^[11] The collections on Monday were low at around ₹20 million (US$280,000) nett.^[12] The film grossed ₹210 million (US$2.9 million) in its first week^[13] and ₹251 million (US$3.5 million) by the end of its theatrical run.^[14]

Soundtrack[]

The music for Rocky Handsome has been composed by Sunny Bawra, Inder Bawra, Ankit Tiwari and Bombay Rockers while the lyrics are penned by Kumaar, Manoj Muntashir, Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay, Sachin Pathak, Sagar Lahauri and Shekhar Astitwa. The album contains a total of 7 tracks. The first song, "Rock Tha Party," was released on 15 February 2016.^[15] The soundtrack was released on 22 February 2016 which included 6 songs. Later an unplugged version of Alfazon Ki Tarah was released on 22 March 2016 voiced by Shreya Ghoshal, John Abraham and Ankit Tiwari.^[16]

Critical reception[]

The film has received negative reviews aimed at its execution of story and script, holding a 0% "Rotten" score on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. Sonali Kokra of The National (UAE) gave it a 1/5 rating, stating that "With Rocky Handsome, director Nishikant Kamat completes a hat-trick of poorly made remakes that fail spectacularly to do justice to the originals.".^[17] Anupama Chopra of The Hindustani Times gave it 2/5 stars, writing, "Not for a minute did I think that [Abraham] couldn't do the things he was doing. The trouble is that what he's doing isn't very interesting – especially if you’ve seen the original film. [...] Way too much time and effort is spent showcasing the leading man – John's body is a no-carb miracle and Kamat fetishises it.".^[18]

However, other critics were more appreciative of the film, namely praising its action sequences and Abraham's physicality. rated the film 4/5, writing "It would have to be a toss-up between Shoojit Sircar's excellent political thriller Madras Café and now Nishikant Kamat's Rocky Handsome."^[19] Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3.5/5, writing, "On the whole, ROCKY HANDSOME is for people who like action films. Despite the film having a simple plot, it has been garnished with engrossing drama and action stunningly. One can find the right mix of tension, action, emotion under one roof. A well-made action thriller."^[20]

References[]

External links[]

• Rocky Handsome at IMDb 
• Rocky Handsome at Box Office Mojo
• Rocky Handsome at Bollywood Hungama