Murder 2

Murder 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mohit Suri
Produced by	Mukesh Bhatt
Screenplay by	Shagufta Rafique
Story by	Mahesh Bhatt
Starring	Imran Hashmi Jacqueline Fernandez Sudhanshu Pandey Prashant Narayanan
Music by	Harshit Saxena Mithoon Sangeet Haldipur Siddharth Haldipur
Cinematography	Ravi Walia
Editing by	Devendra Murdeshwar
Distributed by	Vishesh Films
Release date(s)	July 8, 2011 (2011-07-08)
Running time	127 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi[1]
Budget	14 Crores[2]
Box office	66 Crores[3]

Murder 2 is a 2011 Bollywood thriller film and the sequel to the 2004 hit film, Murder. The film is the second installment to the Murder Series which stars Emraan Hashmi and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead. Directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Mukesh Bhatt, the film released on July 8, 2011. The theatrical trailer of the film was revealed on June 1, 2011 and also in cinemas with the film, Ready. The film has been given an 'A' certificate from the Indian Censor Board. The plot of the film is said to be inspired from the South Korean film, The Chaser.^[4][5]

Plot

Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi) is an ex-policeman, who used to work for Goa police. He is hungry for money and earns his bread by doing all wrong things. He is an Atheist (Nastik) but regularly visits church to donate fat bundles of money to orphans. In this process to earn more money, he meets a Goan gangster Sameer, who has been going through a slump in his business due to disappearance of his hookers. Sameer knows the investigative mind of Arjun and offers him huge amount to locate the missing girls.

On the other hand, Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez) is a model, who is in a confused relationship with Arjun bhagwat.

During his investigation, Arjun finds a hooker's cell phone which has a number linked to missing girls. He tells Sameer to send a prostitute to the same number so that he can find out who is behind these kidnappings. Sameer gets a call from a customer and decides to send Reshma, a new girl in the business.

Reshma (Sulagna Panigrahi) is a 17 year old college girl, who got into prostitution to feed her family. Sameer sends Reshma to a house after calling on that number. It is the house of Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan), a psychopath killer. He is the person who killed the missing hookers. He decides to do the same with Reshma. However while torturing her, he gets hurt and throws Reshma in a dark well where all the dead bodies are thrown. Dheeraj then goes to a chemist for getting medicine where Arjun also comes to take medicine for his headache.

At the chemist, Arjun finds out that Dheeraj is the guy who has been kidnapping the prostitutes. They get into a fight and land in the police station. Arjun tells the officers that Dheeraj has been kidnapping prostitutes. Dheeraj tries to confuse the cops at first but then tells them the truth. After getting out of jail, Arjun tries to collect evidence against Dheeraj. Dheeraj changes his statement in front of Commissioner Khan who decides to call up a psychiatrist to extract the confession. Dheeraj tells the doctor that he kills women because he thinks they take advantage of men. He also tells that he castrated himself and became a eunuch to get rid of his addiction to sex & women, with the help of a eunuch called Nirmala Pandit. He gets violent with the doctor during interrogation and is taken out of the room. However, Dheeraj is let out under the influence of Nirmala Pandit who is a big shot politician. Meanwhile, Reshma escapes from the pit and comes to a forest.

Arjun tracks down Dheeraj's parents. When he goes there, he sees a woman who is crying loudly and Dheeraj's mother tries to calm her down. Dheeraj's father tells him that she is Dheeraj's wife. Dheeraj used to lock her up and beat her a lot. That's why they asked Dheeraj to leave the house and never show his face again. Arjun then meets a private dancer Sonia who once went with Dheeraj to a hotel. Sonia tells him that Dheeraj beat her up and tortured her. However she manages to run away. Arjun is feeling very guilty that an innocent girl got trapped in this mess because of his idea. He then meets an idol maker who used to work with Dheeraj 2 years ago. He tells Arjun that Dheeraj used to make idols of devil instead of deities. Dheeraj killed the owner of the factory who tried to stop him.

As Arjun goes to Dheeraj's parent's house to call them at police station, Inspector Sada (Sudhanshu Pandey) calls Arjun and tells him that Dheeraj is out of police station. Sada sends constables John and Shinde after Pandit and Dheeraj. Dheeraj wants to go to his home but Pandit insists on going to the temple near his house. On the other hand, Dheeraj teases the two constables who were following them. They arrive at the same temple where Reshma is hiding. The priest of the temple tells about Reshma. Nirmala Pandit is killed after getting suspicious of Dheeraj. The priest is also killed and Dheeraj finally finds a scared Reshma in the store room. He brutally murders her and escapes before Arjun and other cops reach there. Arjun then feels guilty for Reshma.

Dheeraj targets Priya next and waits in his home, but Arjun reaches there followed by Priya. Arjun and Dheeraj indulge in a fight while police officers reach Dheeraj's house. Police request Arjun not to kill Dheeraj. However Arjun still feels guilty as he blames himself for Reshma's death. Dheeraj plays the tape he recorded while murdering Reshma. Unable to control his anger, Arjun kills Dheeraj. Siddharth also shoots at Dheeraj, wounding him fatally.

The movie ends with Arjun at the church, accompanied by Priya.

Cast

• Emraan Hashmi as Arjun Bhagawat
• Jacqueline Fernandez as Priya
• Prashant Narayanan as Dheeraj Pandey
• Sulagna Panigrahi as Reshma
• Sudhanshu Pandey as Inspector Siddharth
• Sandeep Sikand as Nirmala Pandit
• Bikramjeet Kanwarpal as Commissioner Ahmed Khan
• Shweta Kawatra as a Doctor / Psychiatrist (Special Appearance)
• Yana Gupta as Jyoti, Special Appearance in song "Aa Zara"
• Amardeep Jha as Reshma's mother
• Jhuma Biswas as Hostel Warden
• Deep Jyoti Das as Criminal Lawyer

Production

The film was shot in Mumbai and Goa. Earlier, Bipasha Basu was offered the part of the leading lady, but she refused. The part then went to Jacqueline Fernandez. Basu was also offered the item number "Aa Zara". When she refused, the song was given to Yana Gupta.^[6]

The song "Haal-E-Dil" had to be re-shot to make it more suitable for television promos.^[7]

Yana Gupta's item number "Aa Zara" was not aired on television promos as it was too explicit and suggestive for audiences under 18. Instead, the number was shot with Jacqueline Fernandez and Emraan Hashmi, which was aired on television. The original number with Yana was retained in the film.^[8]

The film is an unofficial remake of the South Korean movie The Chaser.^[9] The DVD of the film was released on 1 August 2011.

Reception

Critical reception

Unlike its prequel Murder 2 received mixed reviews from various critics of India. Top critic Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 4/5 stars and stated "Murder 2 is one of the finest crime stories to come out of the Hindi film industry. Also, as a film, it lives up to the expectations that you may associate from a sequel of a smash hit."^[10] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the movie 2.5/5 stars.^[11] Nikita Kapoor of FilmiTadka rated the film with 2.5/5 stars and said - "Overall Murder 2 is an adult, violent, and gruesome movie, which is a good thing, however after a time you feel as if the film was written and directed only for Emraan Hashmi (excessive presence in every frame) which doesn’t go down well with me."^[12] Raja Sen of Rediff gave it 1.5/5 stars and wrote in his review - "Murder 2 is flat, boring and not worth talking about. Even Emraan, sporting less stubble than usual, seems baby-faced as he goes through the motions. It might be inspired by some obscure film, but I don't even care enough to look for its name. By now, I've come to accept that the Bhatts have a bigger DVD collection than me. I do wish they'd stop flaunting it, though."^[13] Trade analyst Komal Nahta of Koimoi rated Murder 2 with 3/5 stars and said - " It doesn’t have too much to offer in terms of entertainment as it is a dark film but its plus points are the abundant sex scenes and the good music. Its reasonable budget on the one hand, and wonderful recovery from sale of its satellite, music and worldwide theatrical rights on the other have ensured that the producers have made a handsome profit before release."^[14]

Box office

The film opened extremely well with full houses almost everywhere across India with the occupancy ranging from 70-100%.^[15] The film grossed 22.35 crores in its opening weekend.^[16][17] The film went on to gross 36.5 crores in its first week, although collections were affected on July 13-14 due to the bomb blasts in Mumbai on July 13, 2011.^[18] Box Office India elevated the film to Blockbuster status after the second weekend.

Soundtrack

Murder 2
Studio album by Harshit Saxena, Mithoon, Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur
Released	May 30, 2011 (2011-05-30)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	T-Series

The film's soundtrack was released on May 30, 2011. It was composed by Harshit Saxena, Mithoon, Sangeet Haldipur and Siddharth Haldipur and lyrics were penned by Sayeed Quadri, Kumaar and Mithoon.

Tracklist

No.	Title	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Haal-E-Dil"	Harshit Saxena	Harshit Saxena	5:49
2.	"Aa Zara"	Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur	Sunidhi Chauhan	4:58
3.	"Aye Khuda"	Mithoon	Mithoon, Kshitij Tarey & Saim Bhat	6:52
4.	"Phir Mohabbat"	Mithoon	Mohammad Irfan, Arijit Saha & Saim Bhat	5:31
5.	"Tujhko Bhulana"	Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur	Sangeet Haldipur & Roshni Baptist	3:42
6.	"Aa Zara (Reloaded)"	Sangeet Haldipur, Siddharth Haldipur	Sunidhi Chauhan	5:14
7.	"Haal-E-Dil (Acoustic)"	Harshit Saxena	Harshit Saxena	5:01
8.	"Aye Khuda (Remix)"	Mithoon	Mithoon, Kshitij Tarey & Saim Bhat	3:37

Reception

The album received positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama gave the album a 3/5 stars picking "Haal-E-Dil" as his favorite saying "...Murder 2 turns out to be a good deal overall." Musicaloud gave the album 3.5/5 stars picking "Aa Zara" as their favourite.^[19]

• Oneindia.in ^[20]
• Bollywood Hungama ^[21]
• Musicaloud ^[19]

References

1. ^ "Murder 2: Complete cast and crew details". Bollywood Hungama. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/cast/14386/index.html. Retrieved 2011-05-29. 
2. ^ "Murder 2 Second Weekend Collections". Boxofficereport.net. http://boxofficereport.net/murder-2-second-weekend-collections-blockbuster-of-2011/. Retrieved 2011-09-27. 
3. ^ "Top Worldwide Grossers 2011 ZNMD Second". Boxofficeindia.com. http://boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=3325&nCat=box_office_news. Retrieved 2011-08-17. 
4. ^ Murder 2 plot lifted from Korean flick, NDTV, http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.aspx?section=Movies&Id=ENTEN20110179477&keyword=bollywood&subcatg=MOVIESINDIA&nid=117381, retrieved 2011-07-08 
5. ^ "Emraan- "'Murder 2' is not just about erotica"". Asianet India. http://www.asianetindia.com/entertainment/emraan-murder-2-erotica_276869.html. Retrieved 2011-06-22. 
6. ^ "Yana Gupta replaces Bipasha Basu for an item number". ZoomTv.SmasHits.com. http://zoomtv.smashits.com/video/17667/yana-gupta-replaces-bipasha-basu-for-an-item-number.html. Retrieved 2011-05-29. 
7. ^ "'Murder 2' toned down for television". Times of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-07/tv/29629303_1_song-mahesh-bhatt-filmmakers. Retrieved 2011-06-09. 
8. ^ "Yana's Item Is Number Too Hot To Handle". NDTV. http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.aspx?section=Movies&Id=ENTEN20110177378&keyword=bollywood&subcatg=MOVIESINDIA&nid=111098. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
9. ^ "Murder 2 remake of The Chaser?". The Times of India. 3 July 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Murder-2-remake-of-The-Chaser/articleshow/9112702.cms. Retrieved 2011-07-08. 
10. ^ Adarsh, Taran (7 July 2011). "Murder 2 : Movie Review by Taran Adarsh". Bollywood Hungama. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/14386/index.html. Retrieved 2011-07-08. 
11. ^ Chatterjee, Saibal. "Review: Murder 2". NDTV. http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_review.aspx?id=635&albumname=Review:%20Murder%202. Retrieved 8 July 2011. 
12. ^ Kapoor, Nikita (8 July 2011). "Murder 2 Review". FilmiTadka. http://www.filmitadka.in/201107081223/movie-reviews/murder-2-review.html. Retrieved 8 July 2011. 
13. ^ Sen, Raja. "Review: Murder 2 isn't worth it without Mallika". Rediff. http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-murder-two/20110708.htm. Retrieved 8 July 2011. 
14. ^ Nahta, Komal (8 July 2011). "Murder 2 Review". Koimoi. http://www.koimoi.com/uncategorized/murder-2-review/. Retrieved 8 July 2011. 
15. ^ Nahta, Komal (8 July 2011). "MURDER 2 Murders CHILLAR PARTY At Box-Office!". Koimoi.com. http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/emraan-hashmis-murder-2-murders-salman-khans-chillar-party-at-box-office/. Retrieved 2011-07-15. 
16. ^ "Murder 2 kills all competition". Times of India. 12 July 2011. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-12/box-office/29769478_1_bhatts-second-week-business. Retrieved 2011-07-15. 
17. ^ "Box Office Top 5:Midweek: 'Murder 2' is a monstrous hit, 'Chillar Party' has healthy pick up". Bollywood Hungama. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/top5/index.html. Retrieved 2011-07-12. 
18. ^ "Box Office Top 5:Top 5: 'Murder 2' is a smash hit, 'Delhi Belly' is rocking too!". Bollywood Hungama. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/top5/index.html. Retrieved 2011-07-15. 
19. ^ ^{a b} "Murder 2 (Hindi Movie Soundtrack) - Music Review". Music Aloud. 2011-06-09. http://www.musicaloud.com/2011/06/09/murder-2-hindi-movie-soundtrack-music-review/. Retrieved 2011-06-26. 
20. ^ "Murder 2 : Film Review". Oneindia. 2011-07-11. http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/reviews/2011/murder-2-review-080711-aid0097.html. Retrieved 2011-06-26. 
21. ^ "Murder 2 : Music Review by Joginder Tuteja". Bollywood Hungama. 2011-06-06. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/musicreview/14386/index.html. Retrieved 2011-06-26. 

External links

• Murder 2 at the Internet Movie Database