''Rocky Handsome'' is a 2016 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Nishikant Kamat
Nishikant Kamat (17 June 1970 17 August 2020) was an Indian filmmaker and actor. His debut film, ''Dombivali Fast'' earned him accolades in Marathi cinema, as it went on to become the biggest Marathi film of the year. He remade his film, in Ta ...
, written by
Ritesh Shah
Ritesh Shah is an Indian screenwriter who works in Hindi films. He has written the screenplay and dialogues for films like ''Kahaani'' (2012), ''Pink'' (2016), ''Airlift'' (2017) and ''Raid'' (2018). He won the Filmfare award, Star Screen Aw ...
, and produced by
John Abraham
John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations.
After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
under J. A. Entertainment and Sunir Khetrapal under Azure Entertainment respectively. An official adaptation of the 2010
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
film ''
The Man from Nowhere'', the film stars Abraham and child artist Diya Chalwad while
Shruti Haasan
Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thakur.
...
,
Nathalia Kaur
Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins, known professionally as Nathalia Kaur, is a Brazilian model and actress who works in Indian cinema.
Early life
Kaur was born as Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother has Portu ...
, Kamat,
Teddy Maurya
Teddy is an English language given name, usually a hypocorism of Edward or Theodore. It may refer to:
People Nickname
* Teddy Atlas (born 1956), boxing trainer and fight commentator
* Teddy Bourne (born 1948), British Olympic epee fencer
* Teddy ...
and
Sharad Kelkar
Sharad Kelkar (born 7 October 1976) is an Indian film actor and voice artist from Mumbai, Maharashtra. He works primarly in Hindi films, Marathi films. Kelkar has appeared as lead in television serials for brief period of time, now he do web se ...
appear in crucial supporting roles. The story follows a mysterious
loan agent, who sets out to exact vengeance against a notorious
crime syndicate
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
after they kidnap his shady neighbour's eight-year-old daughter, with whom he shares a special bond.
The theatrical trailer was released on 4 March 2016, and the film released on 25 March 2016.
Plot
Based remotely in an unknown village in
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
, Kabir Ahlawat lives a quiet life running a
pawn shop
A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...
. His next-door neighbor is Anna, a drug addict and bar dancer. She lives with her little daughter Naomi, who develops a nurturing relationship with Kabir. Meanwhile,
ACP Dilip Sangodkar from the
NCB is after Mantoo, a crime boss supported by brothers Kevin Ferriera and Luke Ferriera, who control a mass racket in organ harvesting and drug manufacturing with a professional assassin named Attila. 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 she pawns to Kabir. The consignment loss enrages Mantoo, who assigns Kevin and gives 3 days to recover the stolen drugs. Luke and Attila reach Anna's place, where they torture Anna for the camera. However, much to their surprise, Naomi becomes an eyewitness to the brutal torments.
Unwittingly, Anna reveals the location of the drug, as a response to which Big Show enters Kabir's house along with his man Viju Dempo, demanding the camera. Kabir is obliged to hand the camera to Luke when he tells that Naomi and Anna are his captives. Kabir gets a call from Kevin to make a delivery to Mantoo, and promises to release them, if the delivery is successful. He delivers the drugs to Mantoo, where he finds that
cops have already raided Mantoo's haven. Mantoo flees, and Kabir chases him, but is arrested by the cops when they find Anna's corpse with all her organs harvested in Kabir's car. Kevin brutally murders Mantoo, claiming all his organs, and becomes the new drug lord.
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
Raw is an adjective usually describing:
* Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made
* Raw food, uncooked food
Raw or RAW may also refer to:
Computing and electronics
* .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...
Special Forces soldier, who retired after his pregnant wife Rukshida was killed in stray terrorist gunfire outside a hospital. Kabir fights with Attila at a
nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
and is shot, but breaks into a medical shop and performs an impromptu surgery. He then continues on his journey.
Kabir finds and frees several child slaves in a drug manufacturing plant, and in the process, kills Luke. He tracks down Kevin, who tells that 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 he prepares to commit suicide out of grief, Naomi emerges. 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 as the latter took to save Naomi. Kabir is arrested, but the officers allow Naomi to ride with him. Kabir asks them to stop at a
convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
, where he buys a backpack and school supplies for Naomi. Kabir asks her if she can manage until he returns, to which she agrees with him and the two embrace.
Cast
*
John Abraham
John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations.
After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
as Kabir "Rocky" Ahlawat a.k.a. "Handsome", a former
RAW
Raw is an adjective usually describing:
* Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made
* Raw food, uncooked food
Raw or RAW may also refer to:
Computing and electronics
* .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...
agent and Special Force soldier
*
Shruti Haasan
Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thakur.
...
in a cameo appearance as Rukshida Ahlawat, Kabir's wife
*
Nathalia Kaur
Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins, known professionally as Nathalia Kaur, is a Brazilian model and actress who works in Indian cinema.
Early life
Kaur was born as Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother has Portu ...
as Anna
*
Nishikant Kamat
Nishikant Kamat (17 June 1970 17 August 2020) was an Indian filmmaker and actor. His debut film, ''Dombivali Fast'' earned him accolades in Marathi cinema, as it went on to become the biggest Marathi film of the year. He remade his film, in Ta ...
as Kevin Ferriera
* Diya Chalwad as Naomi, Anna's daughter who bonds with Kabir
*
Sharad Kelkar
Sharad Kelkar (born 7 October 1976) is an Indian film actor and voice artist from Mumbai, Maharashtra. He works primarly in Hindi films, Marathi films. Kelkar has appeared as lead in television serials for brief period of time, now he do web se ...
as
Anti-Narcotics Bureau ACP Dilip Sangodkar
*
Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
Shiv Kumar Subramaniam (23 December 1959 – 10 April 2022) was an Indian actor and screenwriter who is known for his role as the leading industrial tycoon I. M. Virani in the Indian television serial ''Mukti Bandhan'' on Colors channel. He i ...
as ACP Rebello
*
Suhasini Mulay
Suhasini Mulay (born 20 November 1950) is an Indian actress in Assamese, Bollywood and Marathi films as well as television. She won National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1999, for her performance in Gulzar's film ''Hu Tu Tu''.
...
as Carla Aunty, a child trafficker
*
Teddy Maurya
Teddy is an English language given name, usually a hypocorism of Edward or Theodore. It may refer to:
People Nickname
* Teddy Atlas (born 1956), boxing trainer and fight commentator
* Teddy Bourne (born 1948), British Olympic epee fencer
* Teddy ...
as Luke Ferriera, Kevin's brother
* Kazu Patrick Tang as Attila, Kevin's henchman
*
Uday Tikekar
Uday Tikekar (born 4 December 1960) is an Indian film and television actor. He began his career in Marathi theatre, also putting up performances in Hindi theatre. He is married to classical singer Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, who is a 2-time Nation ...
as Mantoo
* Sanjay Khapre as
Inspector
Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.
Australia
In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...
Pitale
* Gurpreet Saini as Viju Dempo, Kevin's man
*
Nora Fatehi
Nora Fatehi (born 6 February 1992) is a Canadian actress, model, dancer, singer, and producer who is predominantly known for her work in the Indian film industry. She has appeared in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films.
She made her debut ...
in a
special appearance In law, an appearance (from Latin ''apparere'', to appear) occurs when a party to a lawsuit physically appears in court, or to a formal act through which a defendant submits to the jurisdiction of the court in which the lawsuit is pending.
History ...
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
A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...
'', plays an important role.
Nathalia Kaur
Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins, known professionally as Nathalia Kaur, is a Brazilian model and actress who works in Indian cinema.
Early life
Kaur was born as Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother has Portu ...
, who was seen in the item number ''Dan Dan Cheeni'' in
Ram Gopal Varma
Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...
’s ''
Department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
'', 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.
Release
The film earned in one day including paid previews in India. The film went down on day two with collections of crore nett. The film earned on third day and the film had a very low weekend of crore nett with crore nett on paid previews. The collections on Monday were low at around nett. The film grossed in its first week and by the end of its theatrical run.
Soundtrack
The music for ''Rocky Handsome'' has been composed by
Sunny Bawra,
Inder Bawra
Sunny Bawra and Inder Bawra are an Indian music composer duo active in films and television.
Personal information
Inderjeet Singh Bawra and Paramjeet Singh "Sunny" Bawra are the sons of Major Singh Bawra. They were born and raised in Bhatinda, ...
,
Ankit Tiwari
Ankit Tiwari is an Indian playback singer, live perfomer ,music director, composer. His career began upon meeting Pradeep Sarkar where he got a chance to work on jingles and started composing background music for television programmes. Subsequ ...
and
Bombay Rockers
Bombay Rockers is a Danish-Indian band, popular in India. Their debut album ''Introducing'' has gone five times platinum with sales of over 100,000 albums.
Biography
In 2002, the Indian singer Navtej Singh Rehal (Naf) was introduced to the Scandi ...
while the lyrics are penned by
Kumaar
Rakesh Kumar Pal, known mononymously as Kumaar, is an Indian lyricist active in Bollywood cinema. Some of his more successful songs include '' Rula ke gaya ishq, '' Tu bhi royega'', '' Dil ki aadat'', ''Baby Doll'','' Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan'', ...
, 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. 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
Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awar ...
,
John Abraham
John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations.
After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
and Ankit Tiwari.
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.". Anupama Chopra of The Hindustan Times gave it 2/5 stars, writing, "Not for a minute did I think that
braham
Braham may refer to:
* Braham (surname)
* Braham, Minnesota, a city in the United States
*Braham Murray
Braham Sydney Murray, OBE (12 February 1943 – 25 July 2018) was an English theatre director. In 1976, he was one of five founding Artistic ...
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.".
However, other critics were more appreciative of the film, namely praising its action sequences and Abraham's physicality.
Subhash K. Jha
Subhash K. Jha is an Indian journalist and film critic. Based in Patna, Bihar, he is currently film critic with ''The Times of India'', ''Firstpost'', ''Deccan Chronicle'' and ''DNA News'', ''Rediff.com'', ''Free Press Journal'', besides TV channe ...
rated the film 4/5, writing "It would have to be a toss-up between
Shoojit Sircar
Shoojit Sircar (born ) is an Indian filmmaker, director and producer known for his work in Hindi films. He has received several awards, including two National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award from five nominations.
Sircar made his directoria ...
's excellent political thriller ''
Madras Café'' and now Nishikant Kamat's ''Rocky Handsome''."
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
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."
Rocky Handsome Review by Bollywood Hungama News Network
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Nishikant Kamat
2016 action thriller films
2016 films
2010s Hindi-language films
Films scored by Ankit Tiwari
Indian detective films
Indian action thriller films
Films about organised crime in India
Films about organ trafficking
Films about drugs
Indian remakes of South Korean films
Films with screenplays by Ritesh Shah
Indian pregnancy films
Films set in Goa
Films shot at Ramoji Film City
Films shot in Goa
Films shot in Mumbai
Films shot in Hyderabad, India
Indian films about revenge
T-Series (company) films
Films directed by Nishikant Kamat
Films about the Narcotics Control Bureau