Murder 2

Plot

Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi) is a money-hungry ex-police officer involved in crime. An atheist, he regularly visits church to donate money to orphans. Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez), a model, is in a passionate but confused relationship with Arjun. Priya is in love with Arjun, who lusts after her.

Arjun makes a deal with a gangster and pimp, Sameer, in order to solve the mystery of unexplained disappearance of his prostitutes. While investigating, Arjun finds a phone number linked to the missing girls. He tells Sameer to send a prostitute to the number. Sameer decides to send Reshma (Sulagna Panigrahi), a 17-year-old college newcomer in the business, who has entered prostitution to feed her family, though keeps this a secret from them. Reshma is sent to the house of Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan), who is actually a psychopathic murderer responsible for torturing and killing the missing hookers. He decides to do the same with Reshma and throws her in a dark well, with the intention of torturing her till she dies.

Arjun finds out that Dheeraj is the murderer and tells the police. While Dheeraj is held in jail, the commissioner calls a psychiatrist to extract his confession. Dheeraj tells the doctor that he kills women because he thinks they take advantage of men. He also reveals that he castrated himself and became a eunuch to get rid of his sex addiction, with the help of a fellow eunuch and big-shot politician, Nirmala Pandit. Dheeraj is eventually let out under Nirmala Pandit's influence. Meanwhile, Reshma escapes from the well and tries to find her way out through the forest.

Arjun meets Dheeraj's family, who reveal that Dheeraj used to beat his wife. He next meets a private dancer, Sonia, who had also been tortured by Dheeraj, but managed to escape. Arjun then meets an idol-maker who used to work with Dheeraj. The maker tells him that Dheeraj used to make idols of devils instead of deities and killed the factory-owner who tried to stop him. Inspector Sadaa (Sudhanshu Pandey) informs Arjun that Dheeraj is free, and the police try to track him down as quickly as possible. Nirmala and Dheeraj enter the same temple where Reshma is hiding. Nirmala and the priest, who had both been unaware of Dheeraj's true nature, are killed by Dheeraj, but not before the priest reveals that Reshma is there. Dheeraj finds the terrified Reshma and brutally murders her, escaping just before Arjun and the cops arrive. Arjun finds Reshma's body and breaks down, feeling guilty and responsible for her death.

Dheeraj targets Priya next whom he calls for a photoshoot and tries to torture, but Arjun saves her, engaging Dheeraj in a fight as police officers show up. They request Arjun not to kill Dheeraj. Dheeraj then plays the tape he recorded when he was torturing Reshma. Hearing Reshma's pleading cries, Arjun, tormented by her death and blaming himself for it, furiously kills Dheeraj, ending his reign of terror once and for all. As the film ends, Arjun visits a church with Priya, implying that he had a faith in God and Priya's near death has made him realize his love for her.

Production and filming

The film was shot in Mumbai and Goa. Earlier, Bipasha Basu was offered the part of the leading lady, but she refused. Then Mohit Suri offered the leading role to Asin Thottumkal but, she thought the role of leading lady is not so powerful so she also refused to do this role. The part then went to Jacqueline Fernandez, after also considering actress Sonal Chauhan. Basu was also offered the item number "Aa Zara". When she refused, the song was given to Yana Gupta.

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

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.

The DVD of the film was released on 1 August 2011.

Critical reception

Murder 2 received mixed to positive reviews from various critics of India. 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." Nikhat Kazmi of The Times Of India gave it 3.5/5 stars commenting, 'Murder 2 has enough to give the masses a mast time'. IANS gave it 3/5 stars. 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." Pankaj Sabnani of Glamsham gave it 3/5 stars, while writing that 'An intriguing plot supported by superb performances, make MURDER 2 a 'killer' film'. Daily Bhaskar also gave it 3/5 stars, stating that 'If Emraan plus Jacqueline under the name 'Murder 2' don't arise your interest enough, then the story will surely do the trick'.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the movie 2.5/5 stars. 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."

Box office

The film opened with full houses across India with occupancy ranging from 70–100%, earning ₹7 crore (US$1.1 million). The film grossed ₹22.75 crore (US$3.5 million) in its opening weekend. After the weekend, the film grossed ₹4.75 crore (US$740,000) on Monday, ₹3.75 crore (US$580,000) on Tuesday and ₹3.25 crore (US$510,000) on Wednesday. The film went on to gross ₹36.5 crore (US$5.7 million) in its first week, although collections were affected on 13–14 July due to the bomb blasts in Mumbai on 11 July 2011. As of February 2012, Box Office India claimed that it was the 28th biggest opening week of all time. The movie dominated the single screens despite new releases and grossed ₹20.50 crore (US$3.2 million) in the second week despite limited multiplex release. Murder 2 grossed approximately ₹85 crore (US$13 million) at the Indian box office. The all India distributor share stood at ₹25 crore (US$3.9 million). It was elevated to Blockbuster status all over India.

Track list

The film's score was composed by Raju Singh, while the songs were composed by Mithoon, Harshit Saxena & Sangeet-Sidharath. Lyrics are penned by Mithoon, Kumaar & Syeed Quadri. Songs are as follows :

Reception

The album received positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama gave the album a 3/5 stars saying that "Murder 2 turns out to be a good deal overall." Musicaloud gave the album 3.5/5 stars.

Sequel

After the success of the first two installments, the producers released a third film Murder 3, on 15 February 2013. The film, which was an official remake of Spanish film The Hidden Face, starred Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren in lead roles. However, unlike the earlier parts, it only performed moderately at the box office