Haraamkhor Review: Characters impress us, the narration doesn’t.

One of the most awaited stories for this year, the Nawaazuddin-Shweta starrer Haramkhor, was up for a special screening. It is no surprise that the Badlapur nemesis was looking to out-do himself and has earned the title as one of the creepiest characters of all time. The Masaan actress, Shweta Tripathi, too has partnered brilliantly as a lead. Here’s how.

Sandhya is a grade 9 student who lives in a remote village with her father who is a police officer. The mother had abandoned her long ago, and the father is having his own affair on the side, which leaves the female lead to fend for herself and makes sense of the world around her. In her sense of abandonment, she carries a sexual affair with her much married teacher, Shyam Sir (Siddiqui). She quilts under the guilt of this relationship, but her disapproval of the new woman in her fathers’ life takes over, so she doesn’t back down from making further mistakes. In the meanwhile, her tuition mate, Kamal, who has a crush on Sandhya, plots a revengeful conspiracy against Shyam sir on the knowledge of an alleged relationship with the lady he’s after.

A creepy teacher who manipulates an underage girl to have sex with him is not something that the society would deem as an appealing character, but it cannot be missed when it is being done by Nawazuddin Siddiqui as he effortlessly plays the creepiest role of his career. He seems to bring a different sense of humor into his role. Shweta Tripathi and the supporting characters seem to be at their best as they leave the audience mesmerised.

But all is not well with the narration.

When did Sandhya fall in love with Shyam? Was it during the discovery of him having sex with his wife and being touched by Sandhya inappropriately or was it before that? After Shyam’s wife discovering about the affair and walking away soon despite multiple attempts of being convinced to do otherwise, why did she come back? These fundamental questions were left as unsolved mysteries.

The ending of the feature film wasn’t impressive, either. The point where the two tracks merge in a Kamal-Shyam showdown, looked like it was done half-heartedly and was purely in place to bring an end to the movie.

Despite having a loose ending, Haraamkhor had well-written characters that helped hold the film together. We’d give this one a 2.5/5

Sounds like Shlok Sharma‘s directorial debut is an unsettling one time watch?