Film review of “Sector 36”: Vikrant Massey and Deepak Dobriyal deliver a nasty thriller

Vikrant Massey as Prem in “Sector 36” | Image credit: Netflix

This is a grim week for watching Hindi films. The quality of each film may vary, but their themes are uniformly grim. In cinemas, The Buckingham Murdersabout the disappearance of a boy in a British town. Closer to home, in Sector 36Vikrant Massey is Prem, a strange name for the psychopathic butcher he plays. Apart from these two titles and the daily onslaught of terrible news, your only oasis of hope is Berlinan atmospheric, claustrophobic spy thriller set in the 90s. Chases and explosions are few and far between, but at least as far as I can tell, there are no sadistically slaughtered minors in Atul Sabharwal's film.

Even if it is not explicitly mentioned, Sector 36Directed by debutant Aditya Nimbalkar and written by Bodhayan Roychaudhury, it is inspired by the 2006 Noida serial killings known as the Nithari murders. The high-profile case at the time was riddled with allegations of organ trafficking, cannibalism and necrophilia. The two accused – a wealthy businessman and his domestic help – were on death row for rape and murder, but were acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in 2023 due to a lack of solid evidence and sloppy investigations by the investigating agencies.

It's perhaps the controversial nature of the story that prompted Netflix to give it a fictional twist. Several children and young women have disappeared from Rajiv Colony, a vast, densely populated migrant slum in Delhi. Because the victims come from poor backgrounds, the police are used to turning a blind eye, including Ram Charan Pandey (Deepak Dobriyal), a Newton-worshipping sub-inspector who bows to “the system.” But when his own daughter Vedu is nearly kidnapped by Prem (wearing a Ravana mask), Ram springs into action. His change of heart seems sudden and convenient—but that may be the point, as it underscores the Indian attitude of taking charge when disaster is near.

At the same time vague, violent and exploitative, Sector 36 offers no convincing analysis of the murders. The makers, it seems, have analyzed every strand of an incredibly opaque investigation and then agreed to keep all possibilities open. Their interpretation of urban inequality and the plight of destitute children is essentially to shrug their shoulders and say, “Nobody cares.” Fatally for a crime thriller, this film is full of nonspecifics. The scenes with Prem, alone in a big house, are a collection of serial killer cliches. His slimy employer, Bassi, played by Akash Khurana, is a twisted transport magnate who shuffles around in monogrammed dressing gowns. Even weaker are the jabs at Delhi's corrupt police apparatus: IPS, one character jokes, now stands for “In the Service of the Politician.”

Saurabh Goswami was co-cameraman on Paatal Locomotive (2021), which explains the sleek, dark look and mythological imagery. “Man Kyun Behka” blares from old cassette recorders, a better choice of sound than the plink and plonk of the background music. The mid-2000s are easily evoked: a version of Kaun Banega Crorepati has the nation on tenterhooks, and in one shot we catch a glimpse of a Nokia 6600, which for most Indians at the time was the predecessor of the iPhone.

Massey's performance has a touch of kitsch – he peers through the bars of a giant gate, provoking and mocking his enemy – that is tempered by Nimbalkar's exaggerated sincerity. In a pivotal scene, Prem records his confession to Ram in unnecessary detail, but the exchange lacks the disturbing malice of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's play with Vicky Kaushal in Raman Raghav 2.0. A boring Deepak Dobriyal performance is a rarity, so in one sense, and one sense only, Sector 36 is an event. It's a bit of true crime and a lot of fake notes.

Sector 36 is currently streaming on Netflix