Raman Raghav 2.0 Reviews by Critics

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Raman Raghav 2.0 Review by Bollywood Hungama

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The film’s writers (Vasan Bala, Anurag Kashyap) on the ‘pretext’ of creating an edge-of-the-seat thriller in the form of RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0, land up doing a shabby job. Even though their writing helps in keeping the audience and their fears intact (strictly in places), it is the overdose of everything that kills the basic essence of the film. Because Anurag Kashyap has always delivered with his dark films (which majorly forms his home turf), the expectations from RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0 were sky high. Coupled with this were the film’s gripping trailers, which, only added to the expectations. Unfortunately, despite all this, Anurag Kashyap goes astray with his direction at many places, which greatly undermines what could have been an eerily gripping psychological thriller. In the name of ‘cinematic liberties’, there are way too many flaws in the film. To cite a few examples, where on earth does one find an IPS officer like Raghav, who is always high on drugs and flaunts his official revolver to have his way with the girls in night clubs? If that wasn’t enough, he also lands up killing someone, that too, at the behest of a dreaded criminal. Besides all this, during one of Raman’s escapades he manages to free himself from the clutches of the policemen and flee by simply unbuttoning his shirt! The cops in this movie are straight out of the 80’s Bollywood films where they basically can’t do a single task properly. While all of the film’s characters get established and justified in its first half, it’s the film’s second half that slips. The film’s first half tries to establish a promising plot, but the second half drags endlessly and is filled with meaninglessly gruesome murders. Add to that, Anurag Kashyap continues to suffer from his Quentin Tarantino hang over by breaking the film into ‘Chapters’ and stretching a scene for longer than expected, but many times it just feels too much to take.

Raman Raghav 2.0 Review by Saibal Chatterjee on NDTVMovies

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Watching Raman Raghav 2.0 is, therefore, somewhat like reading an incomplete map, with many boundaries and dabs of crucial info either completely missing or too inchoate to decipher. But that isn’t such a bad thing. The film demands from its audience more than the usual level of mental focus in order to mark off the units as they flash by with dizzying pace.

Raman Raghav 2.0 Review by Aseem Chhabra on Rediff

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If there is one big surprise in Raman Raghav 2.0, it is Vicky Kaushal’s star-making performance, a far turn from his heartbreaking innocent Deepak character in last year’s Masaan. As cocaine takes total control of Raghav, the cop starts to break apart. His misogynist acts again makes Raman Raghav 2.0 a difficult film to really admire. Kaushal displays a lot of brave acting, including a terrific confrontation scene with his father (Vipin Sharma in a brief appearance). There is real good cinema in that scene towards the end of the film, and also a reminder that Kashyap has a lot of talent. He just needs to stop making films that are very similar.

Raman Raghav 2.0 Review by Tushar P Joshi on Bollywood Life

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Kashyap is confused about the film he wants to make. Is the film about the serial killer? But then the start credits say that the film is not about the murderer, so then is it about the cop and his backstory? These questions are never answered. The first half holds your interest for a bit, but once the pace slackens you will be left twiddling your thumbs. There are very few light moments that provide relief. Vickey’s drugged out cop act too isn’t well explained. Where is his angst coming from? By the time you reach the climax that leaves you high and dry, there is very little that stays with you as you leave the theatre. Perhaps had the focus stayed on Nawaz’s character we could have got a better film.

Review by Manjari Saxena on Gulfnews

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The story moves at a steady pace through chapters, but loses steam slightly after the interval. There are a couple of murders which really didn’t need to be part of the story. We were quite familiar with Ramanna’s depravity from the scene where he murders his sister and her husband and young son. Or, the one where he spends the day in a filthy drain, breathing through a hose, to escape the police. At times it can feel as if you are being bludgeoned. But Kashyap’s thriller will keep you glued to your seat in spite of an expected end. Both Kaushal and Dhulipala come up with brilliant performances, but it is truly Siddiqui who steals the show.

Review by Sweta Kaushal on Hindustan Times

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Raman and Raghav are characters you cannot empathise with. They are sadistic to the core and co-writers Anurag and Vasan Bala make no attempts to justify their behaviour. There’s isn’t a society that can be blamed for their criminal behaviour and that’s the brilliance of the film. Much like Heath Ledger’s Joker, Ramanna doesn’t bother justifying his actions, he just enjoys them.

Review by Lokesh Dharmani on Masala

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The biggest problem of Raman Raghav is that it justifies the evil characters it shows. Raman kills mercilessly. He is then shown rummaging through garbage for food. Aww so poor, so bechara. He even gives a monologue towards the end explaining how his killings are better than those killings that happen in the name of God or religion. Wow serial killer better than a Sadhu! Hmmm, that makes so much sense, yeah sure. Even the other dark character has his own set of excuses.

Review by Jaidev Hemmady on Movietalkies

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Usually, films stop being entertaining in the second half, but with Raman Raghav 2.0, the situation is reversed. The first half of the film moves at a slow pace with long-drawn scenes and one wonders when Kashyap will get to the point. It is in the second half that the story slowly unravels and offers you a glimpse into the darkness of the human heart and mind.

Review by Mohar Basu on The Times Of India

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Director Anurag Kashyap treads familiar ground with Raman Raghav 2.0. It is overwhelmingly dark with deep macabre undertones. Kashyap gets the moral pendulum oscillating between his prime characters – one a cold-blooded murder and another who has all the makings of becoming one. He subtly draws parallels between the personalities of his men who stand on opposite sides of the spectrum. Raman beautifully puts it in one of the film’s early scenes that after all, he and Raghav are the same people but the police uniform validates or criminalises their actions.

Review by Vishal Verma on Glamsham

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Nawazuddin Siddiqui gives a stellar performance. The master actor is in complete command and the intensity is not at all missed even for a blink. A class act. Vicky Kaushal delivers in a tough role of a drug addict cop thrown between his dilemma, responsibility and duty. Fantastic. Sobhita Dhulipala is a beautifully stunning find. Those looking for fine points in morality, humanity and good virtues in this Anurag Kashyap’s RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0 will be disappointed. The woman characters shown in the film are weak plus the impulse of the coke ridden cop is unexplained. But for others and especially Anurag Kashyap, this dark, grisly and stylish pulse riser produced by Phantom films and distributed by Reliance should find solace amongst the followers of this genre. Those looking for a dark, de noire, and grisly time on screen with a twist in inhumanity powered by Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s topnotch performance. RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0 makes the kill.

Review by Shubhra Gupta on Indian Express

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As Raghavan, Kaushal gets a little more. He has a scene in his home with his father (the excellent Vipin Sharma) which intrigues, which gives us a hint of an unusual father-and-son relationship. It left me hungry for more. But the film turns back all too soon to its bloody bodies and spilled gore, which in turn starts feeling gratuitous all too soon. There are some mesmeric bits in here, which belong to Siddiqui. But those are not enough. Without those crucial elements, the film is rendered atmospheric yet hollow, and we are turned into cringing voyeurs, into reluctant participants, without redemption.

Review by Shubha Shetty Saha on Mid-Day India

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Nawazuddin breathes and lives Ramanna so effortlessly, when he in a nonchalant manner goes about dragging an iron rod in the dead of the night looking for his victims or coolly jots down the number of people he killed, in his small book. Vicky Kaushal is a green horn compared to Nawazuddin, but he does a pretty good job. What works against Kaushal is also the shallow character sketch that he gets as Raqhav. Amruta Subhash is fantastic.

Review by Manisha Lakhe on Nowrunning

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Go watch this film because you learn to confront devil within you, and no one makes you want to side with the devil better than Anurag Kashyap.

Review by Ananya Bhattacharya on India Today

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Over the 2 hours and 25 minutes of Raman Raghav 2.0, there is one emotion running through everyone watching the film: fear. Your intestines are in a knot. The moment you let out a breath, Ramanna strikes with his crowbar. You laugh nervously at Ramanna’s jokes, and the next moment, he strikes again. The film is more alive in these moments of apprehension than anything else. Within the span of Raman Raghav 2.0, Anurag Kashyap makes full use of his craft. Kashyap and Vasan Bala’s story finds an able companion in Jay Oza’s cinematography. When someone walks into a murder scene with a handkerchief on his nose, you automatically hold your breath. Mumbai is real in the buzzing of the flies or the bustle of the slums.

Review by IANS on Zeenews

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The film is astutely mounted with fine production qualities that make the entire setting appear ordinary and regular. This is brilliantly captured by Jay Oza’s camera work. Especially dramatic are his visuals captured in claustrophobic spaces. What adds to the viewing experience is Ram Sampath’s frenzied and adrenaline-packed background score, which is efficiently layered by Aarti Bajaj’s crisp editing. Overall, “Raman Raghav 2.0” is a cleverly crafted and compelling film.

Review by Harshada Rege on DNA India

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Raman and Raghav are characters that you cannot empathise with and yet they are a reflection of the ugly reality of our society, which allows those with power to get away with their wrongdoings. The movie is constructed in an interesting chapter structure and well paced. A scene where you get a clear picture of Raman’s depraved mind is the one where he visits his sister. Aarti Bajaj’s editing deserve a special mention, as do the writing skills of Kashyap and co-writer Vasan Bala. The only thing that seems a little feeble is the reason behind Raman’s obsession with Raghav. Don’t miss this scary and unapologetically sadistic movie where Nawaz is at his creepiest best.

Review by Suparna Sharma on Deccan Chronicle

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The film is shot as most of Kashyap’s films are shot — the outside is crowded, dirty, and the inside dingy and suffocating. And the camera is either lurking knee heigh, or, when it looks up it stares hard and long at Nawazuddin and Kaushal. While Kaushal, despite the fact that his character on paper is just too dull, is at times engaging and complex, Nawazuddin mostly hams his way through. In several aspects Nawazuddin’s character is true to the real-life Raman Raghav and, perhaps, psychopathic killers. There’s a lot written for him: Zero remorse, complete lack of empathy, manipulative, anti-social, demanding, yet scrupulous about clearing his debts. Nawazuddin Siddique is a very fine actor. But he is already repeating himself. In some scenes he shines, like the one in which he’s having a conversation with a cat, or when he’s animated and frantic.

Review by Shomini Sen on News18

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Despite a compelling star cast, the film majorly suffers because of a slow narrative. Perhaps there is too much emphasis given on setting up each scene or maybe the story takes time to set in – but the thriller slackens majorly in the second half. Perhaps our expectations from the filmmaker is too high or maybe we are now too used to seeing Kashyap’s hard hitting films, but ‘Raman Ragahv 2.0’ is not his finest. It does boast of a good starcast, a solid story line but somehow, Kashyap’s signature style of filmmaking is visible only in parts.

Review by Kunal Guha on Mumbai Mirror

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For director Anurag Kashyap, this film falls into a comfort zone that he thrives on with devilish delight. While it strays away from stomach-churning gore, aside from a furtive glimpse of a corpse’s rotten foot, for instance, the unseen is enough to ignite one’s imagination. Indian slasher films (the few that have managed to be produced) have been typical fare: solely focusing on the act and the investigation that leads to the capture of the offender. But Raman Raghav 2.0 offers access to the dark mental alleys of its troubled hero, so much so that his parallel world and sick mind achieve a twisted logic. This one’s certainly not a date film. But hey, a jolty squeeze on the upper arm can do much for your love life .

Review by Meeta on Wogma

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If it were not for Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s spine-chilling performance, Raman Raghav 2.0 wouldn’t have had much of an impact. The story by itself barely has any material beyond its one-line plot. The big reveal would either be predicted by seasoned movie-goers or will seem too contrived when it comes about for those who didn’t guess it before hand.

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