Gajab Raat

Another of those iss raat ki subah nahin sagas, featuring bent cops, greedy politicians, gun-toting hoods, and sundry others chasing a common target, the best thing about Gajab Raat is its lead actor. Manoj Bajpayee, unerringly playing a very efficient but very corrupt cop whose conscience is not completely dead, kept me watching even when the pace slackened. A film whose level of interest depends entirely on how pacy it is has no business losing track of time, but given that it goes over two hours, what else could we have expected. After losing no time in getting everything kickstarted, with a grievously injured girl (Aditi Sandhya Sharma) slides out of a moving car in the middle of Connaught Place, followed by a rapid if reluctant response from an investigating officer (Manoj Bajpayee) and his team, a whole host of shady characters target the victim who is left fighting for her life.

Gajab Raat is a film about one eventful night in New Delhi, the capital of what many say is the world’s biggest democracy. A corrupt cop, SI Ajay Nirvit (Manoj Bajpayee), is wondering how to fill his coffers when a high-profile case falls into his lap: a young and grievously injured woman (Aditi Sandhya Sharma) flings herself out of a moving car in front of Connaught Place’s PVR Plaza. Before Nirvit even reaches the spot, images shot by late-night moviegoers go viral in a very Bollywood-depicting-social-media way (flying tweets filling the screen). By the time the ambulance arrives, he is dealing with a fearsome social activist (Shraddha Das); he has gotten calls from higher-ups; no politician wants “women’s safety” to be an issue again. By the time the victim enters surgery in a curiously empty hospital, the important people who want her dead crash the party: a shady CBI officer (Akshay Oberoi) sweet-talks Nirvit, who’s still desperate to leverage his sudden spurt of power. Another CBI officer offsets the previous one. A handover of the case is discussed for ulterior motives. Nirvit becomes a shady broker of sorts, but he keeps wondering: Why is this comatose girl ruffling so many feathers?

Conscience awakens, corruption collapses and justice is served over the course of a night in Ritesh Shah’s Gajab Raat. Co-written by him and Producer Neeraj Pandey, Shah’s directorial debut captures flawed characters and grim realities through social structures and sardonic eyes leaving Manoj Bajpayee to hold the fort. There’s no cinematic style or technical wizardry to be found in Shah’s storytelling. Dialogues are his strong suit and he uses peppery exchanges to fire up drama on OTT screen. Inspired by the Neeraj Pandey school of corridor strolls, the screenplay engages in prolonged scenes of walking and talking on phone and in person at hotels and hospitals.

A corrupt yet efficient cop is a lethal paradox but a rare breed in Hindi cinema. Most films give us clean heroes or cartoonish villains in uniform, even though our police stations have plenty of specimens like Ajay Nivrit (Manoj Bajpayee). Few Indian filmmakers understand the inner workings of our law enforcement agencies as well as Neeraj Pandey. He operates in a fertile space where raw reality meets gripping fiction. In Gajab Raat, the writer-producer collaborates with director Ritesh Shah to look beyond cinematic stereotypes and show the power of an investigating officer if he decides to follow procedure. Originally titled Ghooskhor Pandat, which sparked controversy, the makers shifted the title to the generic Gajab Raat, pulling the character out of a specific identity to address broader institutional corruption. A chameleon, Ajay, regardless of surname, is a quintessential Delhi cop who could have spent his formative years in Darbhanga, Kochi, or Pathankot. He doesn’t compromise on law; he negotiates to mould it according to his interests. Together with his immediate boss, SHO Rana (Rajiv Gupta), he manipulates the system to nurture his farmhouse dreams. One night, even before the dust settles after a raid in a cheap hotel, the dynamic moves from a lucrative extortion plan to a dark, high-stakes national security crisis.

‘स्पेशल 26’ जैसी यादगार फिल्म देने वाली नीरज पांडे, मनोज बाजपेयी और दिव्या दत्ता की तिकड़ी अरसे बाद किसी फिल्म में साथ आए, तो उसके भी स्पेशल होने की उम्मीद जगती है। लेकिन इस मामले में उनकी नई फिल्म ‘गजब रात’ ऐसा कोई ‘गजब’ कारनामा नहीं कर पाती। एक रात की इस कहानी में ‘गजब’ सिर्फ मनोज बाजपेयी हैं, जो कमजोर प्‍लॉट ट्विस्ट के बावजूद अपनी एक्‍ट‍िंग के बूते इसे देखने लायक बनाते हैं। फिल्‍म OTT प्‍लेटफॉर्म ‘नेटफ्ल‍िक्‍स’ पर रिलीज हो गई है। यह वही फिल्‍म है, जिसका नाम पहले ‘घूसखोर पंडत’ था और इसी साल फरवरी में इस पर खूब विवाद हुआ था। बाद में सुप्रीम कोर्ट के निर्देश के बाद मेकर्स ने इसका नाम बदला और अब ‘गजब रात’ टाइटल के साथ इसे रिलीज किया है।

A corrupt cop who takes bribes at the drop of a hat suddenly discovering the virtues of honesty? Now, that’s a plot twist. Except, in Gajab Raat, it is less gasp-inducing and more head-scratching. The Netflix thriller, directed by Ritesh Shah and co-written by Neeraj Pandey, has corruption, a vaccine scam, and a morally conflicted protagonist, but very little convincing writing. There is hardly any gajabness (wonderment) here, only ajabness (bafflement).

“Highly efficient and highly corrupt” — that is our hero Ajay Nirvit (Manoj Bajpayee). The dishonest cop is introduced before the actual story begins. Ajay is out to conduct a raid at a hotel, not because he has a strong moral/duty muscle. On the contrary, his mission is to extract money from the flesh trade operative (Kiku Sharda in a guest role). Suddenly, Ajay receives a call from his superior and is assigned to check out a near-dead young girl lying on the streets of Delhi. Who is she and why has she jumped out of a moving car? Some cards are laid on the table right away and many lurk in the closet. Stakes are undeniably high as more than one character and actor pops up. There is the good-looking Akshay Oberoi as CBI officer Naveen Madhok, with a history that is just alluded to. Saqib Saleem as Karan Gill works for the NIA. What exactly is his business remains opaque and Saqib doesn’t get much flex. And then there are their masters, including Divya Dutta in a key and impactful role.