NH10

NH10
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Navdeep Singh
Produced by	Vikramaditya Motwane Anurag Kashyap Vikas Bahl Anushka Sharma Sunil Lulla Karnesh Sharma
Written by	Sudip Sharma
Starring	Anushka Sharma Neil Bhoopalam
Music by	Anirban Chakraborty Sanjeev–Darshan Ayush Shrestha Savera Mehta Samira Koppikar
Production company	Phantom Films Clean Slate Films
Distributed by	Eros International
Release dates	13 March 2015 (2015-03-13)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi Haryanvi
Budget	₹13 crore (US$1.9 million)[1][2]
Box office	est. ₹33 crore (US$4.9 million)[3]

NH10 is a 2015 Indian thriller film directed by Navdeep Singh. It stars Anushka Sharma and Neil Bhoopalam in lead roles, and marks the production debut of Sharma. The film is co-produced by Phantom Films and Eros International. It tells the story of a young couple whose road trip goes awry after an encounter with a group of violent criminals. Part of the story is loosely adapted on 2007 Manoj-Babli honour killing case. The film's title refers to the 403 km long National Highway 10 in India.

NH10 released theatrically on 13 March 2015. The film and Sharma's performance garnered critical acclaim, and the film emerged as a sleeper hit.^[4][5][6] Some critics consider it the most violent Hindi-language movie in the 2010s. Sharma gained a nomination in 2016 Filmfare for Best Actress, but lost to Deepika Padukone. The film is being remade in Tamil as Garjanai (2017) with Trisha.

Plot

A couple, Meera (Anushka Sharma) and Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam), are enjoying a party, where Meera gets an urgent work call from her office. On the way, she is attacked by some street punks who smash her car's window. Meera manages to escape but is shaken by the incident. Arjun suggests a road trip for Meera's upcoming birthday. The couple starts their journey the next day. While stopping at a roadside dhaba for lunch, a petrified young girl Pinky (Tanya Purohit Dobhal) arrives and pleads for help, saying a few men are about to kill her. Meera shakes her off but they see a gang of men round up the same girl and a boy, beat them savagely and drag them to an SUV. Arjun intervenes but Satbir (Darshan Kumar), the gang leader slaps Arjun and asks him to keep off by saying that the girl is his own sister. As the horrified couple watches, the gang drives off in the SUV. Despite Meera's pleadings, Arjun takes it as a prestige issue and drives after the gang since he cannot digest the hard slap he had received. On a deserted area off the National Highway, the couple witnesses a brutal honor killing of the young boy and the girl Pinky. Terrified, Arjun and Meera attempt to flee but the gang finds them. As the gang digs the boy's grave, Satbir shoots Pinky. A fight ensues and Arjun shoots Chhotey (Ravi Beniwal), one of the gang members. The gang is enraged and the couple run for their lives.

At night, the couple finds themselves face to face with one of the gang members. As Arjun gets injured by one of the gang members, Meera shoots him dead. They make it to a railway bridge, where Meera tells Arjun to wait till she gets help. She finds a police station where she asks a policeman to help as they have witnessed an honor killing – at the mention of that term, the cop throws Meera out of the station. On the way, a Police Inspector (Sushil Tyagi) meets her in his Maruti Gypsy and on her request, he starts driving back to where Arjun is lying injured. By his talks and behaviour, Meera realizes that the Police Inspector is also in collusion with her attackers. She manages to stab him in his eyes, killing him and drives off the Gypsy, with the gang chasing her in their SUV. As they find her overturned Gypsy, Meera stumbles off and finds a labourer's hut. The labourer and his wife protect her from the gang member Fauji (Ravi Jhankal) who comes asking about her and advise her to go to the chief (Sarpanch) of the nearby village.

Meera reaches the village's Chief Ammaji (Deepti Naval), to whom she tells her story. Ammaji's mood changes the moment she hears of the honor killing and a puzzled Meera looks around to see a pillow cover on Ammaji's lap with the word 'Pinky' stitched on it and a photograph of the dead girl in the room. Ammaji rapidly locks her in the room and calls the gang. As they arrive Ammaji criticizes them for a shabby job and hands Meera over to them. They drag her out and beat her in the courtyard in order to kill her. However, she manages to escape with their SUV and rushes to the railway bridge to find that Arjun has been murdered brutally by the gang.

Meera shrieks in grief and rage and returns to the village to avenge Arjun's death, where she drives the SUV ruthlessly into two gang members, killing them instantly. Then she kills the other gang members too. Ammaji arrives and gasps, seeing all the men dead. She says Pinky was her own daughter but she broke rules and needed to be punished so they did what had to be done. Meera echoes her words and leaves the village as dawn breaks.

Cast

• Anushka Sharma as Meera
• Neil Bhoopalam as Arjun
• Darshan Kumaar as Satbir
• Deepti Naval as Ammaji
• Kanchan Sharma as Pinky
• Ravi Jhankal as Fauji
• Sushil Tyagi as Police Inspector
• Ravi Beniwal as Chhote

Also featuring in the cast :

Jaswant Singh, Siddharth Bharadwaj, Tushar Grover, Yogendra Singh and Krishan Kumar.

Production

Shooting of the film began in mid January 2014 in Delhi.^[7] The team shot in locations across the northern plains of India, such as Jodhpur where they experienced sandstorms.^[8] The film's shooting was wrapped up in May and it was scheduled for a September release. However the film officially released on 13 March 2015.

The official trailer was launched at a suburban multiplex in Mumbai on 5 February 2015 in presence of the cast and producers.^[9]

Release

The film released on 13 March 2015. In an interview given to The Indian Express Director Navdeep Singh said that half the members of Censor board wanted to ban the movie.^[10] It was subsequently passed with nine cuts and an "Adults only" certificate.^[11]

Reception

NH10 got acclaim from critics especially for Anushka Sharma's performance. Anubhav Parsheera of India Today gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "NH10 is a necessary tale of revenge".^[12] Shubha Shetty-Saha of mid-day gave 4 stars out of 5 and called it "a non-stop, relentless, edge-of-the-seat experience".^[13] Rajeev Masand of Ibnlive.com rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and stated "It's often terrifying on this highway, but you'll be glad you were there for the ride".^[14] The Guardian termed it as "a misogynistic slasher movie with a topical twist"^[15] Bollywood Hungama News Network gave it 3 stars.^[16] NDTV gave 3 stars to the movie.^[17] Hindustantimes critic stated "nails it in the first half, but the second half lacks the same fluidity and penetration power. NH10 displays a great potential and then fails to capitalise on it.".^[18] Sharma gained a nomination in 2016 Filmfare for Best Actress.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Sanjeev-Darshan, Bann Chakraborty, Abhiruchi Chand, Ayush Shrestha, Savera Mehta and Samira Koppikar.

Sequel

The producers of NH10 have confirmed that they will be making a sequel named "NH12" and explore a similar theme.^[19][20]

References

External links

• NH10 at Bollywood Hungama
• NH10 at the Internet Movie Database