Khuda Haafiz
Ratings: 4.5/5
Director: Faruk Kabir
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak
Genre: Action/ Thriller
Language: Hindi
Release Date: 14th August 2020
Streaming Platform: Disney+ Hotstar
Star Cast: Vidyut Jammwal, Shivaleeka Oberoi, Annu Kapoor, Shiv Panditt, Aahana Kumra, Nawab Shah, Gargi Patel, Mohit Chauhan, Rio Kapadia, Ikhlaque Khan, Yasir Khan, Suparna Marwah, Shahnawaz Pradhan, Vipin Sharma, Ajit Shidhaye
Plot:
Set against the backdrop of the 2008 recession, Khuda Hafiz is about a husband's search for his missing wife, in a foreign country. Vidyut plays Sameer Choudhary, while Shivaleeka Oberoi plays his missing wife, Nargis. Sameer's search leads him to make some shady discoveries about human trafficking.
Review:
The movie is a magnet for all the action movie lovers out there. Vidyut Jammwal does it all. He is a man on a mission, and nothing will stop this ordinary sales manager from getting what he wants, even if it is completely out of his control.
The movie focuses less on the victim and more on Vidyut Jammwal’s character ‘Sameer’ and his relentless efforts to find his wife - from making allies to exposing corrupt government officials to taking down an international prostitution ring single-handedly.
Shivaleeka Oberoi plays the coy Naris to the best of her abilities but there isn’t much for her to experiment with her character in the film. Vidyut Jammwal on the other hand is doing yet another round of what some people will call his ‘USP’: show off some of his martial arts skills.
The film's set up is fine. The geography of the story is also apt. Faruk Kabir captured the story's form correctly: the colour, the base, the atmosphere.
Talking of Annu Kapoor, the veteran makes some significant appearances, playing a crucial in finding Nargis but while the plot focusses on Sameer, it completely overlooks Usman Ali Murad: the warm and friendly tourist cabbie who goes out of his way to help passengers. Shiv Pandit also has a significant role as Faiz Abu Malik, the commando in charge of finding Nargis with Aahana Kumra as Tamena Hamid, his partner. Both the actors play their parts to perfection except for their little out of the line Arab accents.
The initial few scenes of Khuda Hafiz are reserved for Sameer and Nargis’ love story, with a few songs that ramp up the romance angle. Once the story shifts to Oman, audience will get a good grip of thrilling and action scenes. Even though the plot of the film is quite dark, some situations have been portrayed in a lighter tone. Vidyut does it all himself and even if the audience find the plot a little hard to believe or may get disappointed for the lack of complete authenticity, still you will find yourself rooting for his win.
