NH10

NH10
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Navdeep Singh
Produced by	Vikramaditya Motwane Anurag Kashyap Vikas Bahl Anushka Sharma Sunil Lulla Krishika Lulla Karnesh Sharma
Written by	Sudip Sharma
Starring	Amit Saha(Balurghat) Anushka Sharma Arindam Goswami(Durgapur)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)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	130 million (US$2.1 million)[1][2]
Box office	321 million (US$5.1 million)[3]

NH10 is a 2015 Indian crime-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. 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]

Plot

The film starts with couple Meera (Anushka Sharma) and Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam) going to a party, where Meera gets an urgent work call from office. On the way she is attacked by some street punks who smash her car's window. Meera manages to escape but is shaken up by the incident. Meanwhile, Arjun suggests a road trip for Meera's upcoming birthday. The couple heads out the next day. They learn from an attendant in Toll plaza on NH-10 that there was another attendant murdered last night. Though reluctant, they continue their journey. While stopping at a roadside Dhaba for lunch, a petrified young girl arrives and pleads for help, saying few men outside are about to kill her. Meera shakes her off. As they wait, they see a gang of men round up the same girl and a boy, beat them savagely and drag them to a SUV. Arjun intervenes but Satbir (Darshan Kumar), the gang leader pushes him, saying that the girl is his sister. As the horrified couple watches, the gang drives off. Despite Meera's pleading, Arjun drives after the gang. He stops the car near the gang's vehicle on a deserted area near the highway. There the couple witness a brutal Honor killing of a young boy and the girl Pinky (Kanchan Sharma). Terrified Arjun and Meera attempt to flee but the gang finds them and knocks out Arjun with a rod. As the gang digs graves, Satbir shoots Pinky, his sister. Meanwhile a fight ensues and Arjun shoots Chotte, one of the gang member. The gang is enraged and the couple runs for their lives.

At night, the couple suddenly faces one of the gang members. Meera shoots him dead and Arjun gets injured. 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 police man to help as they have witnessed an Honour killing – at the mention of that word, the cop throws Meera out of the police station. On the way, a senior police officer meets her in his van and starts driving back to where Arjun is. He tells her that Indian democracy and law ends at the last mall of Gurgaon and breaking medieval caste rules is totally forbidden in the village. Meera realises that the police officer is with her attackers. She manages to stab him and drives off, with the gang chasing her. Meera's jeep flips over by a collision. She crawls out and reaches a stone quarry. As they find her car looking, Meera stumbles off and finds a labourer's hut on the site. The labourer and his wife protect her from the gang. But they advise her to go to the Chief of nearby village.

Later Meera reaches the village and meets two children and one agrees to take her to the village Chief – his own grandmother Ammaji (Deepti Naval), to whome Meera tells her story. Ammaji's mood changes the moment she hears of the honour killing and a puzzled Meera looks around to see pillow covers saying 'Pinky'. Ammaji locks her in the room and calls the gang and tells them to silence Meera. They drag her out and beat her in the courtyard. She escapes the village and finds her yellow sweatshirt on the rear seat of their car. She rushes to the under-bridge to find Arjun has been murdered. Meera shrieks in grief and rage and returns to the village where she drives the jeep ruthlessly into two gang members, killing them.

She then waits with a rod in her hand till Satbir and Mamaji come driving on a bike, hits them, killing Mamaji on the spot and breaking Satbir's leg. But as he gets up, Meera hits him with the rod instantly killing him – and then stabs him with rage over and over again with the rod. Ammaji arrives and gasps, seeing all the men dead. She says Pinky was her own daughter but broke rules and needed to be punished. 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
• Tanya Purohit Dobhal as Satbir's wife

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 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

Anubhav Parsheera of India Today gave 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]

Certain journalists believed that the film was inspired from the 2008 British thriller Eden Lake,^[19][20] but Singh denied the allegations.^[21]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Sanjeev-Darshan, Bann Chakraborty, Abhirup 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.^[22][23]

References

External links

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