Cast: John Abraham, Mrunal Thakur, Ravi Kishan, Manish Chaudhary, Rajesh Sharma, Nora Fatehi

Director: Nikkhil Advani

Rating: ***1/2

2008 Delhi blasts have happened. ACP Sanjay Kumar (John Abraham) is having a rough time in his marriage with wife Nandita (Mrunal Thakur) threatening to leave.

The same day, an investigation headed by Sanjay turns into an encounter. 3 terrorists are killed, 2 manage to escape and one of the police officers, K.K. (Ravi Kishan) who gets shot in the crossfire and dies later in the hospital.

The encounter is termed by the media and politicians as a fake & Sanjay who is put through a media trial and an interdepartmental inquiry ends up having a mental breakdown over the death of his colleague (Ravi Kishan) in the encounter.

'Batla House' is John Abraham's canvas who does a fantastic job as a sturdy and upright cop, trying to get to the escaped terrorists, fighting the political leadership & interests of the ruling party, the media and his own departmental heads while carrying out his duties.


He carries the whole film on his shoulders beautifully. The story is gripping enough to keep your eyes glued to the screen right from the beginning till the end. The credit for which has to be given to director Nikkhil Advani and Ritesh Shah's writing.

Mrunal Thakur who after 'Super 30' is playing Kumar's wife in this one carries the role with grace and maturity. Nora Fatehi as 'Huma' the girlfriend of one of the escaped terrorists has done a fair job with the little screen time she gets.

The supporting cast has also done a good job, the police officers and the terrorists look convincing in their parts. Special mention goes to Manish Chaudhary who does a praiseworthy job as Commissioner Jaivir and Ravi Kishan as the daring cop K. K., both are awesome in their roles.

Rajesh Sharma too as the shrewd lawyer will catch your attention.

The action sequences are shot with great detail & perfection and the background score caters to the storyline.

The songs too, the little there are go well with the storyline and 'Nora Fatehi' in Saaqi - Saaqi looks ravishing.

Ritesh Shah, who has penned movies like Pink, and Raid has kept the script tight though John's hallucination scenes could have been avoided and the film could have been shorter by almost 10 minutes.

All in all, 'Batla House' is a brave effort from the makers and deserves to be watched. The film combined with amazing performances, action and thrill is a must watch this weekend.