Sector 36 movie review: Truth is stranger than fiction. And OTT platforms (of course) realise that very well. Which explains the plethora of dark, hard-hitting content churned out today. Add Sector 36 to that ever growing list.

The plot

Based on the horrific 2006 Noida serial murders, the film, directed by Aditya Nimbalkar, aims to delve deep into what makes a psychopath, and nearly succeeds. It revolves around Prem Singh, played by Vikrant Massey. He is a paedophile, murderer, and at the root of it all is childhood trauma. Viewers, who are parents to young children, especially should brace themselves for a disturbing watch, because perpetrators, according to this film, could very well be a relative or friend.

Working for Mr Bassi, a well connected, ageing man living in Delhi (the setting has been changed), Prem aims to please his master- be it by supplying kidnapped children for his sadistic pleasures, or engaging in organ trafficking. All this is too gruesome to be made up- the Nithari killings had indeed rocked and shocked the nation.

What happens when a police official (Deepak Dobriyal) has a change of heart towards his duties, and wants to catch the abductor of multiple kids missing from Sector 36, forms the rest of the plot. The pace of the story is urgent, and capable of holding your attention. The police being overworked, corruption within the system, everything is touched upon just enough, without going overboard.

What works in the thriller

What helps in convincing us about the brutality of it all is the performances. If you want to witness what people mean when they throw around fancy terms like ‘range of an actor’, watch Deepak Dobriyal in action here. What a fine performance as Inspector Ram Charan Panday. 

Bodhayan Roychaudhury, the writer, has given Dobriyal a complete character arc- from the coward who would rather brush up cases under the carpet, to someone willing to risk everything in pursuit of the truth. Watch out for him in the interrogation scene in the climax. His perplexity, coupled with the anger he feels listening to the ghastly crime confessions, has you hooked.

And that brings us to the person being interrogated- Vikrant Massey as the unhinged Prem. Barring accent slip ups in a scene when he suddenly spouts English words in his normal accent (contrary to how he speaks otherwise)- he nails it. It’s unlike anything he’s done before. If Vikrant inspired us in his earlier film 12th Fail, he leads us through his descent into necrophilia and cannibalism in Sector 36.

Akash Khurana deserves applause for his bang on portrayal of Mr Bassi. He commands attention with his near-perfect introduction scene. His passive frustration as he fails to prey upon his own granddaughter, is chilling. And thankfully, even his Punjabi accent is spot on. Darshan Zariwala is fine as Deepak’s senior police officer.

A special shoutout to Dinesh Vijan, for co-producing a project like this, given his track record of light-hearted comedies and now, the supernatural universe. That a Stree 2 and Sector 36 have released in the same year deserves a mention.

What does not work

Where Sector 36 disappoints is the temptation to include a song post the climax. It’s the typical, done to death montage of news articles. I strongly feel it hampers the flow of the film, and doesn't go with the overall mood, but to each his own. Sector 36 is now streaming on Netflix.

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