- Date of Release: 18 July 2025
- Genre: Horror, Mystery
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Nikita Roy
Introduction
There is an iconic line in the Hindi film Hungama (2003), wherein the character of Rajpal Yadav screams ‘Main Pagal Hoon….Main Pagal Hoon’ (I am mad….I am mad), reacting to the dire situation wherein he loses his mind. The reason why I am highlighting that scene here is because I am ‘this’ close to being that character, with the kind of trashy content that I am consuming lately. It isn’t particularly appetizing and neither is it a sadistic trait, it is just the middling road that I find myself in that can easily be classified as an occupational hazard. And I had exactly this feeling while watching the God-awefully poor Hindi film Nikita Roy that is nothing short of a travesty. Interestingly, the cold open of the drama introduces us to Sanal (Arjun Rampal) who is muffling his way through fear. In the scene, he mentions on how he can’t take it and he is losing his mind, a la Rajpal Yadav from Hungama in a parallel ‘horror’ universe (lol), just moments before being attacked by a CGI-driven creature. And the way it was staged, will make a budding film student proud because it was only notches better than a film school project. And, that is when I knew that I was in trouble, I had my chance but there was no escaping this abomination for the next two hours.
Story & Screenplay
If I were to think of it in the hindsight, Nikita Roy did actually work on a concept level. The disparity between psychology and superstition, and rationality versus blind belief is what the drama here aspires to be. But the screenplay is so uneventful, that I actually wondered on how this was greenlit in the first place. The issue with Nikita Roy lies (like many other films) with its identity crisis – does it want to use its concept to be a horror film? Does it want to be a satirical film on a relevant social commentary? Does it wish to be a simple murder mystery? And in trying to incorporate all these factors, it ends up being nothing. And when I say nothing, it means NOTHING, because nothing substantial happens in its runtime of (thankfully) less than two hours.
If you are still curious, you are introduced to Nikita Roy (Sonakshi Sinha) who is a part of International Rationalist Community (IRC), a group that fights against blind faith. So when she gets to know about her brother Sanal’s sudden demise, she decides to take it upon herself to investigate with the help of her ex-flame and colleague Jolly (Suhail Nayyar), a character who can so easily be a part of the Housefull franchise with his antics that involves him making videos even at someone’s funeral. Hmmmm, I smell a collaboration at some point but that is for another day! But a huge miss for me remains the characterization of Nikita, whose emotional core with respect to her trauma is just not explored. It invariably makes her a cardboard character.
Elsewhere, you are introduced to the Godman Amar Dev (Paresh Rawal), who has developed a cult following for his magical ways of curing individuals and their traumas. This character is a direct anti-thesis to Paresh Rawal’s OMG (2012) character Kanji Lalji Mehta who was an atheist. And so the cinematic parallels literally complete a character arc of their own, in ways that left me baffled (but in a good way). The problem though remains with the writing – it doesn’t create enough doubts in the minds of the viewer around the mystery of Sanal’s death. It is largely predictable and broad-stroked, a trait that is further enunciated during its interval block that pits Nikita against Amar in a game of face-off. As warned by Amar, Nikita is the new contestant (just like her brother who died investigating him) with a ticking ‘death’ clock, that immediately makes things as clear as night and day.
I wonder if the focus could have been a little more on the atmospherics to actually improve the horror quotient in the drama, particular given how lame and uneventful the horror was. One trick to stage an atmospheric horror is to slow things down in a scene, allowing the viewers to imbibe the surroundings and absorb the surrounding sounds of the room. But you know that the staging is off when the makers decide to go from Point A to Point B in a matter of ‘cuts’ without really filling in the blank canvas with imageries of horror. This remained true for its cold open, and it always was true for a scene involving Nikita and Jolly zeroing in on an important ‘human’ clue in the narrative. Everything on either side of that sequence felt so convenient, wherein details aren’t unraveled (even if they ‘literally’ are) but instead, spoonfed to the viewers. The horror elements remain abysmal.
The drama gets into a laughable territory as it approaches the finale. Neither does the dilemma hold well nor do the events leading upto the final act that literally felt like a masterclass in convenience. The revelation was so straight-forward that even Sachin Tendulkar’s straight drives would hide in a corner. It remained devoid of any twist that I managed to scoff at the proceedings. It reminded me of the 90s action films wherein the ‘villain’ would falsely believe in their victory before the ‘hero’ (in this case the ‘heroine’) reveals her master-plan of entrapment. It made me question – where was the mystery? What was the point of the film? Why are you still reading my review? If anything, this film would be remembered for the record number of facepalms that I had to undergo for an incoherent mess of a screenplay.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are forgettable but atleast they get the tone of the drama right. There aren’t too many over the top lines that would dramatize or deviate the drama away from the core understated atmospherics. The music is forgettable as well but even more disappointing is the BGM that lacks the bite for a horror film. The score ought to have been haunting to have any impact on the storytelling or with respect to the atmospherics. But I was dumbfounded on how plain the score actually was here. The cinematography is basic to say the least. There isn’t any experimentation with the camera angles to inculcate that sense of fear in the minds of the viewers, but interestingly, the frames also keep you away from the emotional core of the protagonist. I mean, where is the trauma of Nikita who has just lost her brother? The editing doesn’t account for the extended patches of lags in the screenplay but if those were to be accounted for, there wouldn’t be a film made in the first place. Debutant director Kussh Sinha fails miserably here. There are basic issues of execution in the film that you wouldn’t generally associate with a filmmaker who knows his job. The basic foundation of a horror (psychological or otherwise) is just not handled well, with Kussh rushing through the scenes that never really creates the tension in the drama. The direction is flat, never quite exploring his characters or their emotional core. It was too simplistic to the point that Nikita Roy was only a shade better than a student film as far as filmmaking is concerned. And there is no other way to put it here – the only way for Kussh is upwards now!
Performances
The performances are just about average by everyone involved. Arjun Rampal as Sanal is pretty good here, signalling his good patch of form lately but his character remains far too sketchy for my liking. Kallirroi Tziafeta as Freya is such a good actor, a trait that you notice particularly here. This is because her character isn’t particularly well written, but despite that she adds traces of intensity to make ends meet. Paresh Rawal as Amar Dev is stoic but seemingly uninterested here. The impact of his performance is just isn’t there wherein he doesn’t quite come across as intimidating or powerful. Probably, this dilemma was mainly due to the briefing given to his character, to appear for mysterious to keep the mystery alive. But, that still didn’t exactly work well here. Suhail Nayyar as Jolly hams in parts but scoring in some. It was that in-between and inconsistent performance that you don’t expect from a good actor like Suhail. Sonakshi Sinha as Nikita Roy attempts to be understated with her character but it comes across as dull and uninteresting. The missing link remained the lack of an emotional core around her character that is devoid of trauma despite a recent loss, that made the skeletal of her character appear generic. And when there is no internal conflict, the performance generally is flat, which is the case here.
Conclusion
Nikita Roy is a Masterclass………. in how NOT to make a horror film. It is tepid, listless and absolutely dull. If anything, this film would be remembered for the record number of facepalms that I had to undergo for an incoherent mess of a screenplay, and an even poorer execution. Available in a theatre near you.