‘Gajab Raat’—the title itself suggests something extraordinary, but the actual impact falls short of that promise. It is a crime thriller centered around a single night, striving to maintain a sense of tension throughout. Let’s find out if the film truly delivers what the genre demands.
Storyline
At the core of the story is Inspector Ajay Nirvit (Manoj Bajpayee), who raids a hotel one night—not to catch wrongdoers, but to instill fear and extort larger bribes. However, his routine greed is shattered when a sensational case lands on his desk: a young woman is discovered on a deserted street in critical, near-fatal condition.
This grim discovery turns Nirvit’s night completely upside down. He finds himself torn between a sudden, desperate urge to solve the mystery behind her condition and his original, selfish plan to sneak away for an illicit rendezvous with a girl.
For a long stretch, the film successfully maintains a sense of dread about what truly transpired in the city’s underbelly that evening—a revelation that ultimately threatens to spark a massive political and social stir.
And this case falls into the hands of Nirvit—a situation that proves quite confusing, as he finds himself torn between doing everything in his power to solve the case and wanting to go off to have a good time with a girl. For a long stretch, the film maintains suspense about the truth of that night—a truth that ends up causing a massive stir everywhere.
Direction And Screenplay
Ritesh Shah brings yet another familiar crime narrative about women. The saving grace of his execution is a series of sharp, mid-film twists that keep the audience from tuning out early. Directing a crime thriller is both easy and difficult—but Ritesh managed to handle it well this time. But the screenplay could have been better and never delivers real satisfaction.
Visually, the film masterfully captures the moody, neon-lit shadows of a midnight city, but the final cut suffers from loose editing. While the opening acts build an intriguing layer of suspense, the second half feels noticeably stretched. The dialogues are decent, though a few exposition-heavy lines feel artificially forced into the character interactions.
Performances
Manoj Bajpayee as the morally confused police officer, Ajay Nirvit, is impressive. We’ve seen strong roles from him, but this one brings out a different side of him on screen. You could say the film leans on his shoulders, making it bearable.
Divya Dutta commands attention whenever she is on screen, bringing authority to a vital supporting role. Nushrrat Bharuccha shines in a highly unconventional avatar as Rosie, portraying an irreverent, sharp-witted escort. Saqib Saleem is edgy and screen-savvy with a key role in the narrative.
Comic actor Kiku Sharda makes his presence felt in a refreshing dramatic turn, while Akshay Oberoi, Shraddha Das, Meghna Agarwal, and Rajiv Gupta provide solid thematic support to strengthen the overarching narrative.
Produced by Neeraj Pandey under his production banners Friday Filmworks and Friday Storytellers, Gajab Raat delivers an atmospheric noir experience that relies heavily on its powerhouse lead actor to pull through its narrative flaws. It is a decent watch for this weekend, especially if you are into crime thrillers and suspense.
Our Editorial Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
