Raman Raghav 2.0

Raman Raghav 2.0 was inspired by the notorious serial killer Raman Raghav, who had killed several homeless people in Mumbai during the late 1960s.[4] Bludgeoning his victims, he produced widespread panic until he was captured by the Mumbai police and confessed to 41 murders.[5] Raghav was sentenced to death by the Bombay High Court, but his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia allowed his defence to claim mental incapability and gain a change of sentence to life imprisonment.[6][5] He was sent to Yerawada Central Jail, where he died of kidney failure in 1988 after 19 years of incarceration.[6]

Director Anurag Kashyap first became interested in the story of Raman Raghav in 1991, when Sriram Raghavan was making a 68-minute film about the killer titled Raman Raghav, A City, A Killer. Kashyap was drawn to the idea of a criminal who was not motivated by familiar human vices. According to him, the killer had "no moral compass or planning" to kill someone.[6] He initially wanted to make a trilogy of period films based in Mumbai, the first of which was Bombay Velvet (2015), then a film on the Nanavati murder case after Raman Raghav 2.0. But after the commercial failure of Bombay Velvet, Kashyap realised that he would not get producers for another period film. He then set the film in contemporary time.[6] The film on the Nanavati case did not materialise.[6] Vasan Bala, the film's co-writer, had written a biopic about Raman Raghav. Kashyap re-wrote that script, taking inspiration from the actual murders.[7] He created a police officer who would be the "mirror image" of the killer, as he felt it was difficult to create an honest cop in a contemporary time.[6]

Kashyap said that Nawazuddin Siddiqui was his first casting choice for the film because of his "unimposing body". Kashyap modelled the character on Raghubir Yadav, who had portrayed Raman Raghav in Sriram Raghavan's 1991 film.[6] Siddiqui left his home for two days without informing anyone and started to "fear himself" while preparing for the role.[8]

Vicky Kaushal was called by Kashyap and was given two scenes to prepare in five days for the audition. Kaushal locked himself in the room and isolated himself from phone, internet and newspaper and kept repeating his lines from the scenes.[9] He then gave the audition and was selected for the role of Raghav.[9] Miss Earth India 2013, Sobhita Dhulipala made her acting debut with this film.[10] She had got a call for audition from the casting director Mukesh Chhabra, where she was eventually selected.[11]

Principal photography began in September 2015 and was completed on 22 November 2015.[12][13][14] Kashyap wrote smaller scenes: "Normal Hindi films have 70 scenes, my films have 220 scenes".[15] He mentioned that it helped in making the film look vast as the locations kept changing. The title was decided before the script was ready.[15] The crew employed guerrilla filmmaking technique to shoot in real locations of Mumbai.[16] Siddiqui had to deliver a ten-minute monologue in the film. To maintain continuity, he had to be still at the same place while the camera setup was changed from different angles.[17] As a result, he ended up speaking for 300 minutes in the same position. After the shoot, the actor experienced a blackout and could not talk for sometime.[17] Kaushal's character is shown snorting cocaine throughout the film. To make a quasi-cocaine powder, the crew used Glucon-D and Corn Starch.[18] Kaushal practised inhaling the powder for his scenes in the film.[18]

While shooting in some unhygienic surroundings, Siddiqui fell ill and was hospitalised for five days. His wife later said that Siddiqui was repeating his dialogues from the film, while being semi-conscious on bed.[16] Although the diagnosis showed dengue initially, he recovered quickly.[14][16] He resumed shooting for the film when he was discharged.[14] Siddiqui called the shoot a "mentally draining" experience.[19] For a scene, the crew had to shoot it in the restricted area of the Mumbai airport which is guarded by snipers with strict instructions to shoot any infiltrator. Siddiqui was told not to move from his position and the scene was shot.[20] The visual effects and title sequence for the film were executed by Mumbai-based VFX and animation studio, Plexus.[21] Aarti Bajaj and Jay Oza served as the editor and director of photography respectively.[22] Raman Raghav 2.0 was distributed by Reliance Entertainment.[23]

Raman Raghav 2.0 received mostly positive response from critics upon its theatrical release.[51] Saibal Chattejee of NDTV praised the "gripping, visceral genre film", and described the villain as "a cross between No Country for Old Men's Anton Chigurh and Se7en's John Doe".[52] Writing for The Hindu, Namrata Joshi called Raman Raghav 2.0 a "taut thriller" that "takes you on an entertainment high."[53] Anna M. M. Vetticad praised Siddiqui for his "eerie, scary, [and] disgusting" portrayal of the serial killer, and was particularly impressed by his ability to elicit laughs "for the matter-of-fact manner in which he goes about his bloody business".[54] Mohar Basu of The Times of India wrote, "It is crude, callous and keeps you in suspense all through". He felt that it was a difficult film to watch as it made the viewer "queasy".[55] Aseem Chhabra shared the view of the film being a "difficult watch". Although he was critical of the film's misogyny that made it a "difficult film to admire", he praised Siddiqui's performance at his "creepiest best".[56] Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times described the film as "spine-chilling" and "pure sadism".[57]

Contrary to the positive critical reviews, Rajeev Masand felt the film "doesn't bring anything blazingly new or original to the serial killer genre."[58] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote that the film was "atmospheric yet hollow" and the viewers are "turned into cringing voyeurs, into reluctant participants, without redemption".[59] Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today praised the film but felt that Dhulipala's character was the "weak link" as she "doesn't have much to do".[60]

Among the overseas reviewers, Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter noted Kaushal's performance and lack of character-depth of female characters, "Variety and depth of character are badly lacking on the female front, weakening the whole film."[61] Maitland McDonagh commented that the film performs a "surprisingly deep dive into lust, murder and violent obsession" and "delivers a couple of truly suspenseful sequences."[62] Guy Lodge from Variety mentioned it as a "luridly absorbing serial killer thriller" and felt Siddiqui's performance has an "unblinking intensity".[21] Wendy Ide from Screen International reviewed the film and called it a "propulsive and bloodthirsty thriller" and an "adrenalised energy which rarely flags." But he felt that the film lacks the sense of a "Manhunter-style battle of wits."[1] Patrick Cooper of Bloody Disgusting wrote about the film, "If you only think of Bollywood when you think of Indian film, Psycho Raman will knock some sense into you, as it stands up with the grittiest American serial killer thrillers."[44] Suprateek Chatterjee of HuffPost mentioned the film as an "exercise in empty shock value".[63]

Raman Raghav 2.0 was made on a production budget of ₹35 million (US$440,000).[2] Released on the same day as six other films, including Junooniyat and the Hollywood film Independence Day: Resurgence, only Raman Raghav 2.0 earned favourable reviews from the critics.[48] It collected a total of ₹12.0 million (US$150,000) on its opening day and ₹13.6 million (US$170,000) on its second day, making a total of ₹24.6 million (US$310,000).[48] At the end of the opening weekend, the film grossed a total of ₹39.8 million (US$500,000).[3] Ticket sales started to fall from Monday onward with a collection of ₹5.7 million (US$71,000), followed by ₹5.3 million (US$66,000) on Tuesday, making a total of ₹58 million (US$730,000).[64] Raman Raghav 2.0 earned ₹67.4 million (US$840,000) in its 10-day theatrical run.[65] At the end of its theatrical run, the film earned a total box-office collection of ₹70 million (US$880,000).[3]

Siddiqui received the Best Actor award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[66] Kashyap garnered the Europe Fantastic Film Festivals Federation Asian Award at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.[67] Kashyap, along with Siddiqui and Bala received the official jury prizes at the Fantastic Film Festival of the University of Málaga.[68]