# The Xposé

The Xposé (stylized as The XPOSÉ) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language period thriller film directed by Anant Mahadevan and produced by Vipin Reshammiya under the banner of HR Musik. Inspired by scandals in 1960s and 1970s Bollywood cinema, the film stars Himesh Reshammiya alongside newcomers Sonali Raut and Zoya Afroz, while Irrfan Khan makes a special appearance. Musician Yo Yo Honey Singh also appears in the film, making his Bollywood acting debut. It is the first film in The Xposé Universe, followed by a spinoff, Badass Ravi Kumar (2025). This is only biggest blockbuster in entire Himesh’s career with earnings more than 20 million out of which 15 million is from overseas.

## Plot

In 1960s Bombay, two actresses, Zara Fernandes and Chandni Roy, are both set to make their film debut on the same date. Chandni's film Reena Mera Naam becomes a box office success, whereas Zara's film Ujjwal Nirmal Sheetal is a flop. This angers Zara who believes she is higher and better than every other new actress. Zara starts an argument with Chandni after an awards party, and the two end up fighting. Later that night, Zara is murdered. The blame obviously goes towards Chandni, and she has no way to prove her innocence.
Chandni's lover, Ravi Kumar, decides to step in and find the real murderer to save his love. Ravi happens to be an ex-cop, who was sacked from his job as a police officer after shooting a parliamentarian. Ravi is now an actor, who happens to have debuted in the same film as Zara. The suspect list in the murder is extremely large, there is Virmaan, who is Chandni's ex-boyfriend, Subba Prasad who is Zara's film director and KD, a music director who had an affair with Zara, as well as many other suspects.
After Ravi's investigation, it turns out that after Zara and Chandni fought, Zara went up to the terrace where she met KD (hinting that their affair was still going on at the time of her death) and as the two got together, KD's wife Shabnam started looking for KD. KD heard Shabnam coming up to the terrace, so he tried to run away, and accidentally pushed Zara away from him, which led to her falling from the terrace. It also turns out that after falling down, she landed outside Subba Prasad's window. Subba decided to let her fall so her death could gain attention and maybe help their flop film be successful.
KD and Subba are convicted. KD is sentenced to 7 years, and Subba is given a life sentence in prison. After all the supposed suspects leave the court, Chandni confesses her love for Ravi. The two get together, and Ravi tells Chandni that, actually, he knew that she was the one who murdered Zara. In a flashback, it is revealed that after Subba let Zara fall down, she was still alive and was found by Chandni. Chandni was so frustrated and annoyed by her that she hit Zara on the head with a glass bottle, finally killing her.

## Cast

* Himesh Reshammiya as Ravi Kumar
* Sonali Raut as Zara Peter Fernandes
* Yo Yo Honey Singh as Kenny Damania (KD)
* Zoya Afroz as Chandni Roy
* Jesse Randhawa as Shabnam Rai
* Anant Mahadevan as Subba Prasad
* Rajesh Sharma as Inspector Raj Grover
* Bhagyashree as Madhubala
* Nakul Vaid as Virman Shah
* Kunal Thakkur as Ronnie
* Ashwin Dhar as Bobby Chadda
* Kanika Dang as D'Silva
* Supriya Karnik as Supriya
* Daya Shankar Pandey as Naidu
Special appearances
* Irrfan Khan as Alec D'Costa/Narrator
* Adil Hussain as Rajan Anna
* Rushad Rana as a prosecution lawyer
* Sanjay Mishra as a Announcer

## Music
### Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, with lyrics penned by Sameer, Kumaar and Shabbir Ahmed. Vocalists include Yo Yo Honey Singh, Reshammiya, Ankit Tiwari, Palak Muchhal. "Hai Apna Dil Toh Awaara" is an interpolation of the song of the same name by Hemant Kumar from the 1958 film Solva Saal. The soundtrack released on 14 April 2014 with The Times of India stating "An album that has something for everyone, The Xpose is masala magic at its most potent."

## Critical reception
### Reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Bollywood Hungama | |
| Filmfare | |
| Deccan Chronicle | |
| NDTV | |
| Mumbai Mirror | |
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3/5 and concluded "an entertaining outing for fans of atypical Bollywood-style murder mysteries."
Mehul S. Thakkar of Deccan Chronicle gave it 3.5/5 stars stating "What also adds to the whole packaging of the film is the attention to minute detail of that era be it as minute as a ceiling lamp or a pen. R. K. Studios, a treasure house of antique items, have been credited to supply film cameras of those times for the shoot, shown as props in the film."
Subhash K. Jha reviewed the film for NDTV and gave it 3.5/5 stars stating "The suspense drama is bright, bouncy, believable and entertaining."
Rahul Desai for Mumbai Mirror gave 3 stars for its entertainment. Shrey Saxena of Mint rated it 1/10.

## Awards and nominations
### BIG Star Entertainment Awards

| Year | Category | Nominee | Status |
| 2014 | Best Music Director | Himesh Reshammiya | Nominated |
| 2014 | Best Playback Singer-Male | Mohammad Irfan Ali (for "Dard Dilo Ke") | Nominated |

### Life OK Now Awards

| Year | Category | Nominee | Status |
| 2014 | Life OK Now Award for Best Actress | Zoya Afroz | Won |