Raman Raghav 2.0
Tags: violence, murder

Plot synopsis:
Raman Raghav was a well known serial killer, having terrorized the city with his brutal crimes in the 60s. In 2015, a similar psychopath, named Ramanna, begins to operate in Mumbai. The tabloids label him as 'Stoneman' since the first few murders he commits is with a stone. On one particular night, a cocaine addict comes looking for his supply, and comes across a crime scene. A few days later, Ramanna is apprehended by police and held for interrogation. The man who questions him is revealed to be the same cocaine addict, Officer Raghavan.
The police detain Ramanna for some time, harassing, tourturing and starving him, until he is finally able to escape with the help of a gang of young boys. Ramanna continues his killing spree and hunts for a new victim. He finds his next prey in his sister Lakshmi, a poor woman living with her husband and son. He enters her home under the pretext of needing a meal, but soon ends up in an argument with her husband. Enraged, he storms off, only to return later on and kill the whole family. The police arrive at the scene, and Raghavan finds an old picture of Ramanna and his sister, effectively confirming him as being involved in the crime.
Meanwhile, Raghavan is a deeply troubled person, suffering from anger issues and drug adiction. He is in a relationship with a woman named Smrutika (Simy), but he refuses to commit or be faithful to her. Their relationship is dark and abusive and Raghavan has pressured Simy into having more than one abortion. Raghavan becomes obsessed with the murders and catching Ramanna, to the point where he finds himself becoming consumed by cocaine. Ramanna has been looking for his soul mate, his other half, and realises that he has found him in Raghavan. The pair engage in a cat-and-mouse game in which Ramanna seems to have the upper hand as Raghavan spirals out of control.
Ramanna starts stalking Simy and ends up murdering her maid. Simy is overwhelmed by Raghavan's drug use, mood swings and callous attitude. After a cocaine fueled night, Raghavan brings another girl to Simy's house and has rough sex with her. Simy angrily confronts him, and Raghavan accidentally kills her in a fit of rage. Ramanna surrenders to Raghavan, and tells him that they are each others missing half, the two sides of the same coin. Raghavan realises this, and decides to go after the only witness to Simy's murder, the girl he had sex with.

Review: Both the leads, Nawaz as the unhinged serial killer and Vicky Kaushal as a drug addicted misogynist cop aren't likable and aren't supposed to be.
Anurag kashyap,Just Because of this guy,I was sure this movie can not be just ordinary.Siddiqui is at his best.
Raman Raghav was also a roller coaster ride.This movie is like a book with different chapters dealing with different situations and characters.
Inspired from the life of a serial killer, the film is very intelligently shown from the prospective of an individual who himself is deeply inspired by the acts of Raman Raghav (who killed around 41 people in Mumbai during 1960s to 70s) played brilliantly by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
However, The surprise element of this movie is Raghav aka Vicky Kaushal as the ACP and I must say this is one of his finest performances.
The other is a homeless and jobless man Raman(played by the excellent actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who has spent a longtime as a wanderer.These two eventually collide and that is the real climax of this film.
Do not confuse Raman Raghav with another serial called The Patthar Maar(literally means a man who kills by dropping as stone on a person's head).
A movie was made, The Stoneman Murders (2009), loosely based on the Patthar Maar killer, starring the versatile actor Kay Kay Menon and directed by veteran director Manish Gupta.Back to the film.
See the film to find out what happens next...This film directed by the acclaimed director Anurag Singh Kashyap who has won the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2013.More films you may like: Hatya(1988), 100 Days (1991 film), Tarkieb(2000), Rahasya (2015) and Talvar (2015).Thank you for taking the time to read this review.
The background music helps a li'l to the mood but is way over the top at times.Once into the movie, it felt as if Anurag Kashyap is trying' too hard, too fast.The demons of the Bombay Velvet seem to haunt him and you could literally tell that from the way the camera goes around in the movie.One-time watch but nothing to take back once the lights are back on!.
There is lot of plot holes, direction was weak, story was not so clever if there was any.Anurag Kashyap tries to follow Quentin Tarantino style movie making, but he is not so good at it.
The movie was stretched too much without any reasonable content.Soundtracks didn't went well with the scenes, the emotion on the screen and tracks didn't match well.If you thought Raman Raghav 2.0 is going to be as good as Gangs of Wasseypur then you are in for disappointment..
While this one here, a psychological thriller, is exactly his kind of a film, the end result does not have the intended effect.Raman (Siddiqui) is a jobless psychopath who makes killing random people a habit after first committing murder solely for revenge purposes.
The film chiefly conveys how a possible intervention can cause someone to balance the wrongs that a he/she commits by balancing it with more wrongs, also simultaneously learning that the rest of the world is doing more or less the same ugly things.The story starts well, letting us know that the plot is only inspired by the infamous serial killings of the 60s and that Raman and Raghav are different people contrary to popular belief.
The climax is half-baked, forcing the film to find a place in the never-ending list of films with ambiguous endings.BOTTOM LINE: Anurag Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0 is a dull and bloated story of a psychopath trying to receive reciprocation of love and understanding from a drug addict who may have similar traits as him.
The cop proves to have problems of his own getting dope from the Nigerian pusher and treating his attractive socialite mistress Dhulipala rough.A few murders later Siddiqu permits himself to be brought in and explains that he and his pursuer are now in a symbiotic relationship determined by the Death God. It's really too nasty to be entertaining and too ritualized to be convincing but the film does have atmosphere and menace.
His strange obsession with Raghavan, a young cop keeps growing as he closely follows him without his knowledge and often creates situations where both of them come face to face.'Raman Raghav 2.0' tries to narrate the story of a violent psychopath & a coked up cop.
They are more a contrivance, as is the cat and mouse game between the killer Ramanna (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and the cop Raghuvendra Singh Ubbi (Vicky Kaushal).
But, despite Nawaz's overpowering presence Vicky stands in good stead as a reckless, trigger happy, drug-addled cop keeling dangerously close to Ramanna's side of darkness.They share much in common.
Udta punjab was the worst movie of anurag kashyap followed by raman raghav..
This is the call of the time and the film implores the dark-side in each one of us who buy the ticket and watch the film.The movie was disturbing, and it was an Anurag Kashyap film, so no dearth in filth or grim there, that guy has more brutality than art in his disturbed brain and gruesome rendition, as his previous endeavors would suggest and it has been explored, but not completely.In an attempt to preserve the doubt, strategic chaos was employed, but was far from convincing, which shows the lack of craftsmanship to handle suspense.Scene selection too real to be real and character building was good, but not great.
it clearly shows that AK can shoot only disappointment scenes,depressed minds, pity scenes, he doesn't care about story line, , here i want to compare AK with yash chopra, they are two opposite people, AK can spread the message of violence, depression, low spirits, disappointments, actually it seems that he experience life in this way, on the other hand we had directors like Yash chopra, who spreads the message of Love, joy, happiness and new hopes, after watching the movie Raman Raghav 2.0 last night, i was disappointed totally , i wonder how they write stories like this, two drug addicted minds can do nothing which can help us to make a better world.
and this foolish directors like AK put their full energy and talent to highlight these worthless stories , i am feeling shame to see people like AK who have bucket full of talent to shoot kinda scenes which can leave impressions to your mind for longer periods, with his outstanding skills of shooting sceneshe can take the Audion to the joy full sides make our cinema a joy full place for sitting and watching movies, but see how unfortunate the people of India, these directors make movies like raman raghav, they actually take youth energy to darkness and hopelessness,.
Mr. Kashyap is a good director and I like his Gang's of Wasseypur, Ugly but this movie was not up to the mark.
They are The Zodiac (real life based), Identity, Murder 2 and Ek Villian.To follow, I like The girl with the dragon tattoo, Changeling, I saw the Devil and Se7en mostly because how it ends.To add further I like Mr. Brooks and Monster as well.Then comes the movie directed by India's Reality King Anurag Kashyap Raman Raghav 2.0.
The eerie, scary and a satisfying film that I watched in a long time.This is terrific by Anurag Kashyap and I believe he is back to his best.
Thus, he made a film like this that is devoid of any budget.My hunger for watching a great film has been satisfied.I was happy with the terrific performances in the movie.
While Raman Raghav will not be included in the best works of Anurag Kashyap it still is a good watch.
All the actors did a good job but Nawazuddin Siddiqui deserves a special mention, Raman is a straightforward psycho killer but Siddiqui makes it very interesting to watch his antics.
Vicky Kaushal as Raghav the cop is good but the writing for this character is great, he is the most complex character in the film and maybe is as bad of a guy as Raman but wearing a cop's uniform, it's hard to root for this cop in the cat and mouse game as each ends up offending the viewer time and again.
Murders and brutality are done akin to 80's B grade Hindi films if you are doing gore like Tarantino you got to make it gruesome not this kid stuff, otherwise it's best that the brutality happens offscreen, if you are showing it on screen you can't half ass it, you got to commit to it.
But here the idea, the obsession of the bad face is actually shown to get transmitted from one person to another by the means of some supernatural entity, may be metaphoric.Anurag's RR 2.0 is about a psychotic serial killer Raman and the drug addict Raghav, a cop hunting and chasing for Ramana.
It works in Raman Raghav 2.0 only because he has two very talented actors backing up his slightly weak spined screenplay - Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal.Given the way 'Bombay Velvet' was received, the expectation behind Anurag Kashyap's next was always going to be a factor in the way Raman Raghav was going to be received.
A police launda who cannot bear to keep himself away from any kind of high, his neurotic and taut performance complements Siddiquis frightening psychosis but we end up feeling we see too much of (a weakly scripted)Raghav when we want to see more of Siddiqui.Ram Sampath has scored the movie and the constant thrumming in the background helps set the mood for the bashing-in-of-the-skull and assorted goings on off screen.
To be frank, except the superb portrayal of Ramanna alias Raman alias Ram, a psychopathic serial killer - kind of straight out of the characters seen in the TV series "Criminal Minds" early seasons, there is nothing much worth praise in this movie.Nawazuddin has long become a bankable actor, and has kept most of his performances remembered be it small or big.
And this movie is yet another feather in his cap.The movie tries to make a noble effort, in a neo noir way, to draw the comparison between the 21st Century serial killer Raman and the young Mumbai cop Raghav who is trying to apprehend him.
Had it not been him, not sure who it could be.Anurag Kahshyap is one of the best story tellers Bollywood has seen in the last couple of decades, but while he has been producing good movies lately, directing is something on which he seems to be losing his grip.
The only thing that i did not like about this movie is the climax which has not been revealed properly by Anurag Kashyap.
Overall a good movie to watch this weekend.If you like thriller genre and striving to see acting skills from any bollywood actor then go for it.
The movie has a lot of missteps - the lack of a cat and mouse A game, flimsily drawn female characters and a cop whom I can't sympathise with, but yet it is compulsively watchable for one reason - Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Anurag's direction is not at his best as his story, don't know how many cops are in glamour in Mumbai with glasses,dope etc.One of the best actors of the film is also Mumbai scenes.
The story could have turned into one huge cliché, and there are genre elements that are numbingly familiar, was it not for the exceptionally scary performance of Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the role of the villainous, demented serial killer Ramanna.
Story is inspired from famous Mumbai serial killer from the 1960s, however 2.0 suggests movie is set in present time.
In movie serial killer Raman keeps killing people till he meet his Raghav which he always considered his soulmate or something.What's Good: *Nawazuddin Siddiqui, he performs these kind of weird characters brilliantly.
Overall: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10.Final Verdict: Two reasons to watch: If you like dark films or Nawazuddin Siddiqui is your favorite.
I had two reasons to watch this movie, one was Anurag Kashyap and the other my own preference for Psychological thrillers.
Ramanna's (Nawazuddin) past is quite unknown and neither does the movie delve much into it, quite like the real psycho Raman whose early life and incidents were unknown to the world.
Again the episode of his abusive relation with his sister is inspired by real Raman Raghav's abuse of his sister.Ramanna is portrayal of an emotionless serial killer, who goes about his business quite nonchalantly.
Raghav is again not your typical angry young cop, he has too many issues of his own and by the end of the movie he is more of a character in black than Raman.
Raman Raghav 2.0 begins with a disclaimer saying this movie is NOT about the 1960s era killer who operated in Mumbai.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui IS Ramanna, and continues his prolific character interpretations under Anurag Kashyap.
With Raman Raghav 2.0, Anurag Kashyap comes roaring back into form after the commercial and critical debacle that was Bombay Velvet.
He delves deep into the psyche of a bona- fide psycho – clearly defining the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath – and comes up with a film that's as cinematically thrilling as it's psychologically haunting.Nawaz, who plays the notorious serial-killer Raman, is inspired by the real-life serial-killer, Raman Raghav, who used to terrorize Mumbai's streets back in the 1960s.
It's unlike anything you've seen in Indian cinema before because while we've had great thrillers, we've never seen a no-holds-barred, blood-soaked spectacle of this kind.Raman Raghav 2.0 is in the league of darkly demented suspense films like Psycho and Se7en, and Nawaz's character is up there with the greatest psychos ever seen in the history of cinema..
The pacing of the first half is pitch-perfect and the director succeeds in (metaphorically) grabbing the viewers by the throat and pasting them on a wall, subjecting them to the murderous and drug-infested backdrop of the central characters Ramanna (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and Raghavan (played by Vicky Kaushal) respectively.
The story is "based" on the notorious 60s killer Raman Raghav as a modern day Ramannah gets inspired by his hero and starts killing people.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui of course is the killer who kills for no understandable reason and by the end of the movie, you're still wondering why this serial killer really kills ?
Raman Raghav 2.0 tells us such a tale.The movie follows the story of two such identities: a serial killer inspired by the famous RAMAN RAGHAV who claims that he can talk to YAMA and his killings are a result of their conversation & a cop drenched so deep into intoxication that he's unable to sleep.
The anti-hero abused by his father in childhood, Vicky with his rugged face, bristling eyes & addiction to drugs has owned the character which is completely in contrast to the roles in his earlier movies.A genius in Anurag Kashyap has taken this movie to another level with his direction.Bollywood's best psychological thriller..
Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal make the film scary with what they do on screen and the dialogues they speak.
After that, he bludgeons all three to death, eats the chicken and rice, and leaves.Adding to the scare and suspense is the natural lighting the film is shot in - the visuals are as dark as the plot - and an effective background score that pops up just at the right time.By the time RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0 ends and the characters of Raman (the serial killer) and Raghav (the cop) merge, we have already made a harrowing trip into the terribly skewed minds of two psychopaths.
The entire story plot is focused on two important characters, a drug-addict cop Raghavan (played by Vicky Kaushal) and a psychopath Ramanna (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui).
Raman, a self- proclaimed messenger of God who likes to kill people for no reason, keeps searching for his soulmate Raghav from the very beginning.
There are many good things in it, like Nawazuddin Siddiqui's terrific performance, a superb scene of the killer and his sister's family, a beautifully shot Mumbai and so on...but you wished it would all total up to a satisfactory sum, which it doesn't..
Raman Raghav 2.0 is a thriller by Anurag Kashyap.
This film is based on the notorious psychopath serial killer Raman Raghav.
Anurag Kashyap has not tried to make a biopic on Raman Raghav.
The film begins with the scene of Raghav (Vicky Kaushal) snorting drug and dancing in a club.
Anurag Kashyap has tried to convey that Raman and Raghav are two sides of the same coin.
Background score adds to the dark tone of the film.Both the major characters Ramanna and Raghav are very well played by Nawazuddin and Vicky Kaushal respectively.
Raman Raghav 2.0, a dark film by Anurag Kashyap, is based on 1960's psychopath serial killer Raman Raghav.
Raman Raghav 2.0, a dark film by Anurag Kashyap, is based on 1960's psychopath serial killer Raman Raghav.
Watch it for two reasons: One, in case, you like dark films and second, for performances of Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal..
Anurag Kashyap is back into direction and thankfully in the 'Ugly' mode, than in the mold of the unholy offspring with Karan johar (something Velvet).The movie begins with an unexpected disclaimer that it is in no way related to Raman Raghav, a psychopathic serial killer from Mumbai in 1960's.
Both Nawaz Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal give decent performances but the Story lacks morals and moralistic characters..just a message to Mr.Kashyap please try to portray some positivity in your movies...you never have any good in your films maybe this is just your worldview of how you have seen real life..which is why you continue to churn out movies like this.
The makers have clearly stated that the film is NOT based on the psycho-killer Raman Raghav who was very famous (or should I say very infamous) in the 60s in Bombay(Mumbai).