Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (transl. The thief has escaped) is a 2023 Indian Hindi heist thriller film directed Ajay Singh produced by Amar Kaushik. It stars Yami Gautam and Sunny Kaushal in the lead, with Sharad Kelkar, Indraneil Sengupta and Barun Chanda in pivotal roles. The film released on 24 March 2023, directly for streaming, on Netflix.
Contents
Plot
In the fictional Middle Eastern city of Al-Barkat, Ankit Sethi owns a diamond insurance company and is drowning in debt after his workers misplace a client’s diamonds worth ₹20 crores. On a flight, he meets Neha Grover, a flight attendant, and is immediately drawn to her. They go on a date, fall in love, and later Neha tells him that she is pregnant. Ankit proposes, she accepts, and they prepare to marry. Before they can do so, they are attacked by two goons working for the client to whom Ankit owes the money. Neha is badly injured and loses the baby. With no other way to repay the debt, they decide to carry out a robbery.
Ankit learns that Minister Harish Sanyal plans to smuggle diamonds from Al-Barkat to India by plane. The diamonds are hidden in a cellphone casing and kept inside a briefcase secured by a code. Ankit strikes a deal with Sanyal’s secretary: he will reveal the code in exchange for half the diamonds. Once on board, Ankit and Neha begin their plan. Neha deliberately spills food on the courier’s clothes while serving passengers, forcing him to leave for the washroom. Ankit seizes the chance to open the briefcase, but before he can reach the diamonds, masked terrorists hijack the flight and take everyone hostage.
The hijackers order the pilots to land in Kullu and demand the release of Adil-Mir, a terrorist imprisoned in Manali. Ankit pretends to have asthma and asks for permission to retrieve his inhaler from the other compartment, hoping to steal the diamonds in the meantime. One hijacker sees through the lie and beats him. Later, when the hijackers go to the cockpit to speak with government officials, Ankit sneaks back into the compartment, removes the diamonds from the briefcase, and hides them in his own bag. A hijacker catches him, but Ankit knocks the gun from his hand and they fight. The others arrive, overpower him, and lock him in the washroom. Then Sudhanshu Roy, who claims to be the Flight Marshal, picks up a dropped gun and shoots the hijackers dead. The passengers are evacuated safely.
A bomb is attached to Ankit’s body, but the bomb squad discovers it is fake. The hijackers’ bodies are missing, and Sudhanshu has also vanished. It is then revealed that the real Flight Marshal is Bhanu Yadav, who had been unconscious throughout the flight, and that Sudhanshu was an impostor. RAW officer Parvez Shaikh arrives with his team and questions the passengers. Bhanu says he was given a glass of orange juice on the flight and may have fallen unconscious after drinking it. Ankit also discovers that the diamonds he stole were fake. It emerges that he had only pretended to love Neha so that she would help him rob the flight.
Neha had already uncovered the truth after hearing Ankit speaking to the attackers after her miscarriage. She contacted Sudhanshu, an old accomplice from her father’s mafia past, and together they devised a fake hijacking to steal the diamonds from Ankit and take revenge. They recruited Jinu, Nikki and Abbas to board the plane as passengers before later masking up as hijackers, and Gaffar made fake guns for them. Neha spiked Bhanu’s drink so he would pass out. Sudhanshu, posing as the Flight Marshal, replaced the diamonds with fake ones, pretended to kill the hijackers with a blank shot, and escaped, while the others blended back in with the passengers.
Neha then makes an anonymous call to Sanyal and forces him to tell Parvez to stop the investigation and cover everything up, threatening to expose his diamond smuggling. The case is closed, and the public is told that a genuine hijacking took place, with Bhanu praised as a national hero for killing the hijackers. Neha then sends Sanyal a text message proving that Ankit had received the code on his phone. Realising Ankit tried to steal the diamonds, Sanyal brutally tortures his secretary and Ankit, who finally understands Neha’s revenge plan. Neha visits him in hospital, where he is recovering, and reveals the truth before flying off in first class.
Cast
Alex Reece as Carlson}}
Release
The film was released on Netflix on 24 March 2023.
Music
The music for the film is composed by Vishal Mishra.
Reception
The film overall received mixed response from critics as well as audience. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 9 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10.
Dhaval Roy of The Times Of India rated the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "The plotline and the double jeopardy situation of a heist and a hijack make Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga an exciting watch. The story may not seem convincing, and the events often get convenient, but the slick treatment and direction will keep you hooked throughout."
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 2.5 stars out of 5 stars and wrote "Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga, despite its taut and precise screenplay, is at best passable fare. The film takes some time to take off. When it does, it avoids deviations and stays firmly focussed on its course."
Shubhra Gupta for The Indian Express rating the film only 1.5 stars out of 5 wrote "The quick-fire romance between our lead pair leads to hot dates, and rumpled sheets. Having got the preliminaries out of the way, the film dives into its real business, and for a while we stay with it."