''Bawaal'' () is a 2023 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

romantic drama film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

directed by

Nitesh Tiwari Nitesh Tiwari (born 22 May 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and lyricist known for his works in Hindi films. He debuted as a co-director in '' Chillar Party'' (2011) which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film. He ...

, and produced by

Sajid Nadiadwala Sajid Nadiadwala (born 18 February 1966) is an Indian film producer, film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. He is the owner of Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and the grandson of filmmaker A.K. Nadiadwala. Sajid has written ...

and

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (born 15 October 1979) is an Indian film director and writer. After working in advertising for several years, she made her debut by directing the comedy-drama ''Nil Battey Sannata'' (2016). The film garnered great reviews a ...

under

Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Pvt Ltd (NGE) is an Indian film production company based in Mumbai. The Nadiadwala family have been in film production since 1955; continuing this legacy, Sajid Nadiadwala established the company in 1995. The ...

and Earthsky Pictures. It stars

Varun Dhawan Varun Dhawan (; born 24 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. One of India's highest-paid actors, he has been featured in ''Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list in the 2010s. He starred in 11 consecutive box-office successes b ...

and

Janhvi Kapoor Janhvi Kapoor (born 6 March 1997) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Born to film actress Sridevi and producer Boney Kapoor, she made her acting debut in 2018 with the romantic drama ''Dhadak'', which w ...

as a troubled married couple. Filming took place in multiple countries from April to August 2022. Initially scheduled for a theatrical release, ''Bawaal'' had a streaming release on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

on 21 July 2023. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Ajay Dixit is an image-conscious

narcissist Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...

, who teaches

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

at a school in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. He hates his life of lies, despite the respect he is held in, thanks to his philosophical tendency to "fake it till you make it". He has grounded his beautiful

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain that can cause a variety of symptoms, rang ...

wife Nisha, who is much more intelligent than him, since he does not want her seizures to ruin his reputation. Ajay finds himself and his image in jeopardy when he slaps his student, Atul Raghuvanshi, in frustration over a doubt regarding

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Atul turns out to be the son of MLA Vishwas Raghuvanshi. Out of despair of wanting to escape the wrath of the MLA, Ajay decides to visit places across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

he deems were important to World War II (inc. Anne Frank's house and

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

). He takes Nisha along with him as his parents hope it could resolve their marital conflicts. This sets them on a journey that changes their entire perspectives and their views on interpersonal conflicts, as they cover both life and history lessons along the way.

Cast

Production

The film title was announced along with its release date and the cast on 30 March 2022. Filming began in April 2022, and was shot in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(present-day

Oświęcim Oświęcim (; ; ; ) is a town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland, situated southeast of Katowice, near the confluence of the Vistula (''Wisła'') and Soła rivers. Oświęcim dates back to the 12th century, when it was an im ...

) and in parts of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Sajid Nadiadwala announced that the filming completed in August 2022.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack is composed by

Mithoon Mithun Sharma, also known as Mithoon, is an Indian Hindi film music director, lyricist-composer and singer. Mithoon composed the Hindi song " Tum Hi Ho" from the 2013 Bollywood romantic film '' Aashiqui 2''. Mithoon received the Filmfare Awa ...

Tanishk Bagchi Tanishk Bagchi (born 23 November 1980) is an Indian music producer, composer, singer and lyricist in Hindi films. He is known for tracks like "Vaaste", "Bolna", "Ve Maahi", " Aankh Maarey" (recreated), " Dilbar" (recreated), "Jehda Nasha" (recr ...

, Akashdeep Sengupta. The lyrics are written by

Kausar Munir Kausar Munir is an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer who works in Hindi cinema. Biography Munir was born and brought up in Bandra, Mumbai. She graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Munir married actor Nirmal Pa ...

Manoj Muntashir Manoj Shukla (born 27 February 1976), better known by his stage name Manoj Muntashir Shukla, is an Indian lyricist, poet, dialogue writer, screenwriter & Co founder oT-Series Prarthana The Sound of Sanatan He wrote several Hindi songs for films ...

, Arafat Mehmood, Shloke Lal. The first single, "Tumhe Kitna Pyaar Karte" was released on 7 July 2023. The 2nd single titled "Dil Se Dil Tak" was released on 14 July 2023. The third single titled "Dilon Ki Doriyan" was released on 18 July 2023.

Release

The film premiered on 21 July 2023 on

Reception

''Bawaal'' received mixed reviews from critics. The film received positive reviews from audiences.

Shubhra Gupta Shubhra Gupta is an Indian film critic who writes for ''The Indian Express''. She received the Ramnath Goenka Award for Best Writing on Cinema in 2012. She was a member of the Central Board of Film Certification from 2012 to 2015. She is the au ...

of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' gave the film 1.5 out of 5, writing, "Varun Dhawan-Janhvi Kapoor-starrer promises a lot, but keeps faltering, never quite knowing what to make of a wholly harebrained flourish in the plot." Leaf Arbuthnot of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave the film 1 out of 5, calling the premise "serviceable" but the plot "woefully misjudged." She further wrote that "it is just a pity that rest of the film is so lacking in fun, pep, humour and charm that only its spectacularly poor taste stands out." Amongst positive reviews,

Sukanya Verma Sukanya Verma is an Indian journalist and film critic. She has been the principal movie reviewer with web portal '' Rediff.com''. She has written a number of columns as a freelance writer for ''The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English ...

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

gave the film 3 out of 5, writing, "Director Nitesh Tiwari has a knack for creating intriguing characters and scenarios that feel fresh yet familiar at the same time. But the underlying goal behind all their actions -- questionable or inspirational -- is rooted in wisdom." Lachmi Deb Roy of

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

gave the film 3 out of 5, writing, "Despite all its drawbacks, one takeaway from the film is that it’s okay to be an average person with imperfections than to be a fake person." Several publications criticized the film for "insensitive portrayal" of the Holocaust. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Jewish human rights organisation

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

asked Amazon to “stop monetising” Bawaal with immediate effect and called the film a “banal trivialisation of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust.” On 28 July 2023, Embassy of Israel, New Delhi tweeted that "The Israeli embassy is disturbed by the trivialization of the significance of the Holocaust in the recent movie 'Bawaal'." They also criticised the "poor choice in the utilization of some terminology in the movie."

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Bawaal
' at

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

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