Hisaab Barabar - Account Ability

 

Hisaab Barabar

Hindi, 2025

Genre: Crime Drama

Director: Ashwani Dhir

Stars: Madhavan, Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh

Where to watch: Zee5, Einthusan

Mohan's Measure:  ⭐⭐

Riding on the coattails of Lucky Baskhar is this very weak attempt to emulate it. Hisaab Barabar tells the tale of an honest-as-the-day-is-long Ticket Collector who is obsessed with numbers and accounting.  Finding a pittance missing from his own bank acocunt, he goes to the bank and winds up opening a Pandora's box of corruption, which of course, he seeks to end.

The basic problem of this film is that it wants to give that classy magic that Dulquer brings to moviemaking and is banking on Madhavan to bring it.  He does his best, but his age, physique and stoic expressions lend little in the way of credence to the nerdy but street-smart guy the plot expects him to be.  Ms. Kulhari is a poor fit for the strong feminine counterpart, owing to her inexperience in these roles. Her sudden change in personality from the flirtatious romantic interest to the tough cop is so abrupt, we feel like we are watching two different movies.

So this leaves us with the villain, who, rather than being suave and conniving, is portrayed as some kind of narcissistic clown.  There are senseless scenes of trite comedy, going as low as pie in the face.

Then, there is the plot, which confuses use in the first half as to whether it is flashback or present day.  We find out they are the former much later in the film, and even then it feels like something failed to sync.  The rest of the sting operation feels way too predictable, and there is little room for a clever shift or ending.

While the cinematography does create the ambience, and world of banking scams is brought to fore, this movie has a long way to go before it can hit the jackpot.