Dolcy D’Cruz
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Five years after ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ left a lasting impression, its makers return with a sequel titled ‘Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders’. Now streaming on Netflix, the film reunites director Honey Trehan with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, while bringing in Revathi and Rajat Kapoor to expand its morally complex world. Honey Trehan once again steps behind the camera to explore a new case rooted in the Bansal family. Honey explains, “The basic f ilm belongs to an investigative cop, Jatil Yadav. We do feel like Jatil Yadav is a very desi Sherlock Holmes kind of a person. He’s a very complex person in his personal life. So, while solving one case, he kind of solved one of his personal issues as well. Like, in the f irst one, there was a patriarchy. Now there is something else in this one. He believes he needs to set the tone right whatever it takes, even if he gets suspended, he will not care, and he will just go for it. Jatil is my alter ego especially in this film. Because if I can’t do it, that is what Jatil is to me.” Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who reprises his role as Inspector Jatil different roles in the same way,” he says. “Someone who plays one role in a different way can never be typecast. Mostly, heroes are typecast. Actors can’t be typecast—they’re the same all their lives.” Yadav, says returning to the character required deeper excavation rather than repetition. “When I did it five years back, I knew the spine of the character, the basics,” he says, but stresses that a sequel does not mean sameness. “Since it’s a new case, everything is new. I tried to understand it in more depth.” Nawazuddin Siddiqui has played a cop in three consecutive films including Detective Gajraj Awasthy in ‘Adbhut’, Costao Fernandes in ‘Costao’ and now Inspector Jatil Yadav in ‘Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders’. He elaborates on how background shapes each uniformed officer on screen. “Three of them are cops, the dress is the same, stars are technical. But the clothes they’re wearing, the background, the parents, everything is different. The cop is not a character. There’s a complexity to it.” As in the first film, Jatil’s personal struggles resolve alongside the case, but Siddiqui insists this time it is “a completely different take,” even while retaining the same behavioural core. When asked about the risk of being typecast, Nawazuddin is unequivocal. “A typecast is someone who plays Rajat Kapoor enters the ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ universe as DGP Sameer Verma, a newcomer to a team with an established rhythm. He acknowledges that Honey and the returning cast share an ongoing creative understanding. “We are the new entrants into this world,” Rajat says, recalling how he initially resisted the project. “I tried to get out of it a lot, but Honey insisted, and I’m glad I ended up doing this.” Rajat credits both Trehan and writer Smita Singh for drawing him in, calling Smita “one of the best in the business right now” and describing the experience as “a lot of fun.” Revathi, who plays the forensic head, brings warmth and authority to a role she found both refreshing and challenging. She recalls asking Trehan, “How did you make her a woman? Why?” and says she was delighted by the decision. “It’s very nice to get roles which have a character where you can perform and also learn.” Having never played a forensic specialist before, she embraced the process. “At my age, learning was interesting,” she says, adding that real forensic professionals on set helped guide the performance. The shoot itself was intense, spanning 46 days across Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, with multiple night shoots in harsh winter conditions. Despite the cold, the cast spent long hours together, forging camaraderie. As the f ilm reaches audiences worldwide on Netflix, Honey notes the immediacy of the platform. “In one click, the day the f ilm comes out, you are there in 196 countries,” he says, appreciating the instant feedback and shared viewing experience that streaming enables
