Criminal Movie Review: Punjabi Mania present before you the full movie review of recently released Punjabi movie titled ‘Criminal’.

Cast: Neeru Bajwa, Dheeraj Kumar, Prince Kanwaljit Singh, Raghveer Boli, Sukhwinder Chahal, Harbhagwan Singh, Gurnav Deep Singh, Hrishav Sharma and Kavi Singh.

Director: Garinder Sidhu.

Producer: Gippy Grewal.

Music: Avvy Sra.

Genre: Crime, Drama.

Running Time: 103 minutes (U/A certified).

Criminal Movie Review

As an avid viewer of Punjabi movies, the biggest upshot which comes to light after watching latest Punjabi movie titled 'Criminal' is a sense of belonging. Not that Criminal is your perfect movie but it is hugely successful in making a statement not only for itself but for the whole industry.

Irrespective of how the movie will perform at the box-office, Criminal will be remembered for initiating something new which has it in it to motivate other filmmakers to experiment with the crime and thriller genre.

Elementally, Criminal is a story of a Arjun Brar (Dheeraj Kumar) and Mahi Brar (Neeru Bajwa) - a married couple on the brink of filing for a divorce. Two people who are doing well for themselves professionally, Arjun and Mahi find themselves on the wrong end of marriage grappling with several nuptial issues.

It is on an ill-fated night that five dreaded prisoners named Barpur Singh Bhoora (Prince Kanwaljit Singh), Malkit Singh Master (Raghveer Boli), Tanveer Sharma Tunni (Gurnav Deep Singh), Davinder Singh Demu and Karmjit Singh Kapa manage to flee police vans upon returning from Chandigarh High Court and force their way in Brars' posh apartment in a high-rise building in Good Vibes Society.

While vibes certainly don't remain good any more, this building on the outskirts of the city helps them in taking refuge for a few hours. What follows is Criminal at its zenith as the prospect of five criminals and a married couple being stuck in the same apartment without the former knowing about the latter is able to generate the required level of thrill, fear and excitement.

Debutant director Garinder Sidhu and script writers Naveen Jethi and Sarvjit Khera (debutant) don't let this opportunity of creating something efficacious with seven people in one apartment for three hours go waste.

Dialogue writers Vinit Attri and Vishal Singh Deot further up the game adding to unintentional and natural comic element to the movie. Some sickening, uncomforting and off-putting lines manage to generate laughter primarily because of the way they are executed by good actors. Generally, you wouldn't associate such lines being spoken by normal characters but criminals convicted for murders and rapes delivering such dialogues aren't a surprise. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the sincere attempt will be remembered among fans for a long time.

While Criminal comprises of compelling and captivating sequences, it also contains its share of flaws. One of its negative points comes across as outright silly for a thriller movie spoiling all the interest generated for a brief period. Another major point where the script is found wanting post all the build-up is the climax (or the lack of one).

Having said that, individual acting performances emerge as a saving grace for Criminal. For starters, there's Prince Kanwaljit Singh as the chief antagonist. While there's no denying that Prince is in the best phase of his 12-year old acting career, only time will tell if this is his peak or if there's much more to him. We are told that Bhoora meditates to keep his mind calm and it reflects in the movie on the back of quite a zen-like-calm character for a terrifying criminal. Unlike most Punjabi negative characters, Bhoora doesn't have loud and hard-hitting dialogues but still manages to send others into a cold sweat. Believe me when I say that Prince literally makes his eyes talk as Bhoora.

Then, there's Raghveer Boli as Master who mostly delivers the above mentioned repugnant lines in a comical manner. Boli, who had played a special child with supreme consistency in Baljit Singh Deo's 'Maa' earlier this year, exhibits his praiseworthy acting capability by playing an odious criminal in Criminal.

Neeru Bajwa, who has been there done that in the Punjabi film industry since time immemorial, doesn't fail to impress in her first thriller. With the nature of the script throwing quite a lot of emphasis on Bajwa in comparison to Kumar, the sheer sight of her pounding criminals is both pleasing and deserving.

Undeterred by weak spots, Criminal crops up to be registered as a good effort of trying something new in an industry which mostly works in the opposition direction of experimentation. While its presumed aim of being registered in the same category as 'Warning' (2021) remains unfulfilled, Criminal still has it in it to be watched and relished for its dissimilar offering.