Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Honey Trehan on 'Raat Akeli Hai' cop universe: This world exists around us

Mumbai, Dec 12 (PTI) Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and director Honey Trehan have teamed up again for "Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders", an investigative drama woven around a cop character that they say is very close to real life.

The crime thriller franchise began with the 2020 acclaimed movie, “Raat Akeli Hai”, in which the actor plays an honest police officer, Jatil Yadav.

Siddiqui, whose last big screen outing saw him playing a vampire in "Thamma", said he finds immense satisfaction in bringing real-life narratives to the screen.

"I like Honey’s films because that character, that world exists around us. We make fantasy or larger-than-life films but what I like the most is the real-life stories," the actor told PTI.

Working with Trehan, Siddiqui said, gives him a distinct viewpoint that is connected to reality.

"When you work with such experienced and talented directors, they have their own perspective, and that perspective is very close to real life. Like, Honey said, ‘I’ll have those characters that exist (in real life) in all my films. I like it a lot when we see those characters that are around us,” he said, adding that it’s essential to share real-life stories with audiences.

Trehan, a casting director who crossed over to moving making with "Raat Akeli Hai" and then made his yet-unreleased "Punjab 95" with Diljit Dosanjh, said real life stories woven around the world of cops and crime fascinate him.

"When I read Smita's (Singh) script, I liked it. I immediately dropped the three-four ideas that I had without wasting any time and said, ‘let's make this’. She trusted me with it and that's how ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ happened. ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ has its own universe, it's a cop universe created by Jatil,” he said.

According to Trehan, what’s unique about his film is the intrinsic relationship between the cases Yadav investigates and his personal life.

"Like, while solving every case somewhere, he (Siddiqui) finds a flaw in himself and by the time he solves the case, he removes that element from his life. In the first case, he had complex beliefs about patriarchy, and he wanted a girl who was beautiful, well-mannered.

"Finally, Jatil meets Radha (Radhika Apte) and he came out of that patriarchy. Similarly, while solving this new case, he will come out of another thing,” Trehan said.

Siddiqui’s ability to captivate audiences with nuanced performances has always left a lasting impression, said Trehan, who served as a casting director on three of the actor’s films including “Raees”, “Chittagong”, and “Manto”.

The filmmaker also lauded moments from the actor’s early performances in films like “Sarfarosh”, “Black Friday” and “Talaash”.

"There are certain elements that are not there in the script. You can't write those things, you do that in the moment and that’s what Nawaz bhai did,” Trehan said, expressing his admiration for the actor.

Siddiqui fondly remembers Trehan’s work in theatre, particularly the two acclaimed plays “Life and Times of Galileo” and “Kafan”.

"‘Raat Akeli Hai’ is something that I want to do as it’s subtle and I wanted to work under Honey’s direction. When you work with such experienced and talented directors, they have their own perspective, and that perspective is very close to real life,” the actor said.

Speaking about “Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders”, Trehan revealed it was streaming platform Netflix’s idea to take the franchise with the new film as the first movie garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences.

"I can't say this is ‘Raat Akeli Hai 2’ because it's a new case, mystery, and new characters, except that it’s a new case in the life of the (same) police officer. It was a slow burn, it had its own universe, and treatment, while this is fast-paced, edgy and it talks about the current situation,” he said.

The new film revolves around the members of the Bansal family, who are found murdered, and inspector Jatil Yadav tries to uncover a trail of greed, betrayal and secrets tied to a deadly conspiracy.

Asked Trehan if “Raat Akeli Hai – The Bansal Murders”, is inspired by Burari case, the director said he is leaving the audiences to draw their own conclusion.

"All my films, and in it, some or the other character is inspired by real life and that will be the case even with any of my work in the future.” Actors Chitrangada Singh, Deepti Naval, Ila Arun, Revathi, Sanjay Kapoor, Priyanka Setia, S M Zaheer, and Rajat Kapoor round out the cast of "Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders". PTI KKP BK BK