Sector 36 Review: Where Prem Turns Serial Killer
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
For a Bollywood fan, the name ‘Prem’ is most likely to evoke images of a soft, romantic hero from Sooraj Barjatya’s larger-than-life movies. Some might also think of Prem Chopra, the veteran actor who brought numerous iconic villains to life over a career spanning seven decades. And then there’s Vikrant Massey’s Prem from the 2024 Bollywood movie ‘Sector 36’—a cold-blooded serial killer whose tracks elude the cops despite an alarmingly high body count. A Prem we might not remember for far too long.
Directed by Aditya Nimbalkar and written by Bodhayan Roychaudhury, Sector 36 opens with Prem watching a spoof version of Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) on his television, while more urgent tasks await him—like disposing of a young girl’s body. Inspired by the 2005-2006 Noida serial murders, the film takes a straightforward approach to murder, motives, and “action and reaction.” Prem, who suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of his maternal uncle as a child, sees no wrong in unleashing violence against innocent children. All the crimes take place in the bungalow of Balbir Singh Bassi (Akash Khurana), Prem’s wealthy boss.
Deepak Dobriyal plays Inspector Ram Charan Pandey, a cynical cop who swears by Newton’s third law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Though he has little interest in serving the community, an incident forces him to investigate the disappearances of several children from a nearby slum under his jurisdiction—Sector 36. Prem and Ram Charan Pandey cross paths for the first time in a scene rich with symbolic undertones during the Ram-Leela celebrations. Ram is dressed as the mythological villain Raavan, while Prem wears a Raavan mask. It’s villain versus villain, except Inspector Pandey is ready to shed his old wolf’s skin to bring the lost sheep to justice.
Sector 36 is often unsettling, largely due to the disturbing power imbalance between Prem and his victims, who are often poor, minor children from the slums—either lured by candy or drugged and abducted. Vikrant Massey is chillingly convincing as the psychopathic killer, who feels no remorse for butchering children and instead gloats over his actions, as if doing society a favor by ridding it of children he claims will never matter. Prem treats his victims as vermin to be exterminated, whether by circumstance or by people like him, who see their deaths as a means to an end.
Some sections of ‘Sector 36’ reminded me of ‘Article 15’, the 2019 Anubhav Sinha thriller about caste-based violence. But it was largely due to the broody cinematography and color palette, because ‘Sector 36’ unfolds like a dramatic but flat crime documentary, and never delivers a gut punch like ‘Article 15’ did with its storytelling. Not only do Aditya Nimbalkar and team fail to build any suspense over what Vikrant Massey’s Prem is up to in the bungalow he lives in, which is fine, but after that, they fail to create a gripping investigative story. Inspector Ram Charan Pandey is able to make progress in his case only due to co-incidences, chance encounters, and sheer luck. The film lacks the tension of a cat-and-mouse chase, mind games, or any major twists in the story, with the emotional arc remaining steady, even bordering on the mundane.
Regardless, ‘Sector 36’ keeps viewers anxious over what’s going to happen next until the climax, and is carried by solid performances by Vikrant Massey and Deepak Dobriyal.
You can watch the film on Netflix.
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