Awarapan 2

Development

The film was officially announced by Vishesh Films in March 2025, with Nitin Kakkar confirmed as the director and Emraan Hashmi reprising his role.^[6]

In an interview, Bilal Siddiqui said that the team spent several months exploring ideas for the sequel.^[7] Vishesh Bhatt stated that the project was conceived as a direct continuation of the 2007 film.^[8] Mohit Suri, who directed the original film, was not approached to direct the sequel.^[9] According to Hashmi, the screenplay underwent multiple revisions over nearly two years before being finalised.^[10][11]

Casting

Manushi Chhillar was reported to have been considered for the female lead but did not join the project due to scheduling conflicts.^[12] Later reports stated that she had been neither approached nor considered for the role.^[13] Disha Patani was subsequently cast in the role.^[14][12] Shabana Azmi joined the cast in a pivotal role.^[15] She was later revealed to be the antagonist.^[16] Debutante actor Aniruddh Rawal was added to the cast, marking his feature film debut.^[17] Puran Gabbi was cast as the antagonist after auditioning for the role.^[18]

Filming

Pre-production began in April 2025.^[19] Principal photography commenced in September 2025,^[20] and concluded in June 2026.^[21] During filming in Rajasthan, Emraan Hashmi suffered an abdominal injury while performing an action sequence and underwent surgery.^[22][23] Despite stringent measures taken by the production team, pictures from the sets featuring Hashmi's and Patani's looks were leaked onto the internet and went viral.^[24][25] The film was shot in Bangkok, Rajasthan, Malaysia and Mumbai.^{[26][27][23][28]}

Theatrical

Awarapan 2 was released theatrically on 14 August 2026, coinciding with Indian Independence Day weekend.^[42] The film was initially scheduled to release on 3 April 2026.^[23] However, it was postponed to 14 August 2026,^[28] thereby clashing with Batwara 1947.^[43] The advance bookings for the film began on 11 August 2026,^[44] and saw a "tremendous response".^[45][46] Ahead of its theatrical release, a special screening of the film was held in Mumbai on 13 August 2026.^[47]

Certification

The film received a U/A 16+ certificate from the CBFC on 5 August 2026, with a final runtime of 140 minutes.^[48] The Examining Committee ordered 4 minutes of deletions and 20 seconds of replacements, including the addition of static disclaimers for scenes depicting child trafficking and drug consumption, the replacement of objectionable words, the reduction of violent scenes, and adjustments to the end credits.^[49]

Distribution

The film was distributed by Pen Marudhar.^[50]

Home media

The film's digital streaming rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video.^[51]

Box office

On its opening day, the film earned ₹21.63 crore at the domestic box office.^[3][4]

Critical response

Bhumi Vashisht of The Sunday Guardian praised Emraan Hashmi for his portrayal as Shivam Pandit and concluded in her review, "Overall Awarapan 2 is at its best when it stays glued to Shivam and all his inner turmoil. Emraan Hashmi delivers a solid performance, the nostalgic vibe is strong, and the blend of action and emotion makes the sequel enjoyable for old fans too and for newer viewers."^[52]

Sreeju Sudhakaran of Rediff.com gave the film 2 stars out of 5, appreciating Emraan Hashmi's performance. Being critical of the script, he wrote, "Emraan Hashmi throws himself into the mass appeal of his character with absolute sincerity. Unfortunately, even his committed performance cannot entirely mask the sheer ordinariness of the broader script."^[53]

Rishabh Suri of the Hindustan Times gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5, describing Awarapan 2 as an intentionally old-school sequel that recreates the atmosphere of 2000s Bollywood, with a brooding hero, tragic romance, crime, gunfights and, crucially, the music associated with the original. He noted the plot as decent but predictable, with some repetitive stretches and too much action; however, Suri argues that the climax works well while the modern production values compensate somewhat for the deliberately dated storytelling. He also highlighted Emraan Hashmi's performance as the movie's main strength.^[54]

A critic at Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and remarked, "On the flipside, despite the best efforts, the film falls short of the greatness of AWARAPAN [2007], which has become a cult classic."^[55]

Shubhra Gupta of the The Indian Express gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, concluding, "Hashmi keeps it all humming, and till Awarapan sails along coasting on some eye-catching, snazzy sequences, we enjoy this outing with our brave anti-hero, jiska dard se puraana rishta hai. It’s a pity that the film falls into a long, dull third act, which makes us nearly forget the competent genre beats of the rest."^[56]

Shreyas Pande of The Hindu reminisced about the director Mohit Suri and the writer Shagufta Rafique, of predecessor of the film, Awarapan, an unofficial remake of A Bittersweet Life, who, in his words, "... breathed new life into the 2007 film, with its moving, musical rumination on faith as a pathway to healing and love as the seed of liberation." For the former, he also noted, "Mohit Suri's absence is strongly felt when 'To Phir Aao' is heard without any powerful sequence to complement its evocative charm." In his review, he critiqued, "So, even if the action sequences have improved multifold, the lighting has become better equipped at capturing contrast, and the camera offers visuals to marvel over, the film struggles to hold itself together as it imagines the world of Awarapan purely as a generic genre piece, when its soul lies elsewhere."^[57]

Radhika Sharma of NDTV gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, summing up in her review, "The film works and only works because of Emraan Hashmi."^[58]

Vineeta Kumar of India Today gave the film 3 stars out of 5. With praise for Emraan Hashmi's screen presence, she wrote, "Hashmi carries the film on his shoulders, right from the first scene. This is his playing field, and nobody, not even some of the best actors of this generation, can quite pull off this particular brand of brooding, wounded masculinity the way he does. Awarapan 2 is, in many ways, a reminder that you simply cannot deny Emraan Hashmi once he decides to take over the screen.^[59]