Sector 36 Review: Misses Out on the Thrills?

In Netflix’s latest crime-thriller film, based loosely on the 2006 Noida serial murders, we see a once-complacent police inspector get hot on the heels of a dangerous serial killer after the latter murders several children from the slums of Sector 36. As a cat-and-mouse chase ensues between the two, will Inspector Ram Charan Pandey be able to apprehend the enigmatic yet beguiling Prem Singh and end his reign of terror?

From Maddock Films and Jio Studios, this film has a runtime of 123 minutes.

Sector 36 Review

In this tale of guilt and accountability and one that showcases social evils in our country, we see Inspector Ram Charan Pandey, at first a man without much morals or interest in his job, finding his conscience and trying to nab serial killer Prem Singh when one of his own is almost abducted. The film doesn’t spend much time giving us a rundown of all of the characters and why they are the way that they are, including giving us a thorough look into why Singh is the way that he is in the present.

There’s not much to uncover for the audience in the film. The Nithari serial killings were a horrific period in Indian history and the film does its best to showcase the bureaucratic mess that the situation brought up and the depths of corruption that everyone was a part of. It does a good job of making us feel thoroughly powerless and sort of annoyed at how little the authorities care about the children of the poor population while jumping at the opportunity to save those with more power, influence and money. It’s an angle that has been discussed many times in other films as well and isn’t much of a different plot point. However, I guess with children at the receiving end of the heinous crimes, viewers might find themselves a little more shocked.

This Vikrant Massey new movie portrays the evils of society and one person’s fight to do the right thing for once. Although Pandey’s conscience wakes up when his own daughter is almost nabbed, it’s still nice to see the work being done, whatever the trigger. Deepak Dobriyal is excellent as the inspector; he’s vulnerable yet assertive and his drive to do the right thing will give you relief. Meanwhile, Singh is a character who is plagued by his past traumas and is stuck in a terrifying place that can only cause grief. However, we don’t linger too long with his character or his psychopathy. After the initial explanations are over, we swiftly move on to the bureaucracy of it and things just get solved far too easily.

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Although making a movie/show on a real-life incident usually means that we will know some of the details of it, Sector 36, for some reason, doesn’t try to create any mystery surrounding Prem Singh or who else could be associated with the crime. If anything, it feels like we are trying to move past these moments to reach the next scene and as a result, I felt that I was neither concerned nor scared at any point. There’s a slight twist in the end that will definitely take viewers by surprise and the social commentary is excellent, but the thriller aspect of it is missing and the film feels like it is using the serial killer to make a point rather than making the serial killer the point.

That being said, the performances in this movie are excellent. Deepak Dobriyal, as mentioned previously, is excellent and gives the right amount of push that his character needs. Meanwhile, Massey, as always is great as the killer with a dark past and his obsessive and dark side are brought forth wonderfully by the actor. I enjoyed the hidden twist (which I will not be mentioning here) surrounding the murders to be interesting as well and add another layer of shock. But, in spite of all of these things, I never felt terrified at any point, which is definitely a shame.

Final Thoughts

This Netflix film has its moments of intrigue and interest and the performances are fantastic. The mood is eerie but it’s really hard to feel any sort of thrills in the film and there are very few moments of anticipation. Although it does a good job of bringing forth social issues and discussing them well, I felt that it misses the memo a bit even though there are a few decent twists here and there.

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