Hello/Is Raat Ki..

Atul Agnihotri's Hello is the story of one night that transforms the lives of its characters. It is set in Mumbai and attempts to captures the buzz of the city. 1996, Sudhir Mishra made a film, that also happens over one night in Mumbai—the underrated Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin.

There is not much similarity between this film and Hello, except that both take place during one night, and have characters from Mumbai, with the city playing a part too. Unlike Hello, which attempts a kind of contemporary realism and fails, Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, is the kind of scary experience that can happen to anyone. Aditya (Nirmal Pandey) and his wife Mallika (Tara Deshpande) have a quarrel over his affair with another woman Pooja (Smriti Mishra). Aditya stomps off in a huff, goes to a bar to have a drink and picks a quarrel a man, who turns out to be a don called Ramanbhai (Asish Vidyarthi).

When he realizes what he has done, it also dawns on him that his life is in danger and he runs, with Ramanbhai and his men chasing him all night, and the other characters, including a rival don Pandey (Saurabh Shukla) getting involved. The film was stark, slick and fast paced— and catching the odd moment, when the underworld collides with the respectable middle class and both are affected by the encounter. In the end, good does win over evil, but there is always a danger that things could very well have gone the other way. Mishra used the fear and fascination that ordinary people have for the underworld and let them have a glimpse of what it is like. Mumbai was seen by night, a couple of half-way decent songs—Chup tum raho and Tere mera naam, fitted in, only slightly affecting the high-strung tension.

The film came before Satya and the other realistic city films that were made later, and had it been released today, its fate would have been quite different.