The film opens on 22 May 2007, at the Sessions Court of Mumbai. A large crowd of media and civilians has gathered outside. Five taxis carrying a burqa-clad woman each arrive at the court. Khalid, the trusted right-hand man of Haseena Parkar, escorts them to the courtroom. The judge asks Haseena to come to the stand and confirm her identity. Subsequently, all the women lift their veils and reveal themselves. Here, the hearing begins.
Haseena Parkar (Shraddha Kapoor) lives with her close to a dozen siblings in a small house in central Mumbai. She is shown to be particularly close to one of her brothers, Dawood Ibrahim (Siddhanth Kapoor), who turns to crime growing up.
Haseena marries the kindhearted Ibrahim Parkar (Ankur Bhatia) and finds herself compelled to bear the brunt of her brother's criminal actions. As her brother rises in the underworld scene, his enemies also increase manifold. One of the enemies eliminates Ibrahim Parkar as revenge. On the other hand, the 1993 Bombay bombings send shock waves everywhere. Dawood emerges as one of the key conspirators in this ghastly crime. As he escapes to Dubai, once again it is Haseena who is in trouble.
Haseena realises that she can no longer be a victim. She hits back and emerges as Aapa (elder sister) in Mumbai's male-dominated underworld. Haseena faces 88 cases of extortion in which she is named as part of her brother's infamous D-Company. She maintains her innocence and relates the story of how she was merely a nervous new bride who was forced to turn into the Godmother of Nagpada. As Advocate Shyam Keswani and Public Prosecutor Roshni Satam (Priyanka Setia) continue to argue the case, the judge grows sympathetic towards the life and story of Haseena Parkar.
Sarah Anjuli as dancer in the item number "Piya Aa"
Production
Development
Apoorva Lakhia had initially planned to make a biopic on Dawood Ibrahim, a topic that was taken already by several directors.[4][5] Hence, he visited the family of Dawood's sister Haseena, and also met Haseena herself. He was fascinated with her life story and decided to make a biopic on her.
The official teaser was released on 14 June 2017.[16] The trailer of the film was launched on 18 July 2017.[17]
The film was scheduled to release on 14 July 2017. It was then delayed to 18 August 2017. On 9 August 2017, the makers finalized the release date as 22 September 2017.[18][19]
Reception
Box office
As of 6 October 2017, the film had collected est.₹2.65 crore (US$310,000).[20] It grossed a total of ₹9.06 crore (US$1.1million) during its theatrical run against its budget of ₹18 crore (US$2.1million) and was declared a "disaster".[2]
Critical reception
Bollywood Hungama gave 2 out of 5 stars writing "On the whole, HASEENA PARKAR fails to impress as it’s too superficial and unexciting. At the box office, the limited buzz and competition from other releases will prove detrimental".[21] Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, stating, "The crime drama fails to offer an insight into Haseena's life".[22] Syed Firdaus Ashraf from Rediff.com gave 2 out of 5 stars, writing, "Shraddha Kapoor tries hard to rescue the film. Shraddha Kapoor deglamorizes herself to get into the character and her sincerity as an actress reflects throughout the movie. It has all the ingredients to make it a blockbuster".[23] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 1.5 out of 5 stars, and wrote "The film is a dreary courtroom drama in which the protagonist is hauled before the law to defend herself".[24]Filmfare gave 2 out of 5 stars, and wrote "Haseena Parkar could have been a real thriller had it been serious about telling serious story. But it tries to add too much masala and style to story and serves up absolutely no substance. As a result, the only female who made a presence in Mumbai's fabled underworld is reduced to being a stylised character with fancy dialogue but no real meaning".[25]
The soundtrack was released on 8 September 2017 by Saregama. The first song of the film, "Tere Bina", sung by Arijit Singh and Priya Saraiya, was released on 29 August 2017. Audio and lyrical versions of the song were released on 7 September 2017 and 10 September 2017 respectively. The second song, "Bantai", was launched on 8 September 2017 and its lyrical version was released on 14 September 2017. The third song, "Piya Aa" was launched on 15 September 2017. Its audio and lyrical version was released on 19 September 2017 and 29 September 2017 respectively.
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