Collar Bomb review: Jimmy Sheirgill shines in this far-from-convincing thriller

Locations with picturesque mountains and valleys are a treat to the eyes and the soul. Yet, somehow, these destinations also provide perfect settings for crime thrillers. Dnyanesh Zoting’s Hindi film debut Collar Bomb is set in one such location in Himachal Pradesh.

There have been plenty of hostage films all over the world. Collar Bomb, as the title suggests, mixes this genre with a suicide-bomber situation.

The film revolves around tough station house officer (SHO) Manoj Hesi (Jimmy Sheirgill) in Sanawar, Himachal Pradesh. The story begins with him attending a ceremony at a posh residential school. Hesi is being felicitated for finishing off a criminal who had abducted a girl from the institution. The girl, however, died in the operation. Naturally, her devastated parents are less than impressed with the officer being felicitated.

An ex-policeman creates a ruckus at the ceremony for the same reason. Just then, suicide bomber Ali (Sparsh Shrivastava) enters the venue out of nowhere and threatens to blow himself up along with the rest of the assembled students and parents. He has some unusual demands for Hesi. To fulfil them, the cop has to go through various ordeals, but he has no other choice.

Sheirgill started off as a chocolate boy in films like Maachis (1996), Mohabbatein (2000) and Haasil (2003). But over the years, he has created a completely different image of a tough guy, playing either a good Samaritan or a villain. In Collar Bomb, he proves that he can carry a film on his shoulders as the main lead with a convincing performance.

Rajshri Deshpande’s act is the surprise package. She wasn’t seen much in the trailers for the film but has an important part to play, especially in the latter half. The actress is at ease playing a complicated and challenging character.

Asha Negi, who was good in the second season of the web-series Abhay (2020), raises the bar with a convincing act as a police officer from the Himachal region. Sparsh Shrivastava makes the viewer take him seriously as a suicide bomber.

Collar Bomb has a runtime of only 86 minutes. This is both good and bad for the film. Good, because the story doesn’t beat about the bush and gets over in a jiffy. But it doesn’t quite work because the short runtime is crammed with too many events, both present and past; many of these are barely established.

Even if sufficient time was taken to establish these incidents and subplots properly, however, it is not clear that would have helped the film, with the back story, side incidents and the tasks given to Hesi and his manner of solving them lack sensibility and conviction.

Yet, at times as a viewer, even if some events don’t produce the desired effect, you can't help being interested in the final outcome. This is where the film proves to be a disappointment. When the lame reason for the whole hostage drama is revealed, it is a downer, to say the least.

Collar Bomb has beautiful locations, noble intentions and good performances. Now if only the filmmaker had focused on the story and screenplay, crucial aspects for any thriller.

Collar Bomb has been released on Disney+ Hotstar.