EK CHATUR NAAR

EK CHATURNAAR

Black comedy has always been the rebellious child of Hindi cinema—too slippery to tame, too strange to fit neatly into formulas, and often dismissed as a sideshow when it deserves the spotlight. At its worst, the genre collapses into cartoonish buffoonery, its edges blunted by excess. At its best, it becomes a razor, slicing into society’s hypocrisies while wearing the disarming mask of humour. Umesh Shukla’s Ek Chatur Naar belongs firmly in the latter camp. It doesn’t merely entertain—it toys, teases, and twists, transforming everyday desperation into a carnival of chaos.

Ek Chatur Naar is a wickedly sharp black comedy that walks the tightrope between satire and suspense with remarkable finesse. Umesh Shukla crafts a story that is hilarious, biting, and endlessly surprising — a modern-day parable wrapped in absurdity and draped in the vibrant chaos of Lucknow.

At the film’s heart is Mamta (Divya Khosla Kumar), a widowed single mother drowning in debt and desperation. But she’s no victim — she’s a schemer, a survivor. When she steals the phone of corrupt, morally bankrupt Abhishek Verma (Neil Nitin Mukesh), she stumbles upon secrets that turn her life into a thrilling game of blackmail and brinkmanship.

What unfolds is not just a cat-and-mouse chase, but a constant role reversal of predator and prey. 

And then comes the finale — a stunner. Without giving anything away, the twist doesn’t just surprise; it hits with the weight of inevitability. It’s the kind of ending that makes you retrace your steps, replaying the film in your mind, and marveling at how masterfully it was all set up.

Umesh Shukla’s direction shines in its restraint — allowing humour, tension, and character to build organically. The dialogues crackle with irony, the screenplay is tight, and the story unwinds with precision.

Divya Khosla is the scene stealer and delivers her most layered performance yet, balancing warmth and cunning with ease. Neil Nitin Mukesh is magnetic as the slippery Abhishek Verma,( He seems to Excel in Grey Roles ) and Chhaya Kadam gives a standout performance as the irreverent Radha Rani. The ensemble cast of Sushant Singh, Zakhir Hussain and Yashpal Sharma adds depth without clutter.

No flashy songs, no unnecessary detours — just a haunting musical motif and razor-sharp storytelling.

 Ek Chatur Naar is not just funny, it's fearless — a film that entertains while holding up a mirror to a society where survival often comes at the cost of morality.

Smart, subversive, and wildly entertaining, this is Hindi cinema’s black comedy at its finest.