Hisaab Barabar is a Hindi-language comedy thriller released in 2024, written and directed by Ashwni Dhir. The film features R. Madhavan in the central role, alongside Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kirti Kulhari, Rashami Desai, and Faisal Rashid in key supporting parts. The narrative revolves around a vigilant railway ticket examiner who notices irregularities in small banking transactions.
What begins as a minor discovery soon pulls him into exposing a much larger network of deep-rooted institutional corruption. Backed by Jio Studios and SP Cinecorp, the film had its world premiere at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on 26 November 2024, and later made its digital debut on ZEE5 on 24 January 2025.
Cast and Crew
- Director: Ashwni Dhir
- Writer: Ashwni Dhir, Purva Naresh, Ritesh Shastri, Dolphy Fernandes
- Story: Ritesh Shastri
- Producer: Sharad Patel, Shreyanshi Patel, Jyoti Deshpande
- Star Cast: R. Madhavan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kirti Kulhari, Rashami Desai, Faisal Rashid, Rajesh Jais, Imran Hasnee
- Cinematography: Santosh Thundiyil
- Editor: Manan Sagar
- Music Director: Aman Pant
- Production company: Jio Studios, SP Cinecorp
- Genres: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Distributor: ZEE5
- Release dates: 26 November 2024 (Goa), 24 January 2025
- Running time: 111 minutes
- Country: India
- Language: Hindi
Hisaab Barabar movie 2025 Trailer
Star Cast
- R. Madhavan as Radhe Mohan Sharma
- Neil Nitin Mukesh as Micky Mehta
- Kirti Kulhari as Inspector Poonam Subash Joshi
- Rashami Desai as Monalisa Yadav
- Shaunak Duggal as Mannu
- Himanshu Malik as Manoj Pathak (MP)
- Manu Rishi as Dayal
- Faisal Rashid as Tiwari
- Rajesh Jais as Bank manager
- Imran Hasnee as Shaleen Srivastava
- Ishtiyak Khan a credit card seller
- Vineet Vashist as Airport Officer
- Yogesh Tripathi as Kumar
- Sukumar Tudu as Inspector Tiyagi
- Rohit Tiwari as SP Chandel
- Happy Ranjit as Officer Mishra
- Jyoti Negi as Kundu
- Melissa Pais as Roza Kutti
Story of the film
Indian Railways ticket examiner Radhe Mohan Sharma resides in New Delhi with his elementary school-aged child, Manu. He is passionate about math and keeps exact records in all aspects of his life, including his dealings with his bank and the merchants at the train station. In one instance, he is shown fighting and getting into a heated argument with his bank manager about the incorrect bank interest credit of Indian rupee 27.50. As a ticket examiner, he also has to physically keep proper logs and deliver the daily collections to the station office.
He makes friends with Poonam Subash Joshi, a regular traveler. While Radhe confides in her that his spouse has recently abandoned him, leaving him with his little child, Poonam confides in him that his spouse has passed away. He accidentally leaves a file with one of his passengers, which he stores securely for future use. Unintentionally, his son splashes milk over it. He was trying to tidy when he noticed a bank statement. Because of his aptitude for statistics, he also notices a “similar discrepancy” in that person’s claims. He then discovers another such disparity with one of his acquaintances and persuades the friend to report the “missing amount” to the bank.
In addition to the small amount that was missing, he and his friend soon got a color TV as a “reward” for their efforts. He takes the gift, perplexed. The bank is hoping he won’t say anything.
He later recognizes the seriousness of the situation after lamenting what transpired. He discovers that the bank owners are methodically robbing lakhs of people of small amounts every month to accumulate a sizable quantity of illicit money. He formally complains to the police station about the bank.
In an intriguing turn of events, P. Subash, the local police sub-inspector tasked with investigating the suspected financial crime, is the same woman Radhe met on the train. However, Poonam now makes an effort to maintain a distinct professional distance from him, and Radhe recognizes and acknowledges this. In a second turn of events, it is revealed that P. Subash is the same girl Radhe rejected many years ago when he was searching for a partner for an arranged marriage because he believed Poonam lacked mathematical aptitude (!). Radhe now feels that Poonam is untrustworthy.
Later on, it is discovered that Micky Mehta, the bank’s dishonest owner, is the brains of this illicit enterprise and maintains a significant cash hoard in a covert location. Suddenly, Micky receives a call about the missing money from Ms. Ranganathan, the nation’s highest official, who is now looking into the suspected crime. Micky Mehta furiously approaches his friend, who is a politician, in an attempt to have Radhe assassinated, but the politician warns that this would be too dangerous. There are easier ways than that, he claims.
Micky begins to cause problems for Radhe through senior Indian Railways officials, launches an investigation into a purported (false) Indian rupee seventeen (INR 17) discrepancy, and begins to ruin his life. Additionally, he can fabricate accusations against Radhe for allegedly constructing his home in violation of the law, and while he is still inside, workmen begin demolishing his house. After Radhe and his son manage to flee, he is confronted and insulted by Micky’s goons after they catch him in the street. The hundreds of impoverished residents of the area who work in low-paying jobs like municipal cleaners save Radhe.
Suddenly, Radhe is without a place to live. Now, sanitary personnel are the first to hear Radhe’s explanations of the scandal, followed by everyone else. Through easy channels like Facebook, etc., the news spreads like wildfire. Common people begin taking out all of their savings, close their accounts right away, and then share their photos on social media while claiming to have just evaded the controversy! Fear spreads, and before long, there are frenzied stampedes in front of every bank branch as customers struggle to enter in order to terminate their accounts. The bank run caused riot-like circumstances to sweep across the country. In the meantime, P. Subash creates an honest report on her discoveries and successfully publishes it online, completely surprising Radhe.
With INR 1500 crores crammed into many large suitcases, Micky Mehta attempts to escape the country by private plane. However, all of that is thwarted by an equally clandestine scheme devised by Radhe’s buddies, who work as municipal sanitary workers. They outsmart his group and take all the money. They covertly deliver all of the money in a massive garbage truck from Indira Gandhi International Airport to Ms. Ranganathan, the senior officer who is ready to investigate the crime.
The government has recovered all of the public’s funds. Later, we see Radhe, the little child Manu, and a contented Poonam walking together in a public park once more.
Production
During the post-COVID era, the movie was filmed in Delhi, particularly at train stations. There were logistical difficulties when filming in crowded public spaces. Ashwni Dhir and Ritesh Shastri co-wrote the script, and Santhosh Thundiyil was the cinematographer.
Review
On November 26, 2024, Hisaab Barabar made its international premiere at the 55th International Film Festival of India in Goa.
Hisaab Barabar oscillates between the stodgily solemn and the moderately funny, according to Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV, who rated the movie two out of five. It never finds a mean number that can justify all of the well-intentioned work, despite all of its additions and subtractions. Although there are a few decent moments in the movie due to their inherent relatability, they are far too few.
The Indian Express’s Shubhra Gupta rated the movie a 1.5 out of 5, writing that an honest-to-a-fault math whiz ticket collector unintentionally becomes involved in a greedy banker’s schemes: this one-line idea may have sounded intriguing on paper, but the execution comes off as forced and awkward.
References
- Wikipedia contributors. (2025d, October 26). Hisaab Barabar. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisaab_Barabar
- Hisaab Barabar (2024) ⭐ 5.8 | Comedy, Drama, Thriller. (2025, January 24). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27620861/
