The Girl on the Train

About the film

The Girl on the Train is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller film directed by Ribhu Dasgupta and produced by Reliance Entertainment, based on British author Paula Hawkins's 2015 debut novel of the same name. The film stars Parineeti Chopra, Avinash Tiwary, Aditi Rao Hydari and Kirti Kulhari and was released worldwide on 26 February 2021 on Netflix. The film revolves around Mira Kapoor (Parineeti Chopra), an alcoholic and troubled divorcee who gets embroiled in a big murder investigation.

Plot

Nusrat is chased by someone in a forest and Mira is standing at the train station. In a flashback it is shown that Mira met Shekhar at a wedding where they fell in love. They both get married and Mira is pregnant. Mira is fighting a case against Jimmy Bagga where she successfully wins and Jimmy goes to jail. A few months later she is hit by a car and has amnesia caused by the car accident. She has become an alcoholic, and has separated from Shekhar who re-married to Anjali.

Obsessed with a seemingly perfect couple she sees from the train window on her commute to London, one drunken night Mira follows the young woman into the forest but doesn't recall what happens next.

The police have a decent amount of circumstantial evidence against her and even move to make an arrest but Mira escapes out the window and calls for a favour from the family member of a former client, and asking him to get her a phone, some cash, and a gun.

Production

The film was announced on 24 April 2019. In May 2019 it was revealed that first schedule will be in England. Kirti Kulhari was roped in to play a British cop.

Principal photography began in early August 2019 in London. Railway scenes were shot on location on the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

Release

The Girl on the Train was scheduled for theatrical release on 8 May 2020. The release was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic in India. The film was released on 26 February 2021 on Netflix.

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Sunny and Inder Bawra and Vipin Patwa while lyrics written by Kumaar.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 9% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.9/10.

Umesh Punwani of Koimoi rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "A Mysterious Journey With No Stops Led By A Deadly Kohl-Eyed Parineeti Chopra!". Bollywood Hungama rated it 2.5/5 stars saying, "The Girl On the Train is an average fare".

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars. Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated it 2 out of 5 praising Parineeti Chopra's sincere performance and saying rest of the cast a mixed bag. The Times of India rated the film 3 stars out of 5 praising Chopra's and Kulhari's performances

Key details