Berlin(2023)
Hindi125 mins
New Delhi, the winter of 1993. A deaf mute young man is arrested by "Bureau" and accused of being a spy. A sign language expert is brought in to act as an interpreter for the Government’s agent and the “spy”. The unravelling of the mystery is the journey that sucks the sign language expert into the dark vortex of rivalry between intelligence agencies, deceit, and corruption, where the horizon line between innocence and guilt gets hazy.
Director:Atul Sabharwal
Mood:
darksuspensefuldisturbing
Where to watch:
Quick Facts
- Streaming on
- ZEE5
- Theatrical Release
- 14 October 2023
- Director
- Atul Sabharwal
- Language
- Hindi
- Runtime
- 2h 5m
- Rating
- 7.0/10
Storyline
In 1990s Delhi, a young deaf man is arrested and accused of spying. A sign language interpreter is brought in to help with the interrogation. The interpreter gets pulled into a dangerous world of rival agencies and corruption, where the truth becomes hard to find.
“A silent man holds a dangerous secret.”
Film Details
7.0Rating
125Minutes
HindiLanguage
U/A 13+Certificate
Release Date14 October 2023
Parental Guide
Violence
High
Language
Moderate
Sex / Nudity
Moderate
Drugs
Mild
Intensity
High
Where to Watch
Vibe & Tags
Mood
darksuspensefuldisturbing
Themes
corruptionidentityjusticesurvival
Tonegritty
Pacingslow-burn
Complexityrequires-attention
Audienceniche
Best Withalone
Violence3
Emotion4
Humor1
Rewatchability3
Cast & Crew
#1
Aparshakti KhuranaPushkin Verma
→#2A
Anupriya GoenkaWoman
→#3Kabir BediBureau Chief
→#4
J
Joy SenguptaRajiv Gupta
→#5
#6I
Ishwak SinghAshok Kumar
→U
Ujjwal ChopraKapil Mahajan
→#7N
Nitesh PandeyMehta
→#8Rahul BoseJagdish Sondhi
→#9
D
Deepak QazirJV Raman
→#10
#11J
Jigar MehtaSatpal Dhingra
→Atul SabharwalDirector
→Trivia
- The film was originally titled 'Berlin' because the main character is deaf-mute, referencing the Berlin Wall as a metaphor for communication barriers.
- Director Atul Sabharwal spent over two years researching India's intelligence agencies and the 1990s political climate for authenticity.
- Ishwak Singh, who plays the sign language expert, learned Indian Sign Language from a certified instructor for six months for his role.
- The film was shot entirely in real locations across Delhi to capture the gritty, wintry atmosphere of 1993 without using sets.
- It is one of the few Hindi thrillers where a deaf-mute character is central to the plot, with sign language dialogues subtitled throughout.
- The movie's budget was relatively modest, but it gained attention for its realistic portrayal of bureaucratic and intelligence conflicts.
- Despite being set in 1993, the film avoided using period-typical songs, relying instead on a tense background score to maintain thriller pacing.