Rating: N/A/10
Director: Saurabh Varma
Writer: Saurabh Varma
Stars: Sandeepa Dhar, Shiv Pandit, Varun Badola, Vipin Sharma
Runtime: 119 min
Genre: Thriller
Released: 17 Jun 2016

Storyline: Arjun (Shiv Pandit) come to Mumbai to visit his fiancee Maya. He reaches the City court to meet her and is taken aback when he is not able to find her anywhere. He begins to search for Maya and in an unexpected turn witnesses an unlikely murder. Frantic and exasperated, he is left with no choice but take passerby’s as hostages before he is framed as the killer. The cops try to tackle the situation and within no time realize that Arjun is no ordinary hostage-taker and it seems next to impossible to apprehend him. Now, with nothing to lose, Arjun lays down his terms: “I have 7 hostages! And I am giving the Police 7 hours to find out the killer…! I need progress every 60 minutes or one hostage dies every hour!!” The clock ticks and the investigation begins.
A man named Arjun Ranavat barges into the Bombay High Court, taking seven people hostage. He threatens to kill one man each hour if the cops fail to find evidence against a corrupt businessman named Kabeer Khemka. Within minutes, he has the entire police force on their toes. The baffled cops start investigating about him as the clock ticks by. Do they win this race against time?
Saurabh Varma’s inept film can be best summed in Varun Badola’s dialogue that translates to – “Make such an outrageous plan that even in 50 years, no one can believe that we pulled off something like this.” Well, that rings true for the movie as well. 7 Hours To Go is mind numbing. What was touted to be taut thriller, ends up as a damp squib. It probably had a promising idea on paper but loses the grit in transition
The screenplay moves at snail’s pace and is completely devoid of tension. A horde of characters crowd the screen without adding much to the plot. Be it the lame mimic artiste who doubles up as a shooter or the hyperventilating television journalist whose moment of glory is watching a female cop changing her shirt, the subplots have no real meat.

In the first hour, the film leaves you exasperated with its convoluted narrative. Post interval, the tempo picks up when the story starts to look less gibberish. But Arjun’s sketchy game plan turns out to be an absolute slog. What better do you expect from an overwrought story?