The movie was released back in 2016. Rajkumar Rao was the lead, and his role of his was in talks for quite some time. This was not only because of his tremendous performance but also because of the physical change he had gone through to play the role of Shaurya. Rajkumar Rao after this movie had established himself as one of the most versatile actors in Bollywood, who did go the extra mile to make the character in the movie more realistic.
As a viewer, the first thought that strikes our mind after reading to the movie title ‘Trapped’ is that maybe the protagonist of the story is trapped somewhere. But that ‘somewhere’ could just be a normal apartment flat is horrifying. This movie is a Survival thriller. Shaurya, an employee at the call center, decides to elope and tie a knot with his girlfriend Noorie, a day before she gets married to someone else.
Eventually, he is searching for an inexpensive apartment for them to live in. The tight budget pushes him to choose a 35th-floor apartment in an uninhabited property ironically named Swarg. The only watchman working at the building is unaware that Shaurya has settled in, and Noorie still does not know Shaurya’s new address.
The next morning, Shaurya, attempting to leave in a hurry, manages to lock himself in the flat with the key in the outside door. And now is the time when everything in the movie starts happening against Shaurya’s favor. He does try his best to break open the lock but fails, the electricity of the apartment trips because of faulty wiring and also his phone runs out of charge. He is now locked in an apartment on the 35th floor with no food, water, electricity, and no human contact. It is not like that Shaurya didn’t try to get help; he did a lot of things that I believe someone else in his position wouldn’t think of.
The whole movie gives out the claustrophobic vibes and that’s what makes it scarier and thrilling. As days pass by Shaurya becomes more restless. The apartment was deserted and no one could hear his cry for help. Desperate for food, Shaurya begins to eat cockroaches, ants, and pigeons, and also starts to talk to a rat to overcome the loneliness.
Shaurya a strict vegetarian now was eating something he never would have thought of just for basic nutrition and survival. To his delight, after a few days, it rains heavily, and Shaurya gathers as much water as possible into containers. This movie is thus basically about the struggle Shaurya goes through just to stay alive a few more days and how this started because he needed a place to live with his loved one.
Did he ever manages to escape from the apartment?
[Spoiler alert]
He was trapped in that apartment for nearly a week but his condition worsened due to lack of food, fatigue, and isolation Shaurya starts yanking through the balcony door with a sheet of metal and eventually survives and manages to get out. He climbs down five floors, nearly falling off several times because of dehydration, and finally manages to escape the apartment. After he escapes the apartment, causes of the isolation, lack of energy he faints and is immediately taken to the hospital. Later he gets to know that Noorie, had gotten married and this shatters his heart. Noorie assumed that Shaurya had betrayed and abandoned her, and that’s why tried to move on in life. Heartbroken Shaurya tries to carry on his normal routine too.
The movie got nominated under various categories at the 63rd Filmfare awards and even banked a few trophies- Critics Award for Best Actor (Rajkumar Rao), Best Editing and Best Sound Design.