Gumraah Ending Explained: Decoding the 'Killer' Reveal in the Climax of Aditya Roy Kapur and Mrunal Thakur's Mystery-Thriller (SPOILER ALERT)

Gumraah, starring Aditya Roy Kapur, Mrunal Thakur and Ronit Roy, is the Hindi remake of the Tamil thriller Thadam. Thadam, based on real-life incidents, had Arun Vijay in a double role, and in the remake, Aditya Roy Kapur does the honours. Gumraah is a nearly faithful remake of Thadam, albeit with some changes like a removal of a romantic subplot for one of the leads and a couple of other scenes. Otherwise, it is nearly the same, warts and all, though with lesser impact. Gumraah Movie Review: Aditya Roy Kapur and Mrunal Thakur's 'Thadam' Remake is Watchable But Falls Short of Fixing the Original's Issues.

(MAJOR SPOILERS ahead about the plot and the ending) So Gumraah is a murder-mystery, where you know who killed the victim and yet you are not sure of his identity or the purpose of killing. So a guy named Aakash Sardana is killed at his home in a rainy night by a yellow-raincoat wearing person. We see that he is played by Aditya Roy Kapur. SI Shivani Mathur (Mrunal Thakur), who is investigating the case on Commissioner's orders, finds out the killer's face thanks to a chance selfie.

The problem is that the face belongs to two different persons in the same city. One is Arjun, a dashing civil engineer who is on the rise in his company and is settled in a lovely relationship with movie reviewer Janhvi (Vedika Pinto). The other is Ronnie, a shrewd conman who is also a gambling addict and has surprisingly good legal knowledge. While the police arrests Arjun for the crime, Ronnie accidentally lands at the police station for a drunken driving and misbehaviour, leaving the cops confounded with their identical facial profiles.

Shivani's senior, ACP Yadav (Ronit Roy) wants to pin the crime on Arjun thanks to a past issue between them, but for that he needs to acquit the other person before the court opens after the weekend. Shivani's suspicions hovers around Ronnie, who is shiftier and shadier of the duo.

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The big twist comes when these two meet for the first time, and the police learn that they are identical twins, which is why the forensic experts could trace the DNA they got from the crime scene back to one of the duo. The twins are always at each other's throats since they were in their teens, and at one point, both were admitted at a psychiatric treatment. Both accuse each other for the murder, leaving the cops nonplussed. So who is the killer?

Do the Cops Manage to Catch the Killer?

No. Ronnie has a solid alibi that he only divulges to Yadav later when the later tries to implicate him in a theft case, that he has been gambling that whole night. Yadav is happy that Ronnie has an alibi which means he can pin the crime on Arjun. But he gets a jolt when Shivani bring in the cab driver who helped Arjun when his car broke down, and thus proving his alibi right. Also that the police fumbled up on the crime scene and thereby denying the experts for a lone fingerprint there also didn't help their case. Unable to prove who is the right culprit, the cops have no option but let the courts decide.

Unfortunately for them, even the court couldn't not figure out the killer because the police couldn't present proper evidence implicating the murderous twin. Despite knowing that one of them is the killer, the court doesn't want to punish the wrong person and therefore, acquits both of them in the case.

So Who is the Killer?

It turns out that Arjun has been the real murderer all along. Arjun's girlfriend Janhvi who went to attend her reunion in Mumbai broke up with him indirectly by messaging her roommate to tell him so. Arjun feels this is odd, but is told that Janhvi was seen in the company of Aakash, the murdered person, whois besotted with her when she left the party. Aakash was also present at the airport when Arjun had proposed to Janhvi.

Arjun had gone to Aakash's house that night not to kill him but to confront him about the truth, since Janhvi is incommunicado. After Arjun overpowers Aakash, the latter reveals that he had date-raped Janhvi multiple times that night as a result of which she died, and it was he who sent the messages from her phone. It is when Aakash slashes Arjun's left hand is when Arjun stabs him to death with a screwdriver and then runs from the place, while removing discernible evidence.

Why Police Could Never Pin the Crime on Arjun?

Even though they are always at each other's throats, the twin brothers always unite when a third person challenges either one of them. Even though he hates Arjun, Sagar has always looked out for his brother because of a promise given to his dead mother. So when Ronnie learns that Arjun has been arrested for the murder of Aakash, he decides to come to his rescue. Since Ronnie knows the in and out of legal discourse, he knows that the only thing to do to save his brother is not to make the suspicion on him become a conviction, and for that he has to be suspecte himself. Gumraah Box Office Collection Day 1: Aditya Roy Kapur and Mrunal Thakur’s Crime Thriller Garners Rs 1.10 Crore on the Opening Day in India!

He first makes sure that his shirt is dropped in the crime scene so that it is picked up as evidence. This is what made the sniffing dog come to both Arjun and Ronnie. Ronnie also got himself arrested deliberately to confuse the police. He stopped Arjun from escaping from the police station, knowing that this would make the police more suspicious. It is only during their fight that Arjun realised that Ronnie is there to save him. Ronnie mischievously behaves with Shivani to make sure that she never stops suspecting him and this was affirmed to him when she whispered in his ears that she would save Arjun no matter what. Shivani's overzealousness to save Arjun from Yadav's malicious plan and to trap Ronnie (she didn't know then that Ronnie has a fool-proof alibi) made her fabricate the evidence in Arjun's favour by bringing the cab driver, a false witness. This becomes the final trump card for Ronnie.

How Shivani Can Never Get Them Punished for Murder and Fabricating Evidence

Later when Ronnie meets Arjun and elaborately (and conveniently for the audience) explains what he did, he assures Arjun that Shivani can't touch them. He knows that for an intelligent officer like Shivani, it is not hard for her to figure out the truth at some point, which she does. But that also means she has to admit to her seniors that she fabricated the evidence and that she allowed herself to be manipulated by Ronnie. Not to mention, also admit that Yadav was right in trying to convict Arjun.

Shivani already finds it challenging to establish herself among her peers as a bright woman working to advance in a gender-skewered area. Admitting she made a mistake will only hurt her career and maybe cost her her job. Shivani is left with no choice except to let go of the truth, which Ronnie is aware she would do.

What Happens in the End?

Arjun is grateful to his brother after learning the truth from Ronnie, but he is still unable to feel the same love for him that he once did. He explains to his brother that he must leave the city in light of Janhvi's passing, but before departing, he hands Ronnie the keys to their former home in an envelope. Ronnie also discovers an old photograph of them with their mother when they were young in that package. In the Tamil version, it was to find this picture that Ronnie had barged into Arjun's house, which the latter had mistaken for stealing his ring. Nevertheless, the Hindi movie doesn't make this really apparent.

The post-credits scenes make reference to the real-life incidents that served as the inspiration for the movie, in which courts in numerous nations had to exonerate defendants in cases involving identical twins for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to murder.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2023 10:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).