Hisaab Barabar 2024

Radhe Mohan Sharma, R. Madhavan, is an earnest Indian Railways ticket examiner in New Delhi who lives with his primary-school-going son, Manu, Shaunak Duggal. He treats numbers as a lifeline, keeping meticulous records in every corner of his daily routine—from balancing platform vendor transactions to reconciling bank statements. A heated exchange with his bank manager over a tiny INR 27.50 in interest reveals just how precise he wants every detail to be, and it foreshadows the storm that will unfold when the bigger truth surfaces.

His routine world expands when he befriends a frequent passenger, Poonam Subash Joshi, Kirti Kulhari, who shares that her spouse has passed away while Radhe confesses that his own partner has left him, leaving him to raise his little boy. This connection brings a fragile trust, a glimmer of companionship, and a sharper awareness of the fragility of ordinary lives. A careless moment with a misfiled file leads Radhe to notice a pattern—one small discrepancy after another—in a bank statement belonging to a stranger, and then in a friend’s records as well. His knack for numbers tells him that something larger and more systematic is happening: hundreds of thousands, then lakhs, are quietly siphoned away each month.

Intrigued and alarmed, he and his circle gradually uncover that the bank, under the guidance of its hidden schemer, is quietly cheating countless customers out of tiny sums. Their investigation yields not just missing amounts but a strange reward—a color TV—for their supposed “efforts,” an incentive that confirms the bank’s willingness to keep quiet in exchange for silence. Radhe chooses to act, filing a formal complaint at a local police station and stepping into a dangerous arena where truth clashes with power.

The investigation takes a sharper turn when the Sub-inspector assigned to the case—Poonam Subash, the same woman who sat beside Radhe on the train—appears on the force’s radar with a freshly honest report. Yet personal history looms large: the woman Radhe had once turned down for an arranged marriage because he believed she wasn’t strong in math returns in this new, professional light, complicating trust and honesty between them. The crime’s mastermind is revealed to be Mickey Mehta, Neil Nitin Mukesh, a ruthless bank owner who has stacked a colossal hoard of cash in a secret stash and who will go to any length to protect his operation. The tension spikes as a powerful political ally tries to shield him, but the truth cannot stay buried.

To complicate matters, Mickey uses his influence to harass Radhe, pressuring him with a fake discrepancy of INR 17 and maneuvering to ruin his reputation. The threat escalates into a direct attack on Radhe’s home, bulldozed while he and his son fend for safety, a crime that is only halted by the sudden intervention of the neighborhood’s ordinary heroes—municipal sanitation workers and low-wage earners who step in to save him. The tale widens as the public learns of the scam: news spreads through social networks, people rush to withdraw their savings, and a nationwide bank run erupts as fear and anger ripple through the streets.

Through it all, Poonam Subash reveals a more nuanced, stubborn honesty, publishing her findings online and challenging the very institutions that seemed invincible. Mickey’s plan to flee the country with INR 1500 crores—packed into massive suitcases and loaded onto a private jet—meets a counterstrike from Radhe’s unlikely allies. A clever ruse involving sanitation workers helps hijack the operation, and the cash is covertly moved in a garbage truck to the waiting hands of the top investigative official, Ms. Ranganathan. In the end, the public’s money is recovered, and the people who stood up for justice—Radhe, his young son Manu, and Poonam—are seen strolling together in a peaceful park, a quiet moment of vindication after a long ordeal.