They do eventually get to the fireworks factory.

 Marjaavaan (2019) is a very retro film, but it's a particular kind of retro.  It hearkens back to the Bollywood of the 1980s, when seemingly every other film featured a hero seeking revenge on the man who wronged him, eventually leading to a blood soaked climax.  The only thing missing is Shakti Kapoor.

Raghu (Sidharth Malhotra) is an orphan, raised by crime lord Narayan Anna (Nassar) to be his strong right hand.  He's got the whole orphan-turned-enforcer package: swaggering charm, almost supernatural fighting skills, a band of loyal friends (Shaad Randhawa, Godaan Kumar, and Uday Nene), an unofficial relationship with beautiful bar dancer Arzoo (Rakul Preet Singh) and the undying envy and hatred of Anna's biological son Vishnu (Riteish Deshmukh).  Vishnu is a little person and unable to perform the violent acts of daring that Raghu can, so he feels that Raghu has taken his place in his father's heart, and is just waiting for a chance to destroy him; it's all very Shakespearean, but not in a good way.

And then Raghu meets Zoya (Tara Sutaria), a mute woman who teaches music.  Tara is looking for local children to perform in a music festival in Kashmir.  Raghu is immediately smitten, and helps her gather some students, including Payal (Alina Kazi), Arzoo's sister.  Soon, Zoya is also smitten, and the pair are singing love songs.  (Well, he's singing, she's signing.)  And at last, Vishnu has his opening.

Vishnu has his goons kidnap one of Zoya's students, leading her to follow.  He orders the boy to shoot the captive Gaitonde (Anant Jog), one of Anna's enemies, and when the boy refuses he shoots him himself.  Zoya sees everything, and manages to escape Vishnu's goons, so Vishnu contacts his father, and then Anna orders Raghu to deal with the problem by shooting this Zoya girl.

Raghu does not want to shoot this Zoya girl, so instead he finds her and they prepare to go on the run together.  Vishnu responds by having some of his men ambush the young lovers, but only after they have kidnapped absolutely everyone he could use as leverage against Raghu, up to and including a nice old lady that Raghu helped for a single scene earlier.  

Before Vishnu can have everyone killed, Anna intervenes.  In gratitude for Raghu's earlier services, he promises to let everybody go, but only if Raghu carries out his original order and shoots Zoya.  Raghu refuses, but Zoya takes matters (and the gun) into her own hands.

Six months later, Raghu is in prison for Zoya's murder, but Vishnu still doesn't dare leave the family compound.  He tries to have Raghu murdered in prison, but Raghu is still just too good at fighting to die, so instead he has Raghu released, planning to ambush him during the inevitable revenge-fueled rampage.

Raghu does not rampage; he just wants to be left alone to drink himself to oblivion.  Vishnu knows he has to be faking, so he keeps trying to provoke the inevitable rampage with more and more acts of villainy.  Raghu suffers every humiliation with silent resignation.  Will he ever fight back?  Well, yes, because this is a revenge melodrama, and there's no way to avoid the upcoming volcano of stylized violence.

Let me begin with the faint praise: Marjaavaan is a very well made bad movie.  The action scenes are imaginative and well choreographed, the leads are engaging, and everybody spouts their ridiculous dialogue with utter sincerity.  It's a very faithful recreation of the 80s Bollywood revenge melodrama without an ounce of parody.

The problem is that it's a very faithful recreation of the 80s Bollywood revenge melodrama without an ounce of parody, which means that it has all the flaws of an 80s Bollywood melodrama.  Zoya and Arzoo have strong personalities, but ultimately they're just there to further Raghu's story, which is a very familiar one.  There's an early item number featuring a sexy hen party which is particularly gratuitous and exploitative.  The movie is unabashedly violent, even as the characters praise their own devotion to peace, leading to a muddled sense of morality.

And then there's Deshmukh, who gives a fantastic performance in a role that he should not be playing.  It's probably the best performance of a Bollywood actor who is not a little person playing a little person that I have seen, but there's really no excuse for not casting an actor of appropriate stature.  And the problems with Vishnu go beyond the casting; Vishnu's physical differences are supposed to represent the corruption in his soul, which was awful back when Shakespeare did it and has not become more palatable in the intervening centuries.  And Vishnu is constantly making references to height and size just to make absolutely sure that the audience understands that he's short.

I don't mind a lack of subtlety.  I'm even fine with the movie's constantly repeated Ramayana references, which are there just in case anyone anywhere missed that Vishnu is the demon who took Raghu's love away, and that Raghu is the righteous avenger that will overcome said demon with the repeated application of violence.  It's fun to watch Vishnu gleefully hasten his own demise.  But ultimately, it's a thin story with no real surprises; even Zoya's death was telegraphed early on.  It's presented well, but it's nothing you haven't seen before.