Loosely based on the Korean film, 'A Bittersweet Life' (Directed by Kim Ji-woon), Awarapan, is the story of a hit man, Shivam (Emraan Hashmi), who works for Malik (Ashutosh Rana). Before he leaves on a trip to London, Malik assigns Shivam with a seemingly simple task, which unbeknown to him, would change the course of his life! The task is to keep an eye on Malik's mistress, Reema (Mrinalini) a young Pakistani girl, whom Malik had "acquired" from the flesh market. Malik suspects his mistress of adultery and strict instructions are issued to Shivam to eliminate her, if she indeed was cheating on him.

The instant Shivam sets his eyes on Reema, she reminds him of his lost, lady love [Shriya Saran]. Shivam soon realizes that Malik's fears were not unfounded as; Reema indeed is having an affair with Bilal (Rehan) and also is in the throes eloping with him.
 
Realizing this, Malik orders Shivam to eliminate her. But Shivam's past returns to haunt him and he sets them free. The resulting consequences lead to forming the rest of the plot.

Ashutosh Rana, Ashish Vidhyarthi and Purab Kohli form rest of the supporting cast and give commendable performances.

Shot in Hong Kong, the film is dark and high on the violence quotient. It is an attempt at being a no holds barred commercial entertainer and pretty much succeeds in being one as well! Music by Pritam is good and so are the newly introduced Pakistani singers. Cinematography by Raaj Chakravarti is decent and he does an adequate job. Raju Singh churns out an appropriate background score as well. The dialogues are excellent barring a few places. The editing though is patchy and leaves a lot to be desired.
 
Director Mohit Suri shows marked improvement as a director, over his previous attempts.

After her item song in Prakash Jha's 'Apaharan', Mrinalini Sharma debuts as leading lady in this film and is easy on the eyes. She gives a commendable performance for a newcomer and is sure to be around for a long time to come.
After debuting in the disastrous flick 'Shukriya', with Aftab Shivdasan in 2004, Shriya Saran makes an impressive comeback. She looks good and also performs well.

However the surprise packet of the film is Emraan Hashmi, who delivers his finest performance to date, going much beyond his usual "kissing" flicks.

All in all it is an average film and worth a watch once, even if it for the lack of other better options.