| ||||
Friday, 2nd October 10:40 AM IST
TALWAR Is Gripping Thriller With A Soul
Pluses: Exceptional performances by Irrfan, Konakana and Neeraj, superb writing by Vishal Bharadwaj, editing by Sreekar Prasad is crisp, cinematography is apt, Meghna Gulzar makes a mark as a director Minuses:
2nd half dips, boring songs
Critic Rating: 4.5/5
Business Rating: 3/5
Verdict:
Watch it for rare superb thriller in Bollywood
Detailed Analysis: Meghna Gulzar gave some average films like 'Just Married', 'Filhaal' and 'Dus Kahaaniyan'. She is now back after many years with 'Talwar' loosely based on infamous Aarushi Talwar murder case. Film has evoked a lot of curiosity and has got acclaim in festivals.
Rishi Kapoor plays a Mr Bhalla, who runs a bakery in a hill station called Kasol. He is never seen to be baking anything. All he does is to yell and shout at his wife, and sonny boy Inder (played by Supriya Pathak and Abhishek Bachchan, respectively). Why? That’s a mystery. Ms Pathak is to be found in an ‘ashram’, looking vacantly about. Abhishek switches locations from a Bangkok poolside with bikinied babes to the winding roads of Kasol, where he encounters college-mate Nimmi (Asin, colourless) who has feelings for him. Why anyone would have a tender spot for someone as indifferent as Inder is an even bigger mystery. Up pops a long-haired goon called Cheema who’s only job is to twirl a gun, and threaten people. Why the talented Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub took on this thankless part is a … yes, you got that. It’s a puzzle. Plot? Non-existent. The jokes? Screamingly unfunny. Rishi Kapoor doing ‘su-su’, singing ‘aiyi-aiyi-aiyi’? Groan. When will grown men wanting to urinate stop becoming an acceptable gag in Bollywood? Can someone solve this? It’s always good to see Supriya Pathak, but when will someone come up with a substantial part for her? - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/all-is-well-movie-review-abhishek-bachchan-asin/#sthash.7CQEWPe9.dpufRishi Kapoor plays a Mr Bhalla, who runs a bakery in a hill station called Kasol. He is never seen to be baking anything. All he does is to yell and shout at his wife, and sonny boy Inder (played by Supriya Pathak and Abhishek Bachchan, respectively). Why? That’s a mystery. Ms Pathak is to be found in an ‘ashram’, looking vacantly about. Abhishek switches locations from a Bangkok poolside with bikinied babes to the winding roads of Kasol, where he encounters college-mate Nimmi (Asin, colourless) who has feelings for him. Why anyone would have a tender spot for someone as indifferent as Inder is an even bigger mystery. Up pops a long-haired goon called Cheema who’s only job is to twirl a gun, and threaten people. Why the talented Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub took on this thankless part is a … yes, you got that. It’s a puzzle. Plot? Non-existent. The jokes? Screamingly unfunny. Rishi Kapoor doing ‘su-su’, singing ‘aiyi-aiyi-aiyi’? Groan. When will grown men wanting to urinate stop becoming an acceptable gag in Bollywood? Can someone solve this? It’s always good to see Supriya Pathak, but when will someone come up with a substantial part for her? - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/all-is-well-movie-review-abhishek-bachchan-asin/#sthash.7CQEWPe9.dpufFilm has well known but interesting plot. The film kicks off with an 'official introduction' of Inspector Ashwin Kumar (Irrfan Khan) in the officers' get together of CDI (Central Department of Investigation). This is followed by his senior officers' handing over to him the double murder case 'that had shaken the entire middle class families by its roots'. The film then goes into a flashback of events which had led to the murders. The flashback shows the family of the Tandons which consists of Nutan Tandon (Konkona Sen Sharma), Ramesh Tandon (Neeraj Kabi), their daughter Shruti Tandon (Ayesha Parveen) and their domestic help Khempal. One day Nutan gets a shock of her life when she discovers the dead body of Shruti lying in a pool of blood on her bed. She immediately screams for help. The police team led by Inspector Dhaniram (Gajraj Rao) arrive on the spot and start their regular investigations. On the basis of suspicion, they pick up the Tandons' domestic help's close friend Kanhaiya. Based on his 'assumptions', he spins a story that it was the husband-wife duo of the Tandons who had killed their daughter because they had seen her in a compromising position alongwith Khempal. Wasting no time, Inspector Dhaniram and his senior officer declare the murder as a clear case of 'honour killing'. Because of the discrepancies in the case by the police department, the case then gets handed over to the CDI, which is led by Inspector Ashwin Kumar and his close colleague Inspector Vedant (Soham Shah). After days and nights of working relentlessly on the case, they suddenly discover Khempal's decomposed body on the building's terrace. This leads to a series of hardcore investigations alongwith narco-analysis tests performed on the suspects. After all this, Inspector Ashwin Kumar and his team almost crack the case. Just as Inspector Ashwin Kumar is about to reach to a conclusion, situations take a U-turn when his senior officer gets retired and there enters a 'colour-changing' new chief of the CDI. The moment he takes charge, the first thing that he does is freshly investigate the Shruti Tandon-Khempal's double murder case. Situations become worse and challenging for Inspector Ashwin Kumar when Inspector Vedant starts working against him because of the greediness of being promoted to a higher rank. This leads to an altercation between Inspector Ashwin Kumar and Inspector Vedant, which results in Inspector Ashwin Kumar being suspended off his services. After a series of investigations by the newly formed CDI officers' investigative team, they conclude that it was indeed the duo of Nutan and Ramesh who were the killers. Who ultimately are the killers of the 14 year old Shruti Tandon and Khempal, do they happen to be Shruti's own parents or someone else, and does the case ultimately get solved after all the unexpected twists and turns is what forms the rest of the story. Performance wise Irrfan Khan is simply outstanding as he looks intense as well as very real throughout. Konkana Sen Sharma is fantastic in this difficult but underplayed role, Neeraj Kabi once again stamps authority after 'Detective Byomkesh Bakshy' and rest of the cast is good too. Film has excellent screenplay as it never really falters except few minutes in 2nd half. Film has razor sharp editing by Sreekar Prasad. Music is big minus as it is neither fitting nor entertaining. Cinematography is good and production design is perfect. Background score deserves special mention.
Director Meghna Gulzar treats this very difficult film with lot of maturity and delivers a rare gripping thriller in Bollywood. What is even more interesting about the film is that it presents a neutral account with out taking sides and yet keeps heart in the right place. Film released today and it will get good to excellent reviews but it will face competition from 'Singh Is Bliing', 'Puli' and 'The Martian'. Though it will not be a huge hit over weekend but it should have good run at box office riding on good word of mouth.
Go for this one if thrillers are your cup of tea! |