Oct 02, 2015 08:57 AM
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Investigative thrillers follow a certain pattern. The crime is committed, the investigators work on the evidence available and then hopefully manage to catch the culprits. Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar is an exception. It focuses more on the investigation and hardly on other stuff. Moreover, it also brings forward different versions and tries it’s best to provide a balanced view of the crime. Despite such an unconventional narrative, Talvar doesn’t get complicated or niche at any point and makes for a superb watch. It is not just one of the finest films of 2015, it is one of the finest films ever!
The story of the movie: On March 15, 2008, Rajesh Tandon(Neeraj Kabi) and Nutan Tandon(Konkona Sen Sharma) are shocked when their find their daughter Shruti(Ayesha Parveen) killed in her bedroom in their house in Noida. The servant Khempal is missing. Cops immediately conclude that the servant is the killer. However, newer facts emerge that goes contrary to their conclusions. Circumstances force the CDI(Crime Department Of Investigation) to step in. Ashwin Kumar(Irrfan Khan) is given the charge and after going through a detailed, thorough investigation, he finds out that what everyone thinks about the murder is not what the truth is.
Talvar is gripping from the word ‘Go’. The Tandons finding out about the murder and the cops doing the investigation immediately engages viewers. The ordeal that the Tandons has to go through is heartbreaking. The film gets better after Ashwin takes charge. The manner in which he conducts his investigation and even blasts the first investigation team is superb and clapworthy. Talvar leaves you angry at the way things are done by the authorities in India. Your blood will boil seeing the insensitive investigators and how they jump to conclusions and even make it public, not realizing that an innocent person might suffer throughout his life thanks to their follies. The edginess continues in the second half as well. The film does get repetitive as the investigations begin once again but Meghna has tried her best to spend as little time as possible on this sequence. And the film rises like never before in the confrontation scene in the finale. It is hilarious and at the same time, very engaging. The film ends on a very disturbing note.
Talvar boasts of award winning performances. Irrfan Khan as expected steals the show. He’s not playing the typical ‘hero’; he has his shades of grey as well but the manner in which he brings his character alive is worth watching. In fact, he had just given a superb performance in Piku this year and after Talvar, it’s difficult to choose which one is better. Konkona Sen Sharma is a powerhouse of talent and delivers yet another splendid performance. We don’t get to see much of her in the second half but she has some important scenes in first half wherein she does a great job. Neeraj Kabi is another great talent who has proved his worth with Ship Of Theseus and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. In Talvar, he delivers another memorable performance. Sohum Shah(ACP Vedant) is an actor to watch out for. He compliments Irrfan very well. Same goes for Prakash Belwadi(Ashwin’s senior). He has a cool way of delivering dialogues and he rocks the show in the finale. Gajraj Rao(Inspector Dhaniram) is terrific and dominates the first 30 minutes in a way. Sumit Gulati(Kanhaiya) gives a confident performance. Shishir Sharma(J K Dixit) is fine. Others do a great job as well. Tabu(Reema) has a cameo and delivers a nice performance
There are 3 songs in the film and all are relegated to the background. Insaaf is the best of the lot. Patli Gali is missing in the film. Background score is minimal but correctly incorporated. Pankaj Kumar’s cinematography is brilliant. Subrata Chakraborty, Amit Ray’s production design is praiseworthy. It’s near impossible to say that the house of the Tandons is a set and those portions are not shot in a real location. Vishal Bhardwaj’s story is exciting. His dialogues are simply yet sharp. Screenplay is nicely written and structured and kudos to Vishal for getting it rights since this is not a usual thriller. Meghna Gulzar also deserves lot of praise as she executed the difficult style of narrative very easily. It is so simple that anyone can understand what’s going on. Not even once will any viewer scratch his/her head wondering where the film is heading. Also, the detailing is excellent. Watch out how the maid is sweating on the day of murder – after all, the film takes place during the summer time. Although she presents a balanced view, the sympathy from the part of the makers is more towards one party and this is fine as it doesn’t look forced or unconvincing. Also, she leaves a few questions unanswered, which is quite smart actually. Hope she’s back with a bang with another film…a talent like Meghna deserves to make loads of well-made films!
On the whole, Talvar is gripping and very unusual investigative thriller. Although it might seem like a niche film, it is in fact very mainstream. The narrative is simple and never gets confusing. The applause worthy scenes is aplenty and the film is sure to boil your blood over the way things are done in the country, even in such high profile cases. In short, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. It will be a crime not to see this classic film in theatres!
