Talvar

You may laugh out loud at some key moments of the film, but still at the end of it all Talvar kind of leaves you in a dilemma about the incapability of our judicial system. Almost everything that is available about the infamous Noida dual murder case gets mentioned in the new Meghna Gulzar movie Talvar and unlike the usual film formula of creating a twist and giving a verdict, the cinema focused on what ultimately grabbed the attention; the investigation.

Well I don’t think the plot should be briefed as a story. It is based on the Arushi Talwar murder case and here they have used different names. The dual murder that happens in a family evokes suspicion of honor killing as the police came to that conclusion rapidly. The case goes to CBI as the complications and public attention escalated because of its rareness. The movie Talvar basically discusses about the CBI investigation on this case.

Meghna Gulzar treats the movie in that realistic zone. You don’t get to see the clichés of typical investigation stuff. The irresponsibility of the police was visualized in that raw and humorous way and the reaction of the CBI team also had that sensible aggression. The movie closely follows the original case and scores enormously in that last quarter where they have ultimately added their creativity by presenting a debate between two drastically opposite findings of two CBI investigation teams. It may be supporting the one perspective that wasn’t appreciated by the judiciary, but on screen it seemed quite relevant and the way the first team questions the not so comprehensive methods of the second team in convicting the parents has a really unique feel to it.

Irrfan Khan in his effortless style performs very well as the investigative officer Ashwin Kumar. That last dispute scene had an edge because of Irrfan’s typical style. Neeraj Kabi and Konkona Sen Sharma performed really well as the Tandons. Sumit Gulati as Kanhaiya was also a notable performer. The remaining cast also looked very convincing for their respective roles.

The well written script from Vishal Bharadwaj was neatly presented by Meghna Gulzar without losing its aggression and realistic tempo. The duo should be given credit for adding this quirky humor in between the intense investigation. Like the one scene where an officer sings loudly to check the audibility was a hilarious one. Sreekar Prasad has sliced the movie slickly to be engaging. The occasionally happening excerpts of Vishal Bharadwaj’s music add that required agony to the movie.

On the whole, you may feel that it has a certain bias towards the parents, but the way they have constructed the film to reach the final intriguing debate that humorously teases certain methods of investigation will leave you in that perplexed state of mind thinking about the judicial system and its constrains. The rating for Talvar is 4/5.