Talvar (2015) [Film Review]

Talvar; or, Blindfolded Statute of Justice

     It is better to free ten criminals, than imprison one innocent...

This week’s review will be about a 2015 Hindi drama/thriller film based on the true 2008 Noida double murder case. Directed by Meghan Gulzar and starring great Irrfan Khan in the leading role, the movie attempts to objectively depict the whole process of the troubling investigation which generated the public’s disdain and distrust of the Indian legal system.

Release Info

Directed by: Meghna Gulzar Starring:Irrfan Khan, Neeraj Kabi, Prakash Belawadi, Tabu

Language: Hindi Movie Industry: Bollywood Runtime: 132 min 

 

Synopsis

On the 16th of March 2008, a 14-year-old girl, Shruti Tandon (Ayesha Parveen) is found dead in her bedroom with her throat slit. The police initially suspect the missing servant as the killer, but they find his decomposed body the next day. Needless to say, the media quickly interest in this morbid affair. Also, the situation is incited when police officers present their theory that the girl had an affair with the servant, and because of that the parents murdered them as a way of honour killing. Then, the investigation is handed over to CDI (the Central Department of Investigation) and Ashwin Kumar (Irrfan Khan) is put in charge of the case. The investigator comes up with a theory that there must have been outside involvement and the victims were killed by the servant’s friends. Nevertheless, new CDI director does not believe Kumar and assigns yet another team to start a new investigation...

Clean that Sword!

The film focuses on a very sensitive topic and, as it is not so difficult to deduce, similar motion pictures often failed in delivering their stories due to providing judgemental comments and taking sides (like this particular movie, for example). Yet, thankfully, that is not the case with Talvar. Meghna Gulzar really did her homework along with the scriptwriter, Vishal Bhardwaj, and genuinely tried to show what happened after the murder, instead of pointing at a person whom she suspects of committing the crime

As a result, the film is done in a very Rashomon-like style. We, the viewers, become Kurosawa’s commoner who listens to the accounts of a woodcutter and a priest. Of course, Talvar has its main hero played by Irrfan, but his character is there for the audience to highlight a possible alternate theory (in which the parents didn’t do it). The real heroes are the three theories of “what probably happened on the night of 15-16 March 2008”. It is up to us to decide which version is the most probable one, but still the Indian justice system is not able to verify which one is really true.

On a side note, I was quite surprised to find a lot of emotional comments under the film’s trailer. I understand that this is a very difficult case and, indeed, if the first investigation was carried out properly, there would not have been such a heated debate today. This is another issue brought up by Gulzar: negligence by the investigators (not securing the evidence, harassing witnesses, succumbing to political influences) and a (possible) miscarriage of justice.

In terms of performances Irrfan Khan’s acting is flawless, even though his character appears primarily in the middle section of the film and the finale. Neeraj Sabi and Konkona Sen Sharma are convincing as Ramesh and Nutan Tandon respectively. Also, Prakash Belawadi does surprisingly well as Kumar’s former superior/mentor. Additionally, it was great to see Tabu playing Kumar’s wife, however, she can be seen briefly in a couple of scenes.

Recommendations

I recommend Talvar to anyone who, similarly to me, has not heard before of the Noida double murder case. The movie’s content is objective enough so as not to cloud your own judgement on presented events. Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj did a very good job with this film. Plus, Irrfan singing Resham cracked me up!

Overall score: 7/10