It’s not always okay to forgive
‘Badla’, a whodunit starring Amitabh Bachchan, Tapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke and others, released worldwide in May. The film, a 118-minute roller coaster ride, is replete with unpredictable plot twists and hairpin turns. These keep the audience hooked.
Badla, the Hindi word for revenge, is the film’s central theme. Ambition, family, and complexity of marital relationships are other subjects that the movie touches upon. But just about. The characters’ emotional journeys and primordial motives are left to guesswork, as if the writers neglected to put in the required effort.
The director, Sujoy Ghosh, has made complex thrillers like Kahaani and Kahaani 2, both of which starred stellar actress Vidya Balan. Badla has Tapsee Pannu in a confident turn as Naina Sethi, a rising entrepreneur who is also a wife and mother. She is involved in an extramarital relationship with Arjun Joseph, played by Tony Luke. Luke’s rather tepid portrayal of Naina’s illicit lover Arjun makes you wonder why a fiery woman like Naina is risking her family and marriage for this guy. The inimitable Amitabh Bachchan plays Badal Gupta, UK’s top criminal lawyer who is on the verge of retirement and has taken on this last case only because it is irresistibly challenging. Bachchan is excellent, but repetitive and ordinary dialogues really undermine his portrayal. Furthermore, in the last forty minutes or so, the barrage of what-ifs, and the associated flashbacks, get exhausting. Too plotty.
Since the film is just under two hours long, it is tightly edited. Cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay does justice to the dark crime-thriller genre. Clearly, Sujoy Ghosh’s intent was to involve the audience as co-sleuths in cracking the case. And in that he succeeds. Yet, the penultimate plot twist and contrived ending leaves the viewer feeling shortchanged.
I give Badla a 2.5 out of 5. Worth a watch? Yes; Compelling must-watch? No; Repeat watch? definitely not.
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