A dark thriller with its unique story telling approach gathering momentum with its pace, BADLAPUR has its magnificent camera work and superlative performances from Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Huma Qureshi.
Yet another spine-chiller from Sriram Raghavan who earlier made a notable revenge drama – Ek Hasina Thi (2004) and an out-and-out thriller – Johnny Gaddaar (2007). Badlapur doesn’t preach, has no message, it is just a plain thriller which has an unpredictable ending.
Raghu’s (Varun Dhawan) turns upside down when his wife Misha (Yami Gautam) and son Robin are shot dead (un-intentionally) by the thieves during a bank heist and who ultimately escape.
One of them Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is apprehended by the police, but doesn’t reveal the identity of his fellow mate, mentioning that it was the other person who shot the innocent at the bank. Liak claims that he hardly knew his partner in crime and just met him a few days prior to the incident in search of job.
Liak’s partner is absconding with the loot. The police and even Raghu have the same inference that Liak is shielding his partner’s identity by accepting the accusation of commiting the crime.
Raghu is desperate to avenge his wife and son’s death. He tries several things, like beating up Liak in the cell and even hiring a private detective (Ashwini Kalsekar). The only lead this detective manages to find out that Liak was in love with a call girl Jhimli (Huma Qureshi) since his childhood.
Raghu traces Jhimli only leading him to a dead end as Jhimli is genuinely unaware of Liak’s absconding partner. The court sentences Liak to a 20 year rigorous jail term.
Yet Raghu, still unhappy with life, harbours an uncontrollable uneasiness within him, he is unable to cope with the loss. So he leaves the city and sets up a new life there working in a factory in Badlapur.
The story moves on to 15 years post the dark incident in his life. The prisoner Liak is diagnosed with terminal cancer with about a year to live. An NGO worker Shobha (Divya Dutta) meets Raghu and pleads with him to pardon Liak in the court, so that he can spend his remaining days outside the prison.
This proposal is instantly rejected by Raghu, but then the convicts mother pleads Raghu again with the proposition of giving the whereabouts about Liak’s partner in crime – Harman (Vinay Pathak), which Raghu accepts and here onwards the film lives to its claim of a thriller when the protagonist tracks Harman.
Though the film BADLAPUR’s banners alert you – Don’t miss the beginning, that itself is a dampener as it has nothing spectacular about the beginning scenes. Nonetheless it does have a remarkable ending which lingers on the mind for days to come.
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Cast of BADLAPUR:
Varun Dhawan as Raghu
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Liak
Yami Gautam as Misha
Huma Qureshi as Jhimli
Vinay Pathak as Harman
Divya Dutta as Shobha – the NGO worker
Radhika Apte as Koko (Harman’s wife)
Ashwini Kalsekar as Joshi (a hired detective)
Murali Sharma as a jain inmate
Pratima Kazmi as Liak’s Mother
Credits of BADLAPUR:
Directed by Sriram Raghavan
Produced by Dinesh Vijan, Sunil Lulla
Written by Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas
Music by Sachin-Jigar
Cinematography – Anil Mehta
Edited by Pooja Ladha Surti
Banner – Maddock Films, Eros International
Badlapur, hindi movie, review,
