Full disclosure : I would have rated this film very highly if I knew absolutely nothing about the Aarushi murder case. So this is a subjective review.
Talvar focuses mostly on three real life investigations into the murder of a teenage girl that shocked India - the first investigation by the police force and two subsequent ones by the CBI (name changed to CDI in this film).
The police officers come across as total caricatures - they could have been Kader Khan and Shakti Kapoor from some 90s movie for all we know. Though it is possible that this is how the police officers conducted investigations in real life. It is quite obvious that the makers wanted the audience to look down upon the police officers. They are portrayed as a bunch of callous morons not worthy of our respect.
I was a bit disappointed by Talvar. The makers had a very intriguing and widely covered and discussed murder case as material but they made the film without any sort of ambiguity. The film almost entirely absolves the husband-wife duo of any wrong doing.
Konkona and the actor who played her husband are unremarkable. But they weren't the focus of this movie. Their story is in the background. This is one of the major drawbacks of the film. The tense film that focuses on the bumbling police officers and the efficient but cruel CBI officials fails to lend any voice to the victims. The horror of their situation does not really come through. I guess this is because the script almost takes for granted the inefficiency and callousness of the investigators.
Irfan Khan is very good. This is one of his best performances, up there with Pan Singh Tomar. Though the flashbacks about his failed marriage were completely unnecessary. That space could have been used to expand on the horrors faced by the husband-wife duo.
I would have made the film differently. Vishal Bharadwaj and Meghna Gulzar had gold in their hands. They could have done so much with the material. There were so many interesting themes in the background - the clash between urban and rural India, middle class impotence, media fueled voyeurism, the callous Indian police force and judiciary that mirrors Indian society itself etc. A longer film where these themes are foregrounded would have made the film so much more than it is.
Instead, Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bharadwaj gives us a routine and somewhat predictable police procedural.
(6/10)
Talvar focuses mostly on three real life investigations into the murder of a teenage girl that shocked India - the first investigation by the police force and two subsequent ones by the CBI (name changed to CDI in this film).
The police officers come across as total caricatures - they could have been Kader Khan and Shakti Kapoor from some 90s movie for all we know. Though it is possible that this is how the police officers conducted investigations in real life. It is quite obvious that the makers wanted the audience to look down upon the police officers. They are portrayed as a bunch of callous morons not worthy of our respect.
I was a bit disappointed by Talvar. The makers had a very intriguing and widely covered and discussed murder case as material but they made the film without any sort of ambiguity. The film almost entirely absolves the husband-wife duo of any wrong doing.
Konkona and the actor who played her husband are unremarkable. But they weren't the focus of this movie. Their story is in the background. This is one of the major drawbacks of the film. The tense film that focuses on the bumbling police officers and the efficient but cruel CBI officials fails to lend any voice to the victims. The horror of their situation does not really come through. I guess this is because the script almost takes for granted the inefficiency and callousness of the investigators.
Irfan Khan is very good. This is one of his best performances, up there with Pan Singh Tomar. Though the flashbacks about his failed marriage were completely unnecessary. That space could have been used to expand on the horrors faced by the husband-wife duo.
I would have made the film differently. Vishal Bharadwaj and Meghna Gulzar had gold in their hands. They could have done so much with the material. There were so many interesting themes in the background - the clash between urban and rural India, middle class impotence, media fueled voyeurism, the callous Indian police force and judiciary that mirrors Indian society itself etc. A longer film where these themes are foregrounded would have made the film so much more than it is.
Instead, Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bharadwaj gives us a routine and somewhat predictable police procedural.
(6/10)