BHUBANESWAR: A half-truth is more dangerous than a lie. That’s what sets the basic premise of Sujoy Ghosh’s Badla. A revenge drama, Badla is a whodunit thriller, a genre Sujoy has explored to perfection since Kahaani (2012). However, this time, his ‘adapted’ screenplay has the feel of a chamber drama. Perhaps, that’s the reason, in one of the shots, the camera, smartly zooms in on a poster of Twelve Angry Men.
Badla is a story of lies, truths, deception and of course half truths that makes it a perfect edge of the seat thriller. Naina Sethi (Taapsee Pannu), a married businesswoman accused of murdering her lover, Arjun (Tony Luke), is out on parole and struggling to prove her innocence. Enter Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), a lawyer with an incredible record of winning every case in his 40-year career.
As the conversations move forward, it is revealed that Arjun’s murder is linked to an accident involving him and Naina. Badal is confident of winning this case but he isn’t somewhat convinced with Naina’s story. He must know the truth from Naina to prove her innocence. It’s up to Badal now to unravel the truth.
The narrative moves back and forth in time, with conversations between Badal and Naina taking centre stage. Badla is high on drama and full of twists and turns, which keeps the audience guessing almost till the end. The biggest challenge with thrillers, particularly whodunits, is holding intact the interest of the audience till the climax. Sujoy has quite a few thrillers to his credit but this time somewhat falters, with the story becoming a shade predictable in the last ten minutes.
That said, Sujoy does justice to the story by keeping the script tight for almost 120 minutes and leaves no loose ends. Badla is an official remake of the Spanish thriller The Invisible Guest (2016) and Sujoy hasn’t tried to tamper with the original story. But in doing so, he has shot almost every frame like the original.
That, however, doesn’t rob him of his credits. It’s an open secret that Sujoy is a die-hard fan of RD Burman and Bachchan. He intelligently creates an opportunity to use both the legends in all his films, be it by convincing Bachchan do a playback in Kahaani or by playing Burman’s evergreen classics in the background.
A large portion of the film has mid close-up shots, a phenomenon of chamber dramas, and Bachchan does all the talking with his eyes. Unfortunately, Taapsee, despite being a talented actress, is unable to recreate the chemistry she shared with Bachchan in Pink. Her expressions, unlike Bachchan’s, are limited. Tony Luke is convincing on debut. But the surprise package is Amrita Singh. It’s more an extended cameo but the veteran actress comes out with flying colours despite the limited screen time.
Avik Mukhopadhyay once again shows his class. Shot entirely in Glasgow, Mukhopadhyay’s breathtaking cinematography coupled with Monisha R Baldawa’s smart editing works wonders for Badla. If you haven’t watched The Invisible Guest, then Badla definitely won’t disappoint you.
Table
Movie: Badla
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
Direction: Sujoy Ghosh
Rating: 3½/5 stars
Ritujaay Ghosh, OP