Talvar Review

Making a movie on real-life incidents is a huge gamble in itself. Making a movie on an ongoing legal case? Criticizing the government in it? Welcome to Talvar.

It is based on the famous 2008 Noida Double Murder Case. (Names changed in the movie) Aarushi Talwar and the housemaid Hemraj were killed in the same night. The film deals with the investigation undertaken by the CBI in this matter.

Irrfan Khan is widely regarded as one of the best actors the country has ever seen, and you can see it why in this movie. He brings sly humor into the realistic world of the film and brings out the frustrations sincere officers have on their governments. Tabu cameos as his wife. Prakash Belawedi has an interesting character offering an entirely different chain of events, and he performs the role with ease. But the breakout stars of the movie are Neeraj Kabi and Konkana Sen Sharma, who portray Nupur and Rajesh Talwar as realistically as they can possibly be. They transform effortlessly between the various shades of the characters, carrying out the positive and negative vibes seamlessly. Gajraj Rao too steals the show as the negligent cop.

Making a film based on real events is a huge gamble especially in India, where people's religious and political frenzies are triggered easily. Meghna Gulzar took this gigantic challenge as her debut, and boy does she do it perfectly.The screenplay sometimes echoes a "Sorkinian" fatigue, which is a good thing to replicate. She easily offered one of the best debuts India has ever seen and gave the movie the very grit which defined the real-life case. This level of realism, never before on Indian Cinema, paid off as the movie was a critical and commercial hit.

This was a movie which affected me like no other, Hollywood included. Indian needs more movies like this.