Directed by : Sriram Raghavan
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3678782/
Sriram Raghavan of ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ and ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ is back!
Spoilers ahead…
Revenge based themes have been happening a lot in our films since some years now, like Gangs of Wasseypur, Agneepath, Ek Villain, Haider etc. But Badlapur is very different from all of them, and it has the flavor of Sriram Raghavan that was found missing in Agent Vinod.
Raghav/Raghu(Varun Dhawan) loses his wife Misha (Yami Gautam) and son in a bank robbery, they both are shot dead by Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his partner Harman (Vinay Pathak). Liak is arrested but he hides his partner’s name. Raghu seeks revenge from Liak and wants to find his other partner at any cost even if he has to take a unusual path for it.
The tagline of movie says ‘Don’t Miss the Beginning’, which serves its purpose in a very skillfully directed long opening wide angle shot where it takes almost a minute for us to make out what is about to happen until Misha enters into the frame, or if you are watching very closely when 2 guys on bike enter and pull the shutter of a bank down.
If you belong to the category who prefers to see complete romantic story before the tragedy appears then Sriram will disappoint you, as he doesn’t believe in these cliches. Raghu-Misha story gets least possible screen time, that too in 2 mins flashbacks. Consider the scene where Raghu is having coffee rewinding to a old memory and suddenly comes back to reality, makes a phone call, and enters song ‘Aaj mera jee karda’, its like Sriram keeps the key of romantic moments hidden with him and uses very rarely in narration, pretty much similar to how Raghu keeps his memories locked in a room shown earlier in the movie.
And what this does is that we end up watching almost 90% of Varun Dhawan in a not seen before role, most of it in that bearded look. Something I feared won’t happen before going for the movie, and how happy I was.
There are various dark humor elements inserted in very unexpected situations, like Liak’s conversations with fellow jail people or his hilarious attempts to run away from jail, or Liak telling the guy who follows him everywhere that they should can go to Pune on sharing to save money, or wife of Harman so willing to sleep with Raghu to save her husband that she tells him ‘bedroom upar hai’.
Another high point is the various sub-plots that have their own significance while the Raghu-Liak tussle goes throughout the movie. Be it Liak-Jhimli (Huma Qureshi, playing a prostitute role) relationship where they share light moments in form of Liak’s ‘gandi baat kar na’ or post 15 yrs gap scenes where they miss the old times. Liak’s relation with his caring mother results in a very well done scene where his mother’s constant blabbering against his father makes him question her if she even remembers anything good about his father, and the decision he takes following that conversation turns the film around. Also the role of Shobha (Divya Dutta) in lives of Liak and Raghu, who is willing to find whereabouts of Raghu so that she could help Liak who suffers from cancer, a punishment for his deeds even before Raghu takes revenge. And Inspector Govind Mishra (Kumud Mishra) who wants to retire by solving the robbery case, and how he ends up seeking retirement fund with the robbery money.
Sriram’s movies always have references to old hindi movies, and he has a knack of doing it very stylishly, same is the case here when Raghu tells a landlord he wants house for 20 yrs and its cut to Sholay’s gabbar dialogue scene on Liak. Or the use of ‘Ek ajnabee haseena se’ song, and the brilliant bg piece used when Liak comes out of jail (was it RD Burman?).
Pooja Ladha Surti has done a commendable work in editing department, she cuts scenes before the action in them has even ended, and it works because there’s no need for us to see further, plus it provides a great pace to narration. Also love how she cuts the cafe scene.
Dialogue writing is good, but the standout one is when Liak comes looking for Jhimli after 15 yrs and gets sarcastic reply from a new prostitute (whose name is Imli), ‘Yeh maratha mandir nahi hai’, damn hilarious! The background score is top notch, but special mention to the sound mixing as I loved how they used the passing of train sound from Raghu’s home in different ways into narrative specially the one before Jeena song. Also, the mixture of heavy rain sound and a religious song (don’t know lyrics) to return Raghu’s character builds that revenge emotion very well. Another religious bg is very well used in latter part of 2nd half too.
Every song by Sachin-Jigar is a gem in this film, and all are used in short background pieces only. 'Jeena Jeena', my least liked song from album is brilliantly used in a very emotional manner, probably the only scene where Sriram lets Raghu go deep into his memories as he dances with imaginary Misha, almost brings tears to eyes. 'Judaai' kinda of disappointed me, should had got more out of it. ‘Badla' is aptly used, specially those beats when we see word ‘Revenge’ written. 'Jee Karda' starts at very wrong note, making a sharp unpleasant sound but is cut brilliantly with no lip synch which I hated in its promotional video.
The promotional video is however used in the end-credits which is a shame as it reduces the impact of a very powerful and different ending dialogue scene.
There comes a point in the movie when Raghu indulges in a violent act which isn’t less evil if not more than what Liak did to his family (Remember Prisoners, something similar happens in it too). Its not a easy choice to make in the end, on whose side you wanna be, because both Liak and Raghu are grey characters, they are good as well as bad. Infact if you consider the timeline of film, Liak’s graph goes from bad to good and vice-versa for Raghu. As the years pass by to death of Misha, Raghu becomes heartless to the core, and in a superbly cut ‘date' scene with Shobha, you feel scared for her as it might be her turn to die, that reflects as to what extent Raghu’s character has changed by then.
Another great aspect of the movie is great use of violence and sex. Two scenes specially standout, one is Raghu meeting Jhimli to find out Liak’s partner, and other is the brutal violent hammer scene of Raghu which comes as such a surprise that it shakes you off your seat (Even after knowing from trailer, that a certain hammer scene will come at some point).
Kudos to casting director for such a great ensemble cast.
Varun Dhawan shines wonderfully in this new attempt, going away from those larger than life comic roles. His dialogue delivery does falter at some places in film, but if you see the larger picture, he succeeds very well in portraying his revenge and mad lover part. His imitation of Liak when he re-meets him after span of 15 yrs was too good, and when he plays around Harman (Vinay Pathak) and his wife Kanchan (Radhika Apte) at their home in one of movie’s most insane sequence. Also, he excels in the emotional hospital sequence. Special mention to that smile he gives after telling Liak that Harman won’t come.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the real star of the movie when it comes to acting, completely flawless (as if its a surprise). Be it his numerous funny scenes, or his equation with his mother and Jhimli, specially love his 1st escape attempt scene, his reply to a fellow guy in jail ‘Bangkok mein bahut mazza aaya’ and his final dialogue to Raghu.
Huma Qureshi is very good in her supporting role, her chemistry with Nawaz has always been terrific. And how good her dialogue to Raghu is at end of movie.
Vinay Pathak has been one of my most fav actors, good to see him back and expectedly he does well, only disappointment was that it was a very small role. Watch his expressions when Raghu enters lift and Harman for a second thinks ‘I have seen this person but where.. Oh no, its him. Its that girl husband who died in robbery.. Does he know me, how can he know me. But if he does, then I am gone’, that was a super scene and very rightly done with Jee karda bg.
Don’t really remember Radhika Apte in a movie before, but here she does make her presence felt in a loving wife ready to go to any extent to save her husband. Her scene to watch out is, when she tries to convince Harman that Raghu didn’t even touch her but Harman cries and gives a non approval look, the irony of the scene is that just moments before Kanchan was pleading Raghu to forgive her husband because she trusts him that he didn’t kill Misha and his son.
Finally after Rockstar, Kumud Mishra gives a performance to applaud (he was good in Filmistaan too though). Watch out his superb desperation scene with Liak, when he literally pleads him to say ‘bol tune khoon nahi kiya hai’.
Yami Gautam, Divya Dutta, Murli Sharma, Pratima Kazmi, Ashwini Kalsekar and Zakir Hussain chip in with good cameos.
Badlapur is the first of brilliant dark thriller to come out this year and most likely will top the list by the end. Its unpredictable, brutal and insane at times. Not for usual masala audience, but for rest this film should work. Sridhar may not have outdone his previous works of ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ and ‘Johnny Gaddar’, but personally Badlapur might be my fav film of Sridhar till his next movie atleast.
Verdict : 4.5/5
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3678782/
Sriram Raghavan of ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ and ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ is back!
Spoilers ahead…
Revenge based themes have been happening a lot in our films since some years now, like Gangs of Wasseypur, Agneepath, Ek Villain, Haider etc. But Badlapur is very different from all of them, and it has the flavor of Sriram Raghavan that was found missing in Agent Vinod.
Raghav/Raghu(Varun Dhawan) loses his wife Misha (Yami Gautam) and son in a bank robbery, they both are shot dead by Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his partner Harman (Vinay Pathak). Liak is arrested but he hides his partner’s name. Raghu seeks revenge from Liak and wants to find his other partner at any cost even if he has to take a unusual path for it.
The tagline of movie says ‘Don’t Miss the Beginning’, which serves its purpose in a very skillfully directed long opening wide angle shot where it takes almost a minute for us to make out what is about to happen until Misha enters into the frame, or if you are watching very closely when 2 guys on bike enter and pull the shutter of a bank down.
If you belong to the category who prefers to see complete romantic story before the tragedy appears then Sriram will disappoint you, as he doesn’t believe in these cliches. Raghu-Misha story gets least possible screen time, that too in 2 mins flashbacks. Consider the scene where Raghu is having coffee rewinding to a old memory and suddenly comes back to reality, makes a phone call, and enters song ‘Aaj mera jee karda’, its like Sriram keeps the key of romantic moments hidden with him and uses very rarely in narration, pretty much similar to how Raghu keeps his memories locked in a room shown earlier in the movie.
And what this does is that we end up watching almost 90% of Varun Dhawan in a not seen before role, most of it in that bearded look. Something I feared won’t happen before going for the movie, and how happy I was.
There are various dark humor elements inserted in very unexpected situations, like Liak’s conversations with fellow jail people or his hilarious attempts to run away from jail, or Liak telling the guy who follows him everywhere that they should can go to Pune on sharing to save money, or wife of Harman so willing to sleep with Raghu to save her husband that she tells him ‘bedroom upar hai’.
Another high point is the various sub-plots that have their own significance while the Raghu-Liak tussle goes throughout the movie. Be it Liak-Jhimli (Huma Qureshi, playing a prostitute role) relationship where they share light moments in form of Liak’s ‘gandi baat kar na’ or post 15 yrs gap scenes where they miss the old times. Liak’s relation with his caring mother results in a very well done scene where his mother’s constant blabbering against his father makes him question her if she even remembers anything good about his father, and the decision he takes following that conversation turns the film around. Also the role of Shobha (Divya Dutta) in lives of Liak and Raghu, who is willing to find whereabouts of Raghu so that she could help Liak who suffers from cancer, a punishment for his deeds even before Raghu takes revenge. And Inspector Govind Mishra (Kumud Mishra) who wants to retire by solving the robbery case, and how he ends up seeking retirement fund with the robbery money.
Sriram’s movies always have references to old hindi movies, and he has a knack of doing it very stylishly, same is the case here when Raghu tells a landlord he wants house for 20 yrs and its cut to Sholay’s gabbar dialogue scene on Liak. Or the use of ‘Ek ajnabee haseena se’ song, and the brilliant bg piece used when Liak comes out of jail (was it RD Burman?).
Pooja Ladha Surti has done a commendable work in editing department, she cuts scenes before the action in them has even ended, and it works because there’s no need for us to see further, plus it provides a great pace to narration. Also love how she cuts the cafe scene.
Dialogue writing is good, but the standout one is when Liak comes looking for Jhimli after 15 yrs and gets sarcastic reply from a new prostitute (whose name is Imli), ‘Yeh maratha mandir nahi hai’, damn hilarious! The background score is top notch, but special mention to the sound mixing as I loved how they used the passing of train sound from Raghu’s home in different ways into narrative specially the one before Jeena song. Also, the mixture of heavy rain sound and a religious song (don’t know lyrics) to return Raghu’s character builds that revenge emotion very well. Another religious bg is very well used in latter part of 2nd half too.
Every song by Sachin-Jigar is a gem in this film, and all are used in short background pieces only. 'Jeena Jeena', my least liked song from album is brilliantly used in a very emotional manner, probably the only scene where Sriram lets Raghu go deep into his memories as he dances with imaginary Misha, almost brings tears to eyes. 'Judaai' kinda of disappointed me, should had got more out of it. ‘Badla' is aptly used, specially those beats when we see word ‘Revenge’ written. 'Jee Karda' starts at very wrong note, making a sharp unpleasant sound but is cut brilliantly with no lip synch which I hated in its promotional video.
The promotional video is however used in the end-credits which is a shame as it reduces the impact of a very powerful and different ending dialogue scene.
There comes a point in the movie when Raghu indulges in a violent act which isn’t less evil if not more than what Liak did to his family (Remember Prisoners, something similar happens in it too). Its not a easy choice to make in the end, on whose side you wanna be, because both Liak and Raghu are grey characters, they are good as well as bad. Infact if you consider the timeline of film, Liak’s graph goes from bad to good and vice-versa for Raghu. As the years pass by to death of Misha, Raghu becomes heartless to the core, and in a superbly cut ‘date' scene with Shobha, you feel scared for her as it might be her turn to die, that reflects as to what extent Raghu’s character has changed by then.
Another great aspect of the movie is great use of violence and sex. Two scenes specially standout, one is Raghu meeting Jhimli to find out Liak’s partner, and other is the brutal violent hammer scene of Raghu which comes as such a surprise that it shakes you off your seat (Even after knowing from trailer, that a certain hammer scene will come at some point).
Kudos to casting director for such a great ensemble cast.
Varun Dhawan shines wonderfully in this new attempt, going away from those larger than life comic roles. His dialogue delivery does falter at some places in film, but if you see the larger picture, he succeeds very well in portraying his revenge and mad lover part. His imitation of Liak when he re-meets him after span of 15 yrs was too good, and when he plays around Harman (Vinay Pathak) and his wife Kanchan (Radhika Apte) at their home in one of movie’s most insane sequence. Also, he excels in the emotional hospital sequence. Special mention to that smile he gives after telling Liak that Harman won’t come.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the real star of the movie when it comes to acting, completely flawless (as if its a surprise). Be it his numerous funny scenes, or his equation with his mother and Jhimli, specially love his 1st escape attempt scene, his reply to a fellow guy in jail ‘Bangkok mein bahut mazza aaya’ and his final dialogue to Raghu.
Huma Qureshi is very good in her supporting role, her chemistry with Nawaz has always been terrific. And how good her dialogue to Raghu is at end of movie.
Vinay Pathak has been one of my most fav actors, good to see him back and expectedly he does well, only disappointment was that it was a very small role. Watch his expressions when Raghu enters lift and Harman for a second thinks ‘I have seen this person but where.. Oh no, its him. Its that girl husband who died in robbery.. Does he know me, how can he know me. But if he does, then I am gone’, that was a super scene and very rightly done with Jee karda bg.
Don’t really remember Radhika Apte in a movie before, but here she does make her presence felt in a loving wife ready to go to any extent to save her husband. Her scene to watch out is, when she tries to convince Harman that Raghu didn’t even touch her but Harman cries and gives a non approval look, the irony of the scene is that just moments before Kanchan was pleading Raghu to forgive her husband because she trusts him that he didn’t kill Misha and his son.
Finally after Rockstar, Kumud Mishra gives a performance to applaud (he was good in Filmistaan too though). Watch out his superb desperation scene with Liak, when he literally pleads him to say ‘bol tune khoon nahi kiya hai’.
Yami Gautam, Divya Dutta, Murli Sharma, Pratima Kazmi, Ashwini Kalsekar and Zakir Hussain chip in with good cameos.
Badlapur is the first of brilliant dark thriller to come out this year and most likely will top the list by the end. Its unpredictable, brutal and insane at times. Not for usual masala audience, but for rest this film should work. Sridhar may not have outdone his previous works of ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ and ‘Johnny Gaddar’, but personally Badlapur might be my fav film of Sridhar till his next movie atleast.
Verdict : 4.5/5
