Badlapur: Movie Review ****
They say that the best way to project an art is to disguise the defined identities in it. It makes the different observers produce different identities out of it.
Badlapur is one such movie, which will change the way you see things. In fact, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the name would have been Badlaavpur (The town of change).
The movie has subtle hints, puns and metaphors, embedded and disguised in it. In fact the title itself is a pun, which aligns with the movie’s theme, where the word ‘Badla’ has two different meanings; one being revenge and the other, change or transformation. It has other puns, like Nawazuddin’s character’s name Niak (hero) and the hotel, which you will notice, while watching the movie, which is named ‘Freedom’, which goes well with the position of the plot wheel at that point of time.
The movie has a brilliant star cast, with actors like Nawazuddin Siddhiqui, Huma Qureshi, Kumud Mishra, Vinay Pathak and Divya Dutta. The one pleasantly surprising and commendable performance which left an impression was of Varun dhawan, who has shed his lover-boy avatar and has donned an extremely intense and impressionable character.
The story revolves around Raghu (Varun Dhawan) and Liak (Nawazuddin Siddhiqui). As its tagline (Don’t miss the beginning) suggests, the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the movie are extremely important to observe the gradual transformation of the characters.
The movie begins with the abduction of Varun’s wife, Misha (Yami Gautam) and her child outside a bank, where they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Rest would be really too much to reveal. This is one movie, where I am reluctant to reveal even a little of the plot, as it will still be too much to reveal. But the climax of the movie is probably the most unexpected and thought provoking, and will question the whole reason behind a human beings actions and reactions.
All the characters, regardless of being major or minor, have played their parts with precision. The characters are robust and brilliantly defined. Though, the movie in itself leaves the viewer question about the morality and the thin line between good/bad/ right/wrong.
The story starts with a plot changer, but it is completely baffling and the whole movie looks real and at times, you might be shocked, while at times, it might touch your emotional nerve.
The characters’ reactions; especially that of Raghu and Niak is extremely difficult to predict and are surprising, because they don’t react to specific situations as normal people would generally react to.
The movie is titled on a place which Raghu resides in for fifteen years, preparing for ‘The Ultimate Revenge’, which might make you feel, that it is just a manifestation of Raghu’s mind, and not an actual place. The place, where Raghu resides can also be seen a metaphor of Raghu’s mind, where there is no pictures of the deceased in the living room, but is kept in the depths of the storage room; much like his mind, where only his revenge occupies his conscious, yet his emotions are shut inside in a corner of his mind.
