'Talvar'

Let the Audience Have Their Space 

Sohini Mukhopadhaya

In 2008, a murder of 14 years old girl named Arushi Talwar in Noida shook the whole country. The family’s 45 years old missing servant Hemraj was the main suspect, until his dead body was discovered in another part of the building on the following day. After passing through many stages and modalities of investigation, the parents Rajesh Talwar and his wife Nupur Talwar were convicted in 2013 based on circumstantial evidences. They were imprisoned and their appeal is now pending before the higher court.

Two years have passed and when the countrymen almost forgot the case, Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bharadwaj came up with this much-discussed double murder case of Arushi Talwar and Hemraj in the light of humanity, or better say, the principle of ‘natural justice’ which has already provoked a large number of audience to question our perception about crime, investigation procedure and punishment. I would not say ‘Talvar’ is a completely unbiased movie. Still, its true-to-life way of representing the flaws of the investigating approach through an amazing story telling by Vishal Bharadwaj compels us to indulge in the ‘gripping, genre-defying, non-exploitative cinematic examination.’ The climatic sequence in which two investigating teams sit face to face across a table to establish their different viewpoints simply overwhelmed me with all its way of showing the many faces of truth.

I must say one thing honestly here that I enjoyed the sequence most and almost forgot that I was watching a movie and not a real episode. The acting performances outshined the solid screenplay. It became a real treat to movie-lovers in contrast to the mainstream Indian movies leaving the audience to choose any of the variant faces of truth from the film as a mirror of the society. The movie teaches us to think and question the reality which has been portrayed through its naturalistic matured texture and also compels us to have a look on how the media always tends to jump to instant and sweeping conclusions on criminal instinct and culpability. The movie might disappoint a certain class of audience who are always in search of cheap thrills, anxiety, dramatic climaxes and loaded songs. Though several songs have been used to validate the narrative of 'Talvar', there is no room in the movie for a happy musical ambience. The movie’s first half is quite faster than the second one. The film starts off with an 'official introduction' of Inspector Ashwin Kumar (Irfan Khan) in the officers' get together of CBI. Just as Inspector Ashwin Kumar is about to reach to a conclusion, situations take a U-turn when his senior officer gets retired and there enters a 'colour-changing' new chief of the CBI. Then what is the future of justice in any case where the investigating team like CBI has no integrity among their officers?

Even though the film has powerhouse of talents, it’s Irfan Khan who leads the film exactly right from his entry. The movie criticizes the media which encourages salacity and a collective propensity to judge even before a court verdict is pronounced. The movie’s beauty is in its non-judgmental approach and not disturbing the liberty of the audience to think on their own way. The script is the undisputed hero and the directors have let their ‘hero’ to do the needful. It’s a film for the thoughtful audience, who will be thinking while stepping out of the theatre: ‘Do we survive in a society which deliver justice to us?’