BADLAPUR Movie Review : Most ‘unpredictable’ tale of ‘no revenge’
The unpredictability begins with the film’s metaphorical
title BADLAPUR. Literally translated it means the Kasbah
of Revenge. But the film is not actually about revenge.
It’s about redemption, which signifies the title too when
one translates the metaphor laterally. It’s a celluloid
saga of the pain and penance and ‘badle ki aag’
simmering in the mind and heart of a young loving
husband and father who is wronged by petty bank
robbers for no fault of his family and him. Is he a hero?
No. It’s the most vicious of petty criminals who is the
hero and joker combo and the protagonist of the film.
You complained of ‘predictable’ films, try predicting this
one my son.
So, who is the villain of the story? Of course the stupid
insensitive audience that may fail to appreciate this well-
meaning film that promotes long forgotten Gandhian
values. Gandhi ji chale gaye, lekin unke uchh aur swacch
vichar jivit hain jo na hamein jeene dete hain na marne.
It’s like ‘ Na Khuda hi mila na visaale sanam, na idhar ke
rahe na udhar ke rahe (I found neither God nor could
screw my beloved, and thus was denied the orgasm of
either kind.)
It’s a quiet Pune street that witnesses a quiet bank
robbery and the masked robbers, who don’t even have a
getaway vehicle, force their way into the MUV of Misha
(Yami Gautam) whose husband Raghu (Varun Dhawan) is
presenting his path-breaking campaign idea to his
colleagues in an advertising agency office somewhere
afar. Misha’s little son is also in the vehicle. The Pune
police chases the MUV, Misha protests as her son is
thrown out of the car. The lead robber shoots her and
asks his accomplice to get away with the booty who does
what he is told. The police catch up with the lead robber
Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who lies brazenly and says he
was merely driving the car and it was the guy who
escaped with the booty who actually shot the woman and
threw the child out of the MUV.
Misha and her child die, leaving Raghu forlorn,
distraught and broken, and itching for revenge. He
employs a lady detective and finds out more about Liak.
He has a mother and is in love with a prostitute called
Jhumli (Huma Qureshi). Raghu tries to extract the truth
from Liak through Jhumli. Once, in a fit of rage and
extreme frustration, he even sodomises her. And I must
commend the director for recognizing and realizing the
true potential of the physical-sensual prowess of the
female talent at his disposal in this particular scene.
Laik sticks to his ‘innocence’ story, refuses to help the
police to catch his accomplice, but somehow gets
convicted incredibly and exceptionally fast and sentenced
to a jail term of 20 years. He does not seem to go in for
an appeal either against such conviction. Raghu leaves
his job, shifts to Badlapur. The name of the place seems
the only apparent reason to do so. And we are informed
in a few seconds that 15 years have passed. Liak has
grayed Raghu has not. Liak is in in jail, Raghu is a
recluse. And then the story begins to take one
unpredictable twist and turn and transformation after
another, leaving a long trail of inexplicable and
implausible imponderables.
Ratings : 1.5/5
Read More Here
