Bollywood' Rashomon : Talvar(2015)

Cast : Irrfan Kahn, Konkona Sen, Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah, Tabu

Plot and Storyline:

It is quite difficult to make a movie inspired by actual events, One of the difficulties is that the story tend to incline on certain aspect which may or may not be what really happened, But it is not the case with Talwar, based on the Mumbai murder case which rocked the media for a long time, Talwar is close to the best film of the director Meghna Gulzar, I think the writer of the film , Vishar Bharatwaj needs a special mention, As far what i have seen it is one of the best scripts for a movie in recent times.

Perspectives and Points of Views:

The film begins with a maid coming to Ramesh Tandon( Neeraj Kabi) and Neeton tandon's( Konkona Sen) house only to discover that there has been a murder in their house and the maid, Khemraj is missing. The film progresses further, as multiple investigation happens. Whether or not the suspects for the murders are found is the rest of the story. The first investigation team from the Mumbai police , especially by the police inspector Dhaniram(Ghajiraj Rao) is a typical portrayal of how such a serious matter is made fun of and how the police departments forms a early conclusion to the case, blaming the mother and father for the murders and the perspective #1 is quite convincing even to the audience.

The lead of the film - Ashwin Kumar(Played by Irrfan Kahn) comes quite near to the first half of the film, Trust me he is the hero of the film, I think the role of the Ashwin Kumar is one of the Lone wolf cops who are perceptive, cool and full of wisdom. There are no big background score or physique to show their swagger, It would be quite difficult for anyone other than Irrfan Kahn to pull this off , probably Askhay Kumar or Amitabh Batchan could have done it but I doubt they could have brought this much depth into the character,

As said before, Talwar is a movie of perspectives, in fact it is immersed in perspectives so much that there is no way to find out what really happened in the end. It is quite like Rashomon or Virumandi, there is the perspective of the parents , There is the perspective of the police and there is the truth, The way Meghna shows how the Police department tries to close the case with a theory which they know to be not the truth is quite interesting to see, and it is quite convincing method of writing which we can relate to what really happened to the actual case.

If you see the film's storyline as such, there is first scene which tells how the murder is found out and then there is the scene which tells us the Ashwin has lost the case or atleast we know that some of the evidence has been compromised in the case. Then there is fact that we already knew how the story ends as this was inspired by actual events and we already know what happens in the end, So the big question is how does the director makes the film engaging ? Its the script ! May be of the strong points of the film. Ashwin Kumar's character is quite important for this to be considered, He is undergoing a divorce with His wife and this becomes another reason to prove his theory of the murder. The trick and success with Irrfan Kumar is how well is suited for this role, he sarcastic dialogues, casual acting and sometimes serious scenes makes this quite a brilliant performance.

The film ends with credits rolling and song which literally means " I' m alive", Aarushi Talvar might be 22 years today , she never crossed the age of 15 years. though the director tells us that there are many perspectives and the case is quite difficult to prove, She clearly takes the stand on the suspects and how to cover up a once said theory the police department makes up  a completely new theory and makes false witnesses and false evidences is not shocking but it is shameful to see. Yes we live in a country where the commissioner of police forgets the name of the deceased in public  and  integrity of the department is more important than human lives. To sum up, a subtle execution of a superb script.

Links

Rashomon effect - click here