Talvar movie review: A riveting, must-watch drama highlighting a police investigation gone wrong

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Neeraj Kabi, Konkana Sen Sharma, Sohum Shah, Sumit Gulati

Direction: Meghna Gulzar

Ratings:

Errol Morris' documentary The Thin Blue Line presented crucial information which is recognised by many as the sole reason why Randall Adams, who was wrongly convicted for murder of a police officer and even sentenced to death, got out of prison. Last year, the podcast, Serial, took the internet by storm when it focused on the trial of Adnan Masud Syed, who was found guilty of the murder of his ex girlfriend, and exposed the loopholes in it which raised considerable doubt over the verdict. More recently, after real estate scion Robert Durst was caught on camera confessing "Killed them all, of course" in the HBO series The Jinx, the police reopened the murder investigation. Talvar looks to join these works as a high-impact film which makes viewers question whether Rajesh and Nupur Talvar, who here are christened as Ramesh and Nutan Tandon (Neeraj Kabi and Konkana Sen Sharma), actually murdered their daughter, Aarushi, (here Shruti), and their domestic help, Hemraj (here Khempal).

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For most part it succeeds as it frustrates and shocks audiences by highlighting how the Noida police botched up the crime scene with its lackadaisical ways and subsequently severely compromised the case and also their insensitive conduct during the investigation. It also keeps viewers on the edge of their seats when the Central Department of Investigation (CDI), referring to the CBI, intervenes and comes up with a compelling alternative perspective for the whodunit, until it too messes it up with wild theories of its own. Trouble is that even as the film consumes itself to showcase where and how the investigation of the infamous double murder case went wrong, it sidesteps the plight of the dentist parents who are convicted on circumstantial evidence and now lie in prison. Nonetheless, one can't dismiss that Talvar does manage to do 'justice' to what's a complex case which shook the nation and also divided it. There is no mistaking whose side the filmmakers are on.

Vishal Bhardwaj who has written the screenplay and whose banner has co-produced the film lays out the nitty-gritty of the case quite well. The film hooks the audience to the night of the crime as seen through multiple perspectives but it's the CDI investigator Ashvin Kumar (Irrfan Khan) who gets most of the footage. Based on the real life Arun Kumar, who led the first CDI team which alleged that it was the domestic servants who carried out the murders, Khan gets to do what he does best: deliver quips especially at the shortcomings and wrongdoings of his colleagues and showcase his sardonic side which he has done rather successfully in films such as Gunday. What the character of Kumar also does is bring much-needed logic to the chaotic proceedings as he tries to get to the truth even though his tactics are not entirely legal and often questionable. He casts a shadow of doubt on the complicity of the Tandons but is unable to come up with foolproof evidence which makes the two domestic help the perpetrators of the crime. In doing so Talvar shows that Kumar may be the closest we have to a hero but he is also not infallible.

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Man's imagination and his judgemental abilities are the real villains in Talvar. Director Meghna Gulzar and Bhardwaj move to the investigation carried out by A Paul (Atul Kumar), in real life CBI officer AGL Kaul, who comes up with a few theories of his own which substantiates the Noida police's belief that that the parents are the murderers. Talvar perhaps wisely distances itself from being overly empathetic towards the Tandons /Talvars so as to not get into trouble with the court, and instead finds humour in the asinine allegations and assumptions fronted by both the police officers and later a few CDI officials. This isn't going to be a pleasant viewing experience for the UP police force and even the CBI for that matter.

The dark comedy may deliver laughs but it also feels in poor taste especially when the remarks involve a teenage daughter and a grandfather both of whom are dead. It's best evident in the across-the-table showdown between the two CDI units which is full of jokes as Kumar along with his superior get to rip apart the theories of their colleagues and make them realise that they have no proof to charge the Tandons. Yes, Bhardwaj is presenting the sheer absurdity of the circumstantial evidence but in process he ends up being insensitive to the victims, whose characters have anyways been assassinated by the CBI and the media during the investigation and the trial.

Irrfan Khan is in fine form here as a man who best conveys the viewers' sense of helplessness and lack of faith as the film reaches the finishing mark. There is little added or accomplished to occasionally focus on his unhappy marriage which is in separation stages. Kabir and Sen Sharma here don't have much to do other than shed tears and enact how different parties see them at the time of the crime. In fact they go missing from the film for a major chunk when Kumar's involvement takes precedence. Given the time invested on the crucial investigation it is wise that Gulzar and Bhardwaj fast forward the trial itself which led to the conviction, but the sense of time - years - spent on the case is not clear. Among the supporting cast, Sumit Gulati as Kanhaiya (the real life Krishna), Talwars' disgruntled assistant at the clinic and the suspected mastermind of the crime, especially stands out and so does Sohum Shah as Kumar's composed colleague, Vedant, who throws a surprise of his own.

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The biggest success of Talvar is that you do walk out of the film feeling disillusioned with the system especially the police forces. The adage, 'This could happen to you', is very much alive as Bhardwaj showcases the gaping divide in the socio-economic status of the English-speaking sophisticated modern family of the Talvars and the paan-chewing, Hindi-speaking police officials. The latter's callousness is both disconcerting and riveting and their deducing skills shocking to the say the least. Irrespective of its impact in swaying public opinion in favour of the Talwars, Talvar is a film that needs to be seen because it highlights the flaws inherent in the policing and in us as human beings.