Starring: Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Divya Dutta, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak, Radhika Apte
Music: Sachin Jigar
Producer: Dinesh Vijan, Sunil Lulla
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Rating: India – ‘A’, UK – 15
Well, this was a bit of a surprise. Just when I was thinking that Sriram Raghavan has sold himself out, and every film he now makes is going to have Bollywood star couples and mujra item numbers to bring the audiences in, he makes Badlapur with one of the most popular young actors of this generation – and it is a stunning return to form.
If you’ve seen the trailers of Badlapur, or read anything about the film, you’ll know the basic storyline – Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his partner Harman (Vinay Pathak) carry out a robbery which ends up resulting in the death of Misha (Yami Gautam) and her son Robin. Misha’s distraught husband Raghu (Varun Dhawan) vows revenge, but has to wait for 15 years as Liak is caught, and sent to jail, whilst Harman gets away with the loot. Raghu shifts base to a small town called Badlapur, and spends the next 15 years plotting his badla.
I’ve deliberately tried to stay vague on the details of the storyline, because this is a film that you really don’t want want to be spoilt for you. Make no mistake, the film earns it’s Adult certificate – the violence is brutal, sex is used ruthlessly, and the film would have had some bad language, but this has been silenced out (I dread to think what the censor board with end up doing to NH10, which has the ‘F’ word used in the trailer itself).
Badlapur has a lot of supporting characters, all of which are pivotal to the story – and the actors in these parts are all uniformly superb. Huma Qureshi plays Jhimli, a prostitute and Liak’s girlfriend, and probably has the biggest supporting role. It’s a pleasure to see Vinay Pathak in a serious role for a change, and he shows that there is so much more to him as an actor which generally isn’t seen on screen. Divya Dutta is very good in her role – although I did think that she was slightly wasted – the role didn’t really stretch her capabilities – but maybe an actress of her calibre was needed to stop the role from descending into melodrama. Special mention goes out to Radhika Apte, who plays Harman’s wife – this is one actress that we need to see more of. Ashwini Kalsekar is also brilliant in a small cameo – I would love to see a full length film based on her character.
Badlapur wouldn’t be the film it is without the two leads. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is, as expected, brilliant in his role, showing varying shades throughout the film. Despite being billed as the villain in this film, parts of Siddiqui’s performance reminds us of his supporting role in The Lunchbox. It seems as though the Students Of The Year are planning not to stick to light hearted films – after Alia in Highway, and Siddharth Malhotra in Ek Villain (which was admittedly more commercial), Varun Dhawan chooses the offbeat path with Badlapur. The film is a surprise choice, considering the roles he has done so far, but his performance impresses. Dhawan’s Raghu manages to hold your sympathy, even if you don’t agree with what he is doing – and that will happen in this film (some of Raghu’s actions make Ranbir Kapoor in Raajneeti look like a saint). His dialogue delivery still needs a little work – his voice sounds a little weak in some parts, particularly when he is playing a 40-something hell bent on revenge – but overall, this is a sold performance, and one which stands out. The performance is also restrained – Dhawan and his producers don’t feel the need to show off his dancing skills like Shahid Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan do in their ‘serious’ films.
Technically, the film is excellent. Thankfully there aren’t any flashy shots to try and emphasise this film is a thriller – the camerawork is simple and lets the story take centre stage. Music by Sachin Jigar suits the film to Badlapur undoubtedly belongs to Sriram Raghavan though. As I said at the start of the review, Badlapur is a stunning return to form after Agent Vinod. The film is dark, unflinching, violent – but then that is where Raghavan seems most comfortable.
A word of warning – this is NOT a family film, and certainly not one for the faint hearted.
But Badlapur is a film not to be missed.
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