Revenge looks best when served warmly in Amitabh Bachchan starrer Badla
- Arijit Bose
- Apr 8, 2019
- 3 min read
Revenge is best served cold, but in Sujoy Ghosh’s Badla, revenge comes with its fair share of warmth. If you have seen Tapsee Pannu and Amitabh Bachchan in Pink, you will definitely connect with them in Badla. A revenge drama it revolves around a conversation in a room regarding a case with ample instances of flashbacks.
Its racy, gripping, full of moments that will keep you hooked to your seat egging you to want to know what happens next. A film full of twists and turns its one of those films where the thrill of the theatre goes beyond just cola and popcorn.
An extramarital affair, a murder most foul, an attack from an invisible foe and a clear design to coverup things lead to a plot which shows of Sujoy Ghosh’s penchant for thrillers. A director whose last outing was Vidya Balan starrer Kahaani it is one of those rare films where each one of the characters add equal weightage to the script.
Bachchan and Tapsee light up the film with good acting and clever chatter, even though the film is mostly shot inside a room. For those into detective films and especially the Sherlock Holmes lovers will see strains of that influence in the film.
Naina Sethi is a hardened businesswoman who would do anything to have her way. Badal Gupta is a legal eagle who has never lost a case in life. Gupta will not let his client down, but there is something amiss in the narration of events by Naina. An accidental death of a son turns a boy Sunny’s mother Rani ( Amrita Singh) against Naina and we follow the tete a tate only to realize finally that this exchange of words completely exposes the shrewd Naina Sethi. Even Manav Kaul who plays Jimmy Punjabi, a lawyer is a great experience even though brief. One who plays the bridge between Badal Gupta and Naina Sethi.
Misleading details and cross questioning unravel a third dimension to the crime in hand, which gets murkier as we proceed. There are ample references to the Mahabharata and true meaning of revenge in mythology that keeps the plot brewing.
The Bachchan starrer has frames filled with tension, with both Bachchan and Pannu talking, trading barbs and sometimes even sharing ugly glances. Both the actors are terrific at their wordplay. Take two instances where Bachchan says – Woh murkh hota hai jo sirf sach ko hi janta hai par sach aur jhooth ke fark ko nahin janta. Or where he refers to Mahabharata’s Drapaudi episode saying – Badla lena har baar sahi nahin hota, lekin maaf kar dena bhi har baar sahi nahin hota
Badla reportedly is an official remake of Spanish film The Invisible Guest. Sujoy Ghosh and co writer Raj Vasant have adapted the story by swapping the genders. It is shot in exotic locations in Scotland and UK.
Cinematographer Avik Mukhopadhyay adds tremendous gravitas to the film by way of those critical shots.
Badla is presented by Shahrukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment in association with Azure Entertainment. It is produced by Gauri Khan, Sunir Kheterpal and Akshai Puri. A Sujoy Ghosh Directorial it released on 8th March 2019.
Presently Bachchan is shooting for a bilingual project titled – Tera Yaar Hoon Main. Bachchan senor is also working on Ayan Mukerji’s “Brahmastra”, featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt as leads.
Meanwhile Taapsee Pannu is working on projects like “Saand Ki Aankh”, a film on world’s oldest sharpshooters Chandro and Prakashi Tomar. The other notable project she is associated with is Mission Mangal with Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan. In south Game Over keeps her busy.
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