The 2008 Noida double murder is a case every informed Indian has an opinion on. Fewer seem to have cared about the sensitivity of it before dissecting it. The teenage victim’s private parts were discussed in detail by a godawful press that was cruel to an innocent. The industry’s habit is to churn films out of such cases. Will Meghna Gulzar and her team do justice to the dead in Talvar? Gulzar is not known as a great filmmaker, but she knows what sensitivity is. Her earlier work, particularly Just Married, had a keen eye for detail. Talvar, written by Vishal Bhardwaj, moves well ahead of that. She delivers, like never before.
The script is tilted toward the parents. The film claims to explore every angle, then scraps the version in which they might be guilty early, and with sympathy. Cinema is impressions. We also get a paan-chewing cop played for comedy, a possible murderer spreading baseless rumours, and long recreations meant to show the parents could not have done it.
Unlike the Jessica Lall case, this one has no power politics in it. Who turns up to protect domestic helps and security guards from Nepal and the Bihar border? Who frames an ordinary dentist couple? An influential politician whose root canal was extra painful? Doubtful. Any sensible person who followed the case asked the other question: why would a liberal, educated couple in NCR murder their child, even if she had done something drastically wrong? Honour killing?
The film addresses that side properly. There was constant scrutiny of the hour the father gave the priest at the last rites, and of his failure to recognise the help’s decomposing body. The film treats that as common sense several parties refused to see. It also throws in cinema: one officer turns gaddar, another arrives at the scene with a truant kid. Buyable enough. This is not a documentary.
The camerawork is extraordinary. Sequences are shot from several perspectives, the Rashomon effect, and from several angles. Pankaj Kumar proves himself again after Ship of Theseus. A. Sreekar Prasad’s cutting and a realistic production design lift it further. Bhardwaj’s music is underwhelming, even with Gulzar writing the words.
Irrfan Khan has become the thinking person’s star. His investigator is written as a true-blue hero, the man you are meant to love. Khan keeps him from looking emotionally manipulative. Prakash Belawadi shines in a small, significant part. Konkona Sen Sharma, usually effervescent, is restraint itself. Neeraj Kabi shows another facet after Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. Sumit Gulati is excellent as the prime suspect. The surprise in this gory tale is the casual divorce between Khan and his wife (Tabu), and the light moments between them, including the Ijaazat references. Every Gulzar fan will grin at those.
In two hours and ten minutes, the film conveys what the common reader has already heard about the twin murders. There seems to be no fabrication, except the opening, where the maid asks the mother to throw the keys from the balcony. It was always reported the other way.
What impressed me most was how they justify the title. There is also a riveting argument between two parties in the CDI, the Central Department of Investigation, if you know what they mean, which is worth the ticket. What I did not like was the hassled young couple beside me, and their sneezing, coughing toddler. Cinema enthusiasts in India, I tell you.
Bhardwaj and company should take Gandhi Jayanti and come back with cinema of this order, as they did with Haider. The audience will be happier watching that than watching bling get Bang Bang-ed by the crowd.
VERDICT: ★★★★
Talvar is now streaming on Netflix.
