BADLAPUR: Good is good, bad is better! [4/5]

Finally! The age-long standard formula for a successful Bollywood revenge film gets thrashed, whipped and slashed heartlessly by Sriram Raghavan’s dark, bold and gutsy BADLAPUR. The happy & happening world of our hero is shattered while the evil trying to execute one of his unlawful acts and now, the traumatized victim is all gritty to punish the doers. Sounds household? Well, it does but don’t go easy on this as the road ahead from here is anything taken before in Bollywood. BADLAPUR is unconventional, exceptional and incomparable in its league.

It’s been 15 years; Raghu [the unforeseen shades of charming Varun Dhawan] once your regular boy next door is obstinately trying his luck to stumble on one of the murderers of his family. The other partner in crime Liak [the show-stealer Nawazuddin Siddiqui] is already serving 20-year term. An NGO activist informs Raghu that Laik is dying of cancer and needs his forgiveness to taste the free air for the rest of his life. Raghu is unlike our heroes with heart and is even more focused than villains in our films used to be. He doesn’t blow up hideouts of the villain. He hammers on their mental stature. In one of the incontestable situations, he forces his opponent [Vinay Pathak] to let him sleep with his wife [Radhika Apte]. The wife is made producing fake sexual sounds behind the doors and the husband is seen dying in humiliation.

BADLAPUR is an enjoyable and inventive mix of such brutal humor with amusing action but the film gets a new dimension in the climax. The villain ticks off the hero for cold-bloodedly killing his partner. ‘You have gone mad. Go, see a doctor’ he suggests sympathetically. Film also raises the question that how far one would go for revenge? And what after it’s done? The other astounding subplot is the heartfelt romantic track between Laik and his sex-worker girlfriend Jhumli [Huma Qureshi]; where the lover loves to hear ‘dirty talks’ his flame masters in.    

Sriram Raghavan takes forward all the expectations his ‘EK HASINA THI’ and ‘JOHNNY GADDAR’ has built in cinema-lovers all over India. BADLAPUR too constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat with the riveting drama taking a new turn every time you blink your eyes. The rawness in characters and in the characteristics of the scene never misses the opportunity to surprise you. Watch out for the brilliantly visualized and set first static shot of the film. It’s your regular dull day in apparently uncrowded market and as a viewer; you really don’t see it coming.

BADLAPUR is a film celebrated most for its casting and worthy performances from every one listed. Yami Gautam looks ravishing and does succeed in making your heart bleed in those ‘not many’ scenes. Ashwini Kalsekar as the private detective leaves an impression she’s known for. Pratima Kannan is remarkably good so is Vinay Pathak. Radhika Apte plays it effectively while playing a convinced wife who can go any extend to save her husband. I have always maintained that Kumud Mishra is an eye-candy treat to see that something really sparkling in him. Huma continues to entice the screen with her mystical looks and presence. Divya Dutta is another talent who never fails.  And last but not the least, the Varun Dhawan-Nawazuddin duo! Where the balanced-than-ever-before Varun surprises with his new find scheming eyes and calculated smile, Nawaz takes your breath away with his gifted chameleon-like ability to throw on you an all new shade in his character one after the other.

To rest my case, Raghavan’s BADLAPUR is a smartly bricked film that blurs the line between your regular perception about good and bad, and does it so beautifully you find yourself in a tight spot as which side you are and which side you should be at the end of day. Watch out for Nawazuddin’s deliciously evil performance and the unconventional route it dares to take! A must-watch!! [4/5]