What is it all about?

An exceptional bold and gritty criss- cross between revenge sagas and morality dramas Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Badlapur’ produced by Maddock Films and presented by Eros is a film which is impossible to be dismissed.

Driven by path breaking performances by Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s swashbuckling act, director Sriram Raghavan (Ek Hasina Thi, Jhonny Gaddar, Agent Vinod) is back with a solid long lasting vengeance with ‘Badlapur’.

The story

Arijit Biswas, Shridhar Raghavan and Sriram Raghavan pen this classic modern revenge noir based on a story by Italian crime writer Massimo Carlotto.

Rightly said you should not miss the beginning.. the movie starts with a daylight bank robbery in Pune. Mishti (Yami Gautam) and his son Robin become unfortunate victims when the robbers - Laiq (Nawaj) and Jayant (Vinay Pathak) while fleeing abduct them in their car. While police is chasing them both Yami and Robin shockingly get killed by Laiq. Jayant escapes with the loot and Laiq surrenders to the police blaming Jayant for the murder and the loot.

Mishti’s husband Raghu (Varun Dhawan) ongoing sweet happy life gets an abrupt shocking blow. Unable to move on Raghu fails to get his revenge on Laiq who gets a twenty year’s sentence for the crime.

The writers smartly introduce a metaphor ‘Badlapur’ an industrial suburb between Pune and Mumbai, Varun starts living in Badlapur (torn between unreleased anger resulting in piling of an unwanted evil inside) waiting for Liaq with a warm blood and cold heart. On the other hand Liaq - the cunning smart chameleon though failing consistently in his attempt to break the jail manages to keep his spirit of survival and desire to be with his love of life - prostitute girlfriend Jhumli (Huma Qureshi) one day after coming out from the jail with the loot.

Faith gives a chance after 15 years Liaq suffers from cancer, a human right activist Shobha (Divya Dutta) comes for rescue and appeals for a written redemption from Raghu which will help Liaq moving out from jail getting treated and moving on with the rest of his life.

Raghu agrees for his own reasons, Liaq is out and while now the audience waits for their face off the writers brilliantly introduce us to shocks and surprise like the meeting of Jayant and his wife Koko (Radhika Apte), women detective played by Ashwini Kaslekar and Liaq’s mother played by Pratima Kazmi.

And when the protagonist and the antagonist finally meet a knock out turnaround at the end bowls you out leaving a long lasting impression.

What to look out for

Sriram Raghavan is at his best. This time he nails it right from the word go. In complete command and frequently showcasing his love for noir charm, wicked humour, underlining significance of the supporting cast with the lead, technical wizardry and acceptable cinematic liberty, Raghavan’s ‘Badlapur’ makes a cracking new noise in its genre that is bound to be heard amongst the lovers of this genre and patrons of good cinema.

Keeping his love for European, French crime noirs alive, Raghavan does himself a pride and this time betters Ek Hasina Thi and Jhonny Gaddar’s achievements with this revenge saga and morality drama criss -crosser.

An expertly handled affair ‘Badlapur’ gets its tone right as the marshals of the genre ordered with the mystic atmospheric cinematography by Anil Mehta’s showing the darker side with a new light. Pooja Ladha Surti’s raw editing that gives the defining edge.

Donald Reagen Gracy and Anita Rajgopalan Lata production design is apt. Sachin Jigar’s music moves the tempo and also soothes. ‘Jee Karda’ is the pick of the lot.

‘Badlapur’ is a career redefining breakthrough for Varun Dhawan who transforms from a happy go lucky dancing ‘hero’ to an intense suave and matured actor in the film. Within a year the success of the popular genre ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’ and ‘Main Tera Hero’ it needs real guts to accept the challenge and do the ambitious switch with an eye at artistic deliverance. His best till date and now we are sure many more ‘Raghu’’s will come from Varun Dhawan.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Laiq is a class cat. The tremendously gifted method actor gives a stand out performance in this gem of an acting display.

Marvelously supported by the supporting actors.

Yami Gautam impresses. Vinay Pathak is competent. Kumud Mishra as the greedy cop is very good. Radhika Apte as Vinay’s wife Koko has her moments. Huma Qureshi is terrific.

Pratima Kazmi as Liaq’s mother is fabulous. Diva Dutta as Shobha is superb. Ashwini Kaslekar and Murli Sharma chip in with good support. Zakhir Hussain also does well.

What not

Its noir, dark and meaningful. Not for the song dance regulars who only love masala cinema. The second half drags a bit for a while. The depiction of brutality and violence may be off putting for certain section of audience.

Conclusion: ‘Badlapur’ is Raghavan’s classic modern revenge noir triggered by a career redefining breakthrough performances by Varun Dhawan and Nawaz’s class act. A must for the patrons of noir, dark, gritty and quality cinema.