Caught ‘Talvar’ over the weekend. This is a film based on the high profile Arushi double murders which took place in 2008. At the time, it rocked the neighbourhood and the country and let to endless speculation and a veritable trial by the media, but somewhere at the back of the mind remained a niggling doubt…has justice really been served?
Dr.Rajesh Tandon(Neeraj Kabi) and his wife Nutan(Konkona Sen) reside in a decent middle class colony in NOIDA, with their teenage daughter, Shruti, at peace with all around till one day, their whole world turns topsy turvy.
He has a flourishing dental practice and is respected by everyone. The unfortunate chain of events, starting with the teen girl’s brutal killing, the bungling of the investigations by the local cops, the CBI investigation and the eventual conviction of the parents for the murders, is documented, but this movie seeks to present the facts, as available in perspective, putting forth opposing views, succinctly summed by Irrfan’s character Ashwini Kumar, who is a reluctant investigator to begin with, in the classic statement on which the Indian Legal Code is based upon “Better 10 guilty go free, than an innocent be punished for a crime s/he hasn’t committed.”
Since this occured over 7 years back and a lot has transpired since, many more shocking incidents / murders and the like, which have diverted public attention from this case, but the movie brings back stark memories of the media blitz at the time. In some way, it was a trial by media all right as the poor, deceased child’s character was besmirched as also that of the parents, relatives/well-wishers who stood up for them were compromised under duress; all in all, a complete travesty of justice, if there is such.
One comes away from the movie, with the vague feeling that somehow, somewhere, the perpetrators got off scot free and the wrong ones have been punished. A tender life has been extinguished and nothing we do can get her back amongst us again, but if would have been in the fitness of things if the real murderer/s were convicted and sentenced.
Meghna Gulzar has done a commendable job in directing this movie, with due attention to detail, as also ensuring that facts are presented as they are, while covering tracks to avoid legal issues /protect respondents privacy. Even in the changes, phonetic/alternate accuracy has been retained Eg. CBI has been depicted as CDI, character of Krisha has been named Kanhaiya and so on. Even the title’Talvar’ has been subtly explained away as a reference to the unused sword held by the statute of justice.
Irrfan is superb as usual as the taciturn, CBI investigating officer, who doesn’t shy away from stepping out of the official line at times, to get at the truth, the paan chewing cop, the shirking lower cops as also all other characters, main or supporting characters have done their roles well. The faceoff sequence between the old CDI team and the incumbent, too has it’s unintentionally hilarious moments like when describing the motive, the IO Paul, states in the report that the servant was caught in ‘Dharam Prasarak asan’(Missionary position) with the girl, which led to the father losing all control and bludgeoning them to death and then covering their track, the retired Directors taciturn responses to the revised report amongst others. The manner in which a firm forensic evidence gathered by the previous incumbent, is reversed by subtle prompting and explained away as a typo show up the politics at play within the department as the focus has shifted not on solving the case, but protecting an inept batchmate.
With a running time of a little under 2 hours, it’s definitely worth a onetime watch and regardless of your feelings as to the identity of the murder/s, you will surely come away nursing major apprehensions on the safety of your own and the family given the increasing dependency on domestic helps.
My rating: 3.75