Riveting And Haunting, Talvar Leaves An Impact On Your Consciousness

"Rang hai rang...khoon nahi..."

This one line in the film, uttered by the senior police inspector who's landed on the scene of crime with the seriousness associated only with stand-up comedians, sums up director Meghna Gulzar's Talvar based on the Noida double-murder case.

It's a film that channels a lot of frustration, a terrible amount of anguish - it's clearly Meghna and Vishal Bhardwaj's (producer and writer) labour of hate. Hatred towards power corridors of an incompetent judiciary, an indifferent police and most of all - sensationalist newsrooms. The duo would've been affected by the Aarushi Talvar-Hemraj double murder case at a much deeper level to be able to create something that is so devoid of melodrama, basing their narrative solely on facts and how they were either ignored or manipulated.

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In between the Roshomon-like narrative style in which three contradicting versions are enacted, Meghna finds enough breathing space to tell you where she stands; still leaving room for a more dissenting version, if there's doubt.

A little hint on how she does that: In the fantastic, bound-to-be iconic scene where two CBI teams are discarding one another's theories, the one that shows the parents as guilty is played out. In this scenario, Konkona Sen Sharma is shown as a laughably stupid person who says things like, "chalo, chalo, ab rona hai," before the maid arrives right after the murder. The obvious sarcasm is laced with an underlying message that tells you what the director actually wants you to know. Which is? This couldn't have happened.

But make no mistake - being a thriller about a murder mystery, it isn't interested in exploring the psyche or even the intent of the murderers, but the subsequent failure in nailing them. What's commendable is how the film, which could have easily taken the sensationalist route, avoids those trappings by staying truly non-exploitative and immensely mature.

Neeraj Kabi, who was last seen in Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, plays Ramesh Tandon (based on Rajesh Talwar) and is excellent in the role. His devastation is conveyed through the sheer sadness in his eyes while his defeated gait sums up his helplessness. Konkona shines as she internalizes the emotions a mother would go through on losing her daughter.

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But it's Irrfan who is the film's rational epicentre - he matches logical arguments with dry wit and his casually serious tone conveys a troubled past: a man who has become jaded with concepts, whether it is marriage or manslaughter. A nuanced performance, it ranks amongst his best. The film's supporting cast, including Sohum Shah and the actors who play Hemraj, Krishna and Rajkumar as the three helps, excel with a natural performance.

While there are several moments in the film that are bound to leave an indelible impact on our consciousness, one fleeting scene broke my heart. It shows Ramesh Tandon handcuffed along with Kanhaiya, the office help who he believes killed Aarushi. (This actually happened, as documented in Avirook Sen's book, Aarushi. The official explanation was the lack of an extra pair of handcuffs).

Two men. Chained together. Beyond doubt, only one of them is the *actual* killer, the other most certainly a victim. It's a scene set in a courtroom, a place that is bound to see things in black and white. But yet can't.

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As they say, the law is blind.

It's a failure of unforgivably mammoth proportions and we're all accomplices in the crime, guilty as charged.

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