Amodini's Movie Reviews

Rating : 4/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours 25 minutes
Director : Reema Kagti
Cast : Amir Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raj Kumar Yadav, Sheeba Chadha
Kid rating : PG-13

Inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) is investigating the apparent drowning of film star Armaan Kapoor. Besides that Surjan, Suri for short, has a personal tragedy that he has not come to terms with yet. His wife is distant and appears to be swayed by nosy neighbors. So, while Inspector Shekhawat goes about solving this mystery, he must also deal with the silence and sadness at home.

The murder-accident is much hyped, since the dead person is a film-star. Shekhawat peels back the layers of intrigue to discover that Mumbai’s red-light area and it’s inhabitants are closely connected with Armaan Kapoor’s story. His wife and friends profess to know nothing about his shady dealings. Frustrated on both personal and professional fronts, Surjan is at a dead-end until he meets Rosie, a prostitute, who seems to know more than she’s telling. She gives him clues in dribs and drabs, and in her company, he finds strange solace.

Since this is a Farhan Akhtar-Amir Khan joint production, expectations are high for Talaash. Fortunately it doesn’t disappoint. The first half of the film is taut with suspense, and the second decent enough. The storyline has plenty of red herrings, and the climax, when it comes, is unpredicatable. The only problem I had was with the let-me-spell-it-out-for-you way the mystery is revealed. It seemed like the script-writers were trying to justify their answers to the viewers; totally unnecessary, and a little amateurish coming from the sophisticated Akhtar-Kagti stable. I wish it had been done in a subtler fashion, then the film might have been deserving of a higher rating (a 4.5 instead of a 4?). The next time around, maybe they could allow us the pleasure of reading between the lines instead.

Amir and Rani are superb in the film, with Kareena a close second. Aamir plays this role beautifully, a grieving man holding his emotions tightly in check. When his wife returns from a visit to the psychiatrist, she puts her finger on the problem when she suggests that it is he, Suri, who needs help more than she does. Amir is the emotionally repressed Suri, unable to give voice to his sorrow. But his grief is ever present, in the furrows of his brow, in the hunch of his shoulders, and in his busy mind, replaying over and over again the scenarios of what he could have done to avoid the tragedy. This is a man unable to forgive himself. Talaash reminds me why Amir is the star he is. Rani is Roshni, his equally depressed wife. Chiffon-saree clad, she appears almost makeup-less in some scenes, wan and listless and wilting away. Grief is a wide chasm between them.

Kareena turns in a fine performance as the tantalizingly wily Rosie. Raj Kumar Yadav as Devrat Kulkarni, Amir’s second in command is also very good. Nawazuddin Siddiqui (of Gangs of Wasseypur II fame) plays Tehmur, the lame errand boy to pimp Shashi and Sheeba Chadha has a small but effective role as aging prostitute Nirmala, the woman with whom Tehmur wishes to settle down, should he ever escape the hellhole that he is trapped in.

The film has some very good music by Ram Sampath. Suman Shridhar, in her inimitable voice, sings the gorgeous “Muskaanein Jhoothi Hai”. (She also sang the soft and sweet “Tonite” number in “Luv ka the End”). In Talaash, there is also the sadness filled “Jee Le Zara” and the thrumming “Jiya Lage Na”. I loved the film as a whole – it works as a slick, intriguing mystery, a genre rare in Hindi films. It also works on a personal level in sketching a moving portrait of grief, and does well in combining both threads to form a well-balanced whole.

Talaash almost has it all – a fairly well-thought of story, deft direction, great acting and characterization, attention to detail, and a nuanced telling of an interesting tale. I’m hoping that Inspector Shekhawat endures beyond this film – a sequel or a series perhaps? I’d hoped similar things for PWD engineer Satyaveer Singh Randhawa, but nothing, unfortunately came of that.

Kidwise : This has a UA cert from the Indian Censor Board, equivalent to a PG-13 rating. While that is pretty much spot-on, it might be worthwhile to consider that the film is strong on themes of death, despair and depression – subjects which might be difficult for children.