Badlapur (film)
Badlapur is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Sriram Raghavan and produced by Dinesh Vijan and Sunil Lulla under Maddock Films and Eros International, based on the novel Death's Dark Abyss by Italian writer Massimo Carlotto. The film stars Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead roles, with Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta and Radhika Apte in supporting roles. The film was released on 20 February 2015. Box Office India reported that Badlapur grossed approximately worldwide.
On 11 January 2016, the film was nominated for Best Film in the 61st Filmfare Awards, as well as other categories.
Plot
Two friends, Liak and Harman, rob a bank in Pune and steal a car belonging to Misha and her son Robin to flee away. During the chase that ensues, Robin falls out of the car while Misha gets shot. As per the plan, Harman jumps out of the car and escapes while the police get hold of Liak. Both Misha and her son succumb to their injuries in a hospital, shattering her husband Raghav "Raghu" Purohit, who violently attacks Liak in prison before learning through Inspector Govind that Liak had a partner. Soon, Raghu approaches a private detective, Mrs. Joshi who tells him about Liak's girlfriend and a sex worker, Jhimli. Raghu meets and interrogates her but she reveals nothing. He decides to give her the entire insurance money he received for his son's death in exchange for telling him Liak's partner's name. Finding no support or information despite his best attempts, an enraged Raghu forces her to dance for him and eventually rapes her. Liak soon gets sentenced when he is proven guilty, and Raghu exiles himself to a reclusive life far away from Pune.15 years later, Liak becomes terminally ill and wishes to spend his remaining life with his mother. For that, Raghu is approached by a social worker, Shobha, who asks him to forgive Liak but he declines. However, he has a change of mind when he's told Liak's partner's name by his mother Zeenat, who wants her son to be paroled on compassionate grounds. Liak is paroled but is followed by a cop secretly so as to be led by him to Harman, his partner. Raghu locates Harman and gets closer to his wife Kanchan "Koko" Khatri, who invites him for lunch to their home where Raghu's true intentions are revealed. Harman agrees that he was a participant in the robbery but denies having killed Misha and Robin, and tries to deal with Raghu who threatens to call the police. Koko begins to plead him to spare them, in exchange for which Raghu demands her sleeping with him. Harman and Raghu have a fight in which Raghu overpowers the former and proceeds to the bedroom where he exacts his revenge by making Koko strip and forcing her to scream, in order to make Harman believe they're involved in intercourse.
Liak contacts Harman for his share of money with passport and arranges for a meeting. However, Raghu asks for Liak's share and tells Harman to book tickets for Shirdi. He arrives at his house, taking the money before attacking and killing both Koko and Harman one by one. He then goes to meet Shobha and pretends to be in love with her, creating a perfect alibi. Liak, upon not meeting Harman, grows suspicious when the police start investigating his disappearance along with his wife. He is told by Zeenat that she gave Harman's name to Raghu in exchange for Liak's own freedom. Shobha on the other hand is enraged to discover that Raghu told the cops they had sex. Exchanging a few harsh words with her, Raghu arrives at home where a fight ensues between him and Liak, resulting in Raghu beating the latter unconscious. As Liak wakes up, Raghu explains his entire modus operandi before Liak reveals himself to be the one who killed Raghu's family and that too out of panic unlike Raghu who, Liak points out, planned his murders with a cool mind and without guilt. He then goes to meet Jhimli, who's now a concubine of a local businessman, Patil, for one last time and tells her he's nearing death. Having circumstantial evidence against Raghu, Govind tries to blackmail him into giving him Liak's share of money, which Raghu clearly refuses. However, Liak walks into the police station and takes the blame for Raghu's crimes, giving him a second chance to live his life and redeeming himself.
After seven months, when Liak succumbs to cancer in jail, Jhimli meets Raghu and makes him realize the futility of his revenge. She then drives away with Patil in a car, leaving him standing in the rain.
Cast
- Varun Dhawan as Raghav "Raghu" Purohit
- Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Liak Mohammed Tungrekar
- Huma Qureshi as Janki "Jhimli" Dagaonkar, a sex-worker who is Liak's girlfriend
- Yami Gautam as Misha Senthil Purohit, Raghu's wife
- Divya Dutta as Shobha
- Vinay Pathak as Harman Khatri
- Radhika Apte as Kanchan "Koko" Khatri
- Ashwini Kalsekar as Mrs. Joshi
- Murali Sharma as Michael Dada
- Pratima Kazmi as Zeenat Mohammed Tungrekar, Liak's mother
- Zakir Hussain as Shardul Patil, a businessman who later employs Jhimli as a concubine
- Kumud Mishra as Inspector Govind Mishra
- Neel Tyagi as Robin Purohit, Raghu's son ram
Production
Critical reception
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 100%, based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.Raja Sen from Rediff.com rated it 4 out of 5 and said "Badlapur is a dark, unflinching, fantastic film." Sudhish Kamath from The Hindu wrote that the film was "darkly ambitious and very well made." Rachit Gupta from Filmfare stated that it had "exhilarating performances, stellar storytelling."
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated it 3/5 and noted the pervasive contemptful treatment of women in the film, writing, "If one can ignore the overt misogyny on show all through the film, Badlapur throws up enough surprises to hold the viewer's interest right until the bitter end."
Mohar Basu of The Times of India rated Badlapur 4 out of 5. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the movie 2.5 stars out of 5, describing it as riveting, but also noting that the film "comes off too contrived in many places, and leaves us hanging in others." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated it 3.5 out of 5 and wrote: "The pace slackens post-intermission, plot contrivances are many, and you might say the film is misogynistic in its treatment of women... , the film keeps you on your toes, curious to see where its twists and turns will lead."
In December 2015, Badlapur got 15 nominations at the Stardust Awards, having the maximum number of award nominations from one film for the year. Both Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui were nominated for Best Actor category. The film was nominated for awards in Story, Screenplay, Direction, Lyrics, Best Playback Singer, Best Choreographer, Music Direction, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor .
Box office
According to Koimoi, the film collected in five days at the domestic box-office, with on the first day.By the end of the third weekend, Badlapur grossed. By the end of its third week run, the movie grossed nett at India box offices, leading Koimoi to estimate the film has taken in double its expenses. Box Office India reported that Badlapur grossed approximately worldwide.