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Movies Ashdoc's Movie Review---Talvar

ashdoc

Movie Critic
SPNer
Jul 19, 2011
391
219
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In 2008 a girl was found dead/ murdered in her bed near Indian capital city Delhi . Her name was Aarushi Talvar . Also later the servant of the house ( who was from the neighbouring country of Nepal ) was found dead/murdered too .The police and courts eventually ( after major flip flopping ) convicted her parents . The conclusion of their investigation was that the parents suddenly came upon the sight of the fourteen year old Aarushi having sex with the 40 plus aged servant and were so horrified and shocked that they tried to hit the servant ( who was on top of Aarushi ) on the back of his head with a golf club , but the servant heard the noise of them coming and rolled off her---so the golf club hit Aarushi instead and killed her . But the parents didn't spare the servant and killed him too .

Now this film has come which turns the court's verdict upside down and points the finger to others as the perpetrators of the crime . It is based on the flip flopping on the investigation done by the investigating agencies in real life . It tries to recreate the murder scene and actual events based on accounts told by the various people whose testimonies were taken .

The police who handle the investigation at the start are shown to be most inefficient in their job . The chief policeman is shown to be chewing an Indian eatable called pan ( which contains betelnut and some spicy ingredients enclosed in a leaf ) while actually doing the investigation , and seems to be more engrossed in eating this than doing the investigation . At any rate , he is shown doing this in a most desultory manner because he has not realised that the case would create such a sensation in the media . Also the policemen come from the backward parts of India and looks at the westernized lifestyle of Aarushi's family as decadent .

But the sensation in the media forces the government to hand over the case to the CBI ( Central bureau of investigation ) , which consists of officers who are more professional in their approach and are more sophisticated . Irrfan plays the lead role are CBI officer in charge . This comes at a totally new conclusion based on interviews of suspects under influence of sodium pentothal .

But the CBI head is changed due to retirement of the old head , and the new head wants his own stamp on the investigation . He is shown to make a man in the old investigating team change his sides by promising promotion , and is shown changing entire forensic reports . He again charges the parents of murder---of honour killing in fact .

The two teams of CBI ( both old and new ) are brought in front of each other and the verbal tussle between the two of them is a treat to watch---well timed repartees are given by both sides to the other's points . But the repartees of the first CBI team ( which exonerates Aarushi's parents of the murder ) are better than those of the team opposing them . And therein lies the bias of the film . It is obvious that the whole film has been made to prove that the parents are innocent . The various points in the investigation that point to the parents as killers have been ignored .

Of course , the film is damning towards the CBI and shows the country's premier crime investigating agency as full of politics . It lowers the name and prestige of the CBI dramatically in it's portrayal of the agency . The police are of course shown to be morally corrupt---a fact that is not new to public knowledge . So craven are the police in front of the CBI that CBI officers can even cane them ( as shown in the film ) for mistakes .

So are Aarushi's parents really innocent ?? God only knows....
Of course , the film makes a formidable case for their innocence inspite of it's biases . Irrfan's acting as usual is top class and the film moves at a crisp pace without any frills . It is intelligent cinema without the frills of songs and dance , and will be liked only by educated people .

Verdict---good .
Three and a half stars .
 

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