Badla review – Mr S’s take
An official adaptation of 2016 Spanish thriller The Invisible Guest, Badla is a frame to frame copy with the gender of two major characters being changed. Badla review, brought to you by AboutFlick’s Mr S.
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Review: An official adaptation of 2016 Spanish thriller The Invisible Guest, Badla is a frame to frame copy with the gender of two major characters being changed.
The story begins with an injured Naina, played by Taapsee Pannu locked in a hotel room with Arjun, her dead lover. And due to a lack of evidence, she’s the number one suspect. Now, Badal Gupta, played by Amitabh Bachchan, is bestowed the responsibility of seeking the truth out, as he’d never lost a single case. And in the process of discussing the events that led to Arjun’s death, a story of dual murders, treachery, and revenge comes up.
It’s great to see the pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu playing the lawyer and client, after playing the same extravagantly in Pink. It is their formidable pairing that forces the audience to focus their attention on their performance, rather than the dull apartment living room where most of the movie is shot. The rest of the cast which includes the newcomer Tony Luke, Manav Kaul, and Amrita Singh, however, do not fail to disappoint and it is their performances that disturbs the pace and integrity of the thriller.
The other drawback of the movie is the unnatural dialogues which seem misplaced most of the time. And the statement that Mr. Bachchan makes on behalf of the audience “Tumhare kahaani mein jisko jo karna hota hai woh naye naye cheezein aise hi seekh jaata hai,” is damn true as Arjun turns into a bank expert from a photographer within a few moments.
Making a movie after a long time, Badla was supposed to be a front-runner for Sujoy Ghosh but somehow it fails to make the impact that Kahaani did. The sad part is, the movie showed an immense amount of promise.
Rating: My rating for Badla is 3/5.
Who should watch this: If you are a fan of old-school thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat, then Badla is a must for you. Watch Khamosh(1986), Kahaani(2012), Kahaani2(2016), Te3n (2016) before going for this one.