Picture Copyrighted to Eros International[/caption]Though I was hugely disappointed by his previous movie "Agent Vinod" but nonetheless I was still looking forward to watching Badlapur after seeing its promos because I still remember how well Sriram Raghavan had directed his earlier thriller movies "Ek Hasina Thi" and "Johnny Gaddar". But sadly he couldn't do an encore with his latest release Badlapur. I was expecting a riveting storyline and some terrific performances going by the ensemble star cast that Raghavan had got for this movie. So I had kept high hopes from this movie but I was terribly disappointed by the plot as well as by his direction, even though Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui played their parts superbly.
The movie's story is about an advertising professional Raghav whose happy life suddenly gets overturned when his wife (played by Yami Gautam) and kid get killed by Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his accomplice Harman (Vinay Pathak) while being chased by the police. The two robbers after committing a bank robbery, try to flee from the spot by taking Yami and her kid as hostages and use Yami's car but both she and her kid get killed. Though Harman his accomplice manages to flee with the money but Liak gets caught by the police and is sentenced to 20 years' jail imprisonment.
Raghav then sets out to take revenge. Though Varun Dhawan puts on an endearing performance, Nawazuddin too is superlative as Liak and Huma Qureshi too plays her part exceedingly well but the brilliant performances and the gripping narrative notwithstanding, I felt the movie became too sluggish in the second half, it just kept meandering. The tempo just didn't quite build up.
At some parts, I also got a nagging feeling of deja vu as if I was watching Ek Villain yet again. Though Varun Dhawan looked real in most scenes and impressed me with his measured acting and the way he enacted the emotional scenes was endearing too but the direction I felt failed him at certain places. Like though he hires a private detective to find out all about Liak but on discovering that he had a girl-friend, all he does is to force himself on the girl (played by Huma Qureshi). The climax too looked unconvincing that Liak after all the years in jail, goes to the police and confesses about he being the man behind the murders of his accomplice and his wife, out of guilt and remorse, just because he was dying from stomach cancer. I felt the ending somewhat abrupt. But the movie can be watched for the superb acting performances, especially of the young Varun. The movie is undoubtedly his best performance till date and he can only get better.
