Batla House Movie Review: Makes strong case (one-sided or not)

Batla HouseUA Drama historicalDirector Nikkhil AdvaniCast John Abraham Mrunal ThakurRatingNo seriously is this part of an ongoing Bollywood season for issuing clean chit at the movies for famous figures Whose own versions of truth on screen over a contentious reallife incident or event mdash despite previously held assertionsevidences to the contrary mdash exonerate them from a misdemeanour or crime theyre alleged to have committed That hero could be a cinema superstar or indeed Indias top politician And that in this case its the Delhi Police WellTo be fair while newsmedia is fairly central to this films plot and theres the usual tapli or two the press is hardly portrayed as singularly responsible for spinning a completely false narrative One has come to expect it from a movie such as this Politicians seem more like the villain here Rings trueTo be fairer still while we arent quite looking at the same incident through multiple lenses like the proverbial Rashomon 1950 if you may there is at least an attempt to show the other side of the story Even though the film takes an altogether opposite line of thought to prove otherwiseWhats the eventincident were looking at here Batla House obviously Rather the police encounter set in a ramshackle building in the Batla House area of the congested Jamia Nagar in New Delhi in September 2008 A couple of alleged terrorists of the local outfit Indian Mujahideen IM were gunned down in this morningfire and a couple of others injuredThe charge was that this was a fake encounter with innocents brought indoors just so Delhi Police could save face given a bomb attack by the IM just a week before in the Capital and a series of them across India over the past couple of years Were there really harmless collegekids in that kholi that dayDont know enough to take a stand But heres what makes that case rather weak too The fact that a muchdecorated police inspector leading the special cell team into Batla House lost his own life in the encounter as well Certainly doesnt sound like the handiwork of a bunch of ludo playersActor Ravi Kishen with his inimitable swag plays that slain cop named KK Verma in the film Actual reports mention him as Mohan Chand Sharma John Abraham is shown to be his boss the DCP behind the encounter mdash Sanjay Kumar based on the actual Sanjeev Kumar Yadav The film picks the incident to crack open a thoroughly dramatised thriller that is a frantic policeprocedural to nab a terror mastermind a departmental investigation and a courtroom drama all at onceWhich explains a runningtime dangerously close to three hours Sure the flow isnt as seamlessly as you may like it to be mdash the confident leading man transitioning into a brokendown cop with suicidal thoughts just for a minor instance And the film lacking in high points may feel tonally flat to someBut no doubt it keeps you stuck to the seat nonetheless largely for the rich visual detailing meaty research mdash basically fine writingdialogue Ritesh Shah mdash gluing it all together Sometimes its not what you thought while you were exiting the theatre as what you expected while entering it which makes all the difference over how you felt about a filmWatch Batla House TrailerFrankly I went in expecting little For one didnt think much of the only thriller director Nikkhil Advani has helmed in the past mdash DDay 2013 based on a fictitious mission to capture Dawood Ibrahim which was all very good until Dawood started getting dragged on his knees in the Thar desert Theres no escaping basic Bollywood tropes here either But its done all so smartly to never take attention away from a deeply realistic crimedrama This is clearly Advanis best work in a long while suspect since the animation film Delhi Safari 2012 if not his romcom debut Kal Ho Naa Ho 2003At the centre of it all is of course Abraham who doesnt always inspire much confidence for a film of this sort Calm restrained completely undemonstrative action superstar Abraham appears to be even channelling his inner Aamir Khan if you observe him closely on occasion Yup quite a revelationThat said dont know whether DCP Yadav on whom the protagonist is based really entered Batla House that morning Probably did Heres what the film compels you to do though Read up more and more about the case This is already saying a lot Last time that happened Maybe Anurag Kashyaps Black Friday Woah now thats a seriously tall complimentCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Batla House Movie Review: Makes strong case (one-sided or not)

Batla House
U/A: Drama, historical
Director: Nikkhil Advani
Cast: John Abraham, Mrunal Thakur
Rating:

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Batla House Movie Review: Makes strong case (one-sided or not)

Batla House Movie Review: Makes strong case (one-sided or not)

Batla HouseU/A: Drama, historicalDirector: Nikkhil AdvaniCast: John Abraham, Mrunal ThakurRating:

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Batla House
U/A: Drama, historical
Director: Nikkhil Advani
Cast: John Abraham, Mrunal Thakur
Rating: