Mid-May 2008, television screens across the country were competing with each other to expose the details of the gruesome double murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and 45-year old Hemraj Banjade. The duo was murdered during the night of May 15-16.
Today, more than six years later, the incident refuses to die down.
Meghna Guzar's 'Talvar,' a script by Vishal Bhardwaj, revisits the episode through the medium of cinema and prods the audience to question the judgment, which has seen both parents accused of the murder and currently serving life terms in prison.
Through an almost documentary style of filmmaking, Gulzar explored the different investigating agencies and their methods of investigation. The incompetence of the police, which gave rise to large scale speculation on the case and the motive behind it, the tactics of the lead investigating officer of the second investigating team, and lastly, the oblique references to corruption and tacit support of friends and colleagues at the cost of justice that the third team displayed.
The cast of the film, especially Irrfan Khan as the CDI investigator, is in a class apart.
Lead actress Konkona Sen Sharma took up the challenging role, "When Meghna offered me the film, I knew immediately I was on for it. I was like 'Wow'. I found it unusual, different and interesting and one does not get offered interesting things anyway. It is not like one is getting brilliant characters every day," she said.
"I was quite excited, when I was offered the role. I had to look at it as a film project and not really get into the real life aspect of it because it is an unusual kind of a role. The film is an investigative thriller. It goes through different lines of investigation, one by Noida police and then by CBI. There are three crime scenes that are presented. In one scenario, my character is guilty, in the other she could be an unwilling accomplice and in the third she could be innocent and that was very interesting as a performer to play - the same thing done differently at different times," she said according to NDTV.
The movie prompts viewers to think on many different levels. While not pronouncing any one guilty, Bharadwaj presents different points of view, and leaves it to the audience to judge for themselves as to whom the onus of guilt rests on, according to The Hindu.
That the case continues to rankle the Indian psyche becomes more evident when Vijay Shanker, former CBI head, said more than a year after the trial, " ...this is one of the most unfortunate cases, one in which the cause of justice has not been served as yet"? reports Business Standard.
Watch it, not to forget the stark realities of life, but to face them.
