Talassh : A Review

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Talassh : A Review

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Talaash – The Answer Lies Within
Directed by – Reema Kagti
Story and Screenplay – Reema Kagti & Zoya Akhtar
Starring – Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherji, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Review of the film Talaash by Shibesh Mehrotra (Symbiosis)

Talaash is the second film to have come out of the collaboration of Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the first being the immensely popular Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(2011). While in ZNMD, they explored the adventures of a bunch of rich kids, in Talaash, that stratum of society collides with the other, more populated one inhabiting the underbelly of Mumbai. So we have pimps, entrepreneurs, actors, prostitutes, cops and hired guns, all intertwined around a mystery, at the center of which lies a merging of the two strata, gone horribly, horribly wrong.
The film starts with an establishing sequence of the city we’re talking about here. Now, a lesser director might just give you an eagle’s eye view of the city and leave it at that, but Kagti goes deeper. With the song ‘Muskaanei Jhoothi Hain’ playing in the background, she shows you that Mumbai isn’t all about appearances. On the same streets that are used to flout a million cars, ranging from the Mercedes to the humble-yet-trustworthy Maruti 800, she shows you drug peddlers, beggars, homeless children, all co-existing with a very delicate balance. In the same city that houses a number of 5 star hotels, and showrooms of a million international brands, she shows you prostitutes catering to one and all, as long as they can foot the bill.
In the dead of the night, one fine day, that balance is broken when an actor swerves his car in the middle of the road, straight into the hungry sea, with no apparent reason, and ends up dead. Inspector Shekhawat(Aamir Khan), a legend in the police force, is brought in to investigate the matter, but the deeper he digs, the farther the light seems to be, an apt analogy because Shekhawat is about dig up some very old skeletons in his search for answers. His investigations lead him to a brothel, where we meet two other principal characters, Temur and Rosy. Temur(Siddiqui), is the right hand man for a pimp/extortionist. Born of a prostitute, he is the modern day version of the iconic Timurlane(or Timur the Lame), with a questioning mind and a quick wit, too quick for his own good. Rosy (Kareena), on the other hand is a cocky prostitute with a heart apparently made of gold, helping Shekhawat in his search for the truth, and also in his fight against his inner demons.
Yes, Shekhawat does have inner demons, the plot thickens as we found out he lost his son to a drowning accident, caused in part due to Shekhawat’s negligence. He spends sleepless nights playing with his son’s Light Sabre, revisiting the incident and dwelling on countless “What if?”s. As a result, he loses emotional connect with his wife, Roshhni (Rani Mukherji) who tries dealing with her son’death in her own way.
Talaash packs stellar performances all around, Aamir is his usual perfectionist self, Kareena revisits her Chameli days, Siddiqui’s each performance is better than the last, and Rani is right in her comfort zone in the role of an angst-driven mother. Shernaz Patel and Raj Kumar Yadav do a pretty good job as well.
On a footnote, whenever I see a movie that has brilliant performances from all involved, it’s the director who deserves the credit because it’s her vision that allows each actor and technician to grow into their roles completely. Kagti isn’t a stranger to multi-starrers, having directed Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd in 2007, and no actor/character here is done injustice. The film isn’t as much about the mystery as it is about Shekhawat coming to terms with himself. Watch it for the characterizations, of the main characters and city as a base for them.
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