5 reasons to watch Talvar this week

The cast

Irrfan Khan plays the detective assigned to the case, Tabu makes a brief appearance as his wife, Konkona Sen Sharma plays the mother of the murdered teenager and Neeraj Kabi (who played the Jain monk in Ship of Theseus) plays the father. This is a cast that knows what it’s doing.

The writer

Award-winning filmmaker, writer and composer Vishal Bhardwaj has written the script and produced this film. Talvar will reportedly be told in the style of Akira Kurosawa’s classic film. The story will come together through the sometimes-conflicting narratives of three principle characters. Considering how many points of view there are out there on the Aarushi murder case, the Rashomon treatment might be the only way to fold them all in.

The point of view

If you believe in the parents’ innocence in the Aarushi case, you might take some comfort in Talvar. From all accounts, the film is sympathetic to their cause. 

The reception

At the Toronto International Film Festival 2015, where Talvar premiered as Guilty, it played to a packed house. Film critic at Variety, Joe Leydon called it a “well-crafted whodunit” based on a “solidly constructed screenplay”.

The director

Director of the critically acclaimed 2002 film Filhaal… on surrogacy, Meghna Gulzar has a reputation for handling volatile issues deftly. Given that the parents in the real-life case have been convicted of double murder and are appealing against their life sentences even as this film releases, it’ll be interesting to see how the filmmaker walks the fine line between telling a good story and still appearing objective.

For the third time this year, the double murder case of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj is being opened to public verdict. The first was through the sensationalistic Hindi film Rahasya, released this January, which diverged sharply from the real story with its ending. Then, reporter Avirook Sen’s book Aarushi presented a journalistic view of how the case was mishandled by the Delhi police and the Central Bureau of Investigation. Now, Meghna Gulzar’s film Talvar makes the same case but with a few creative licenses. The story was developed with inputs from the Talwar family, but to keep from running into issues with the courts, all names have been changed: the Talwars are the Tandons, Hemraj is Khempal and the investigative agency is called CDI.

The film releases October 2, 2015 and here’s why we think it might be worth your time. Flip through the gallery

You may also want to read: Reviving the Aarushi Talwar murder