Badla is handsomely mounted, unfolding for the most part in atmospheric, gloomy, wintertime Glasgow. The film doesn’t pack the wallop that Kahaani delivered, but it’s a respectable enough thriller that seldom loses grip of its pace or your attention.

Badla, an official remake of a Spanish murder mystery, pulls off a mostly gripping whodunit, something Bollywood rarely manages.

Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu’s efficiently assembled film keeps tension at a boil through twist and counter-twist, but the finalé is easy to see coming.

For a director whose breakthrough film centered on a woman out for revenge under the ruse of impending motherhood, Badla remains forcibly consistent to this oeuvre of maternal rage. Only, it focuses on the other side of the kahaani, which is why you can see the strings and the puppeteers running the show. Making something – or someone, in this case – look better than it is maybe an art, but it is clearly a dying one.

The only missing piece is the local detailing that Ghosh masterfully embellishes his films with (Kahaani and Kahaani 2), the result perhaps of adapting a successful international story. Dialogues in this film are critical given that it is the conversations between the defendant and the defender on which the film rests and Ghosh’s and Vasant do well on that front. Editing by Monisha Baldwana plays a key role in ensuring that the film is shorn of all narrative flab.

Overall, Badla, is a watchable revenge story worthy of its name.

Badla is cleverly scripted and executed with a brilliant cast. It is both engaging and enjoyable. The unexpected ending is the cream on the top of this well-crafted suspense thriller. It is also probably a rare Bollywood film that you have to love because it manages to outsmart you!

Master of mysteries, Alfred Hitchcock once said, ‘Revenge is sweet, not fattening.’

At two hours running time, Badla keeps the deed both short and sweet.

Badla is a crime thriller that lifts itself out of the limitations of the form by spotlighting questions of guilt and retribution without diluting its edgy quality. The film’s multiple twists and turns will work best if you haven’t seen Contratiempo. But even if you have, the quality of the acting and the technical finesse on show – Avik Mukhopadhyay’s unobtrusive yet effective camerawork is especially noteworthy – make Badla an unmissable film.

Director Sujoy Ghosh has made a habit of pulling off complex thrillers like Kahaani and Kahaani 2 with ease, and with the multi-layered narrative of Badla, he seems right at home. The cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay, the editing by Monisha R Baldawa and the background score by Clinton Cerejo compliment Ghosh’s edge-of-the-seat storytelling. The predictability of the screenplay dampens the thrills occasionally, also the climactic twist requires a healthy dose of suspense of disbelief. But, even the seasoned genre faithfuls will agree that Badla offers a creative and thrilling end to a captivating mystery.

Badla offers a clever recipe for revenge. Definitely worth a try. 

Sujoy Ghosh is back with a revenge drama. Badla, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu and Amrita Singh, will keep you on the edge of your seat all through the film

Badla does not just keep you hooked till the end but it destroys your delusion of ‘I’ve predicted the climax’. Outstandingly performed mind-numbing drama that is on a slow burner and in those last couple of minutes, it explodes like a good dream.

BADLA is a smart and impressive suspense drama with the shocking climax and riveting performances being its USP. At the box office, its prospects might be limited to multiplex audience.

Sujoy Ghosh is a leading light among thriller makers in Bollywood. His Kahaani (2012) starring Vidya Balan set new standards for the industry in this area. The pressure to live up to expectations raised by that film did show in the writing of the climax for Kahaani 2 (2016), but he reminded us of his unmistakable talent for mystery with director Ribhu Dasgupta’s unfortunately underrated Te3n (2016) starring Balan, Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, which he produced. Maybe some day he will replicate the brilliance of Kahaani, but today what he has given us is Badla: if you are not in too demanding a mood, this is an enjoyable film.

All in all, the film is well adapted, but does feel like the plot is too convoluted, and it goes on and on, even though it lasts only for two hours.

Bachchan is commanding as always but Pannu earns neither sympathy nor surprise, whereas Amrita Singh achieves both in her decisive role. If revenge is a dish best served cold, this one isn’t icy enough.

At the end Sujoy Ghosh captures two vital faces staring out of a window. They remind us of how important characterisation is to a tightly-wound plot, and how easily a suspense drama can come undone in the wrong hands.

Not this one.

As an attorney in this film says, “It’s all in the details—they can make or break a piece of evidence.” And it is this acute attention to the various singularities presented in this film that makes it worth sitting through.

Bachchan and Pannu are in fine form. Beyond them no other actor is of any major consequence save Amrita Singh who effortlessly steals everybody’s thunder and turns out to be Badla’s big takeaway. Here’s hoping to see her more often on screen.

While the climax doesn’t knock you off your feet, you will still enjoy the blow-by-blow account of how things escalated to a murder and a cover-up.

In my eyes, that’s a good enough reason to watch a suspense thriller.

With its fine detailing and superlative performances, Sujoy Ghosh’s cleverly-crafted Badla makes you realize that sometimes you can’t see what’s right in front of you.

And just like the Spanish version, Ghosh and writer Raj Vasant don’t dilute the Bollywood version with song-and-dance and skip the INTERVAL altogether.

At 125 minutes, ‘Badla’ is a thrilling watch. But, Ghosh can’t take any credit for it.

Badla has hugely familiar leads, and the casting of at least one of them allows Ghosh to deliver a weak and unconvincing coup de grace. Taapsee Pannu is unable to summon up the blank canvas onto which all manner of possibilities can be projected, while Amitabh Bachchan hops on the gravitas train for the nth time. The gender swap allows for a meaty role for Amrita Singh, who deftly plays a key character, and her presence, along with that of Tony Luke, work strongly in the movie’s favour and helps it along its pretzel-shaped journey.