Vadh (2022) :
Movie Review -
Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Rajeev Barnwal's Vadh stars two mature actors, Sanjay Mishra and Neena Gupta, and a bunch of talented fellas. The film has a topic about a perfect murder, which is indeed old and done and dusted, but the ideology of intolerance here is something that we can say is new. The film isn't a typical mainstream thriller; rather, I would say, it never looked like a thriller to me, but the attempt to explore the dark side of an already known event is praiseworthy. Usually, things like murder, the name of the killer, evidence, the murder weapon, a cover-up, the investigation, and judgments are kept secrets till the climax, but Vadh opens all the cards right on the spot whenever the events take place. That makes it predictable, and there is a slow screenplay to take you on a tedious journey within 100 minutes.
Vadh is the story of an old married couple, Shambhunath (Sanjay Mishra) and Manju (Neena Gupta), who were satisfied with their mundane middle-class life, until their son decided to go for higher studies in the USA. The debts are too high to be paid from their income, which was taken for the son, who doesn't care about it anymore. During the dry spell, there is a threat from a local goon, Prajapati Pandey (Saurabh Sachdeva), who is after their property. His regular visits to collect debt are quite annoying and disturbing for Manju and Shambhunath. While his demands become too filthy, Shambhunath has to commit a crime, which later turns into a perfect murder. Despite his confession and inner guilt, he leads to a new path that talks about plausible effects, but will it be that easy while the local cop, Shakti Singh (Manav Vij), is set to catch them for some personal agenda? Find out all the answers in the film, and stay away from spoilers.
Written by the director duo of Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Rajeev Barnwal, Vadh isn't a bad script at all. It's just that it's too predictable and slow. Up until the interval point, you have nothing happening on the screen. The trailer has already shown you its USP, so you keep looking for the murder to take place. It comes too late for you, and that's where you start losing interest. In the second half, things are a little pacy, but there is nothing unexpected as such that can elevate your viewing experience. The writing is at fault for this, and the screenplay too is equally responsible. What you like here is the positivity spread by the protagonist. There is a twist to his perspective on the crime, which is quite different from regular thrillers.
Sanjay Mishra's performance has lifted the film from a death bed. He put life into a story that you never cared for with his utterly honest and realism-filled performance. Loved every scene when he cries because there is nothing artificial about that. He cries just like any poor person would in real life. Neena Gupta in his wife's role is excellent as always. These are powerful performers, so you expect nothing less from them, and they just don't disappoint you. Manav Vij's cop is good, but what a solid act Saurabh Sachdeva has delivered, man. He will leave you with an impact such that you'll want to see more of him in the future. A perfect evilous bastard he played. The supporting cast isn't particularly impressive, but it's also not particularly bad.
On the technical front, Vadh didn't have much scope anyway, so it's not a mandatory topic of discussion. But yes, it does have a few scenes that need technical support, and luckily the film gets it. Watch the slaying scene with that background score and the smart use of the framework there. Rest assured, it's an average affair in terms of editing and set design. Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Rajeev Barnwal's duo gets the body right but not the soul. Throughout the film, you miss something. The gravity and weight required to investigate the horrible situations that the poor couple would have faced are absent. Sandhu and Barnwal have focused more on regular stuff than outside portions. You see, there is a lack of uniqueness in the storytelling. You can sense it from the beginning, and it never comes to help you. The logical statistics aren't there in the climax, which makes you leave the auditorium a little confused and half-filled. Overall, a strictly average film lifted by the great Sanjay Mishra.
RATING - 5/10*
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