Sanjay Mishra and Neena Gupta: Vadh Movie Review
This small-town crime thriller, which also stars Neena Gupta and was directed by Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Rajeev Barnwal, is led by Sanjay Mishra.
To be honest, the Vadh teaser revealed more information than it should have. You should be able to infer from the title alone that there will be a murder. However, contrary to Sanjay Mishra’s argument in the movie, it is a “vadh” and not a “hatya.” What makes the two different from one another? Hatya is straightforward murder, whereas “vadh” is the execution of a victim as retribution for misdeeds.
Shabhunath Mishra, played by Sanjay Mishra, is a retired teacher who works as a tutor at home to support his family. Manju (Neena Gupta), his wife, has knee joint problems and may require surgery. Their son, together with his wife and daughter, remains in the US.
At a nearby cybercafe, Mishra ji and his wife use Skype to communicate with their son. For his son’s education and to send him to the US, Mishra ji took out a loan for Rs. 25 lakhs. The son doesn’t appreciate his parents’ contributions and believes that their illnesses are just a pretext for requesting money. Tomorrow, I’ll send 5,000,” he promises his father.
In the first scene of Vadh, Mishra ji is attempting to deploy a brand-new mousetrap that will both catch and kill mice. Manju opposes it and advises that killing mice is preferable to trapping them and releasing them outside the home.
After this preparation, you know what to anticipate. Mishra ji reads the pulp fiction magazine Manohar Kahaniyaan as well, which brings up setup. A dishonest but well-intentioned constable named Shakti Singh (Manav Vij) cautions Pandey from bothering Mishra ji. Mishra ji and his wife have a close relationship with Billi, a student who attends their home for tutoring.
When Pandey arrives at Mishraji’s home to show the property to a potential buyer, he looks at this schoolgirl. Billi is instructed to leave the residence immediately by Mishraji. She receives a 100 rupee note from Pandey.
In the future, when Pandey comes to Mishra ji’s home late at night to bother him, he requests that Mishra ji bring Billi for him to stay with. The old guy kills Pandey out of anger after his contempt escalates to disgust. This is not a major spoiler because you anticipate it to occur as events progress. But this situation is not entirely as it seems. The movie is much richer than that.
In the heat of the moment, Mishra ji kills Pandey and then freezes. When his wife returns from the temple and enters the house, he begins to make sense. The corpse is subsequently chopped by the old man in cold blood.
He deftly disposes of all the potential bits of evidence in the nights that follow, acting as though he were experiencing one of the Manohar Kahaniyaan tales he reads. During these scenes, I began to believe that Vadh was a Drishyam-style production with a more modest budget.
The treatment is realistic thanks to the writing-directing team of Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Rajeev Barnwal. In Madhya Pradesh, the movie was filmed in actual places. The language flows naturally, and the plot moves along without any bumps.
The cast as a whole transcends the script. Sanjay Mishra is, of course, the one leading from the front. The performer transitions from the real-life Mishraji to the fictional Mishraji with ease. He displays his character’s haplessness, helplessness, and cold-bloodedness with equal ease.
Neena Gupta is remarkably natural as his wife Manju. She finds it very difficult to accept her spouse killing a man in her home. The filmmakers are successful in upholding this moral ambiguity throughout the entire movie. Manav Vij makes a good cop with his grey shades. As the dirty Pandey, Saurabh Sachdeva performs admirably.
The second half of Vadh is much more than just the cop Shakti Singh questioning Mishra ji, who he had previously backed, and seeking to identify the murderer of Pandey. Shakti Singh also has a secret. The purpose of this morally grey story is not to render poetic justice. Instead, the characters swap morality for mutual gain, yet there is still a karmic element to it. It is worthwhile to look into.