No wonder the treatment of the film has divided the audience. The meaning and importance of that movie are worthy subjects for discussion. There is one group who argues that the second half is highly condemn-able and vigilantism is not the answer. There is another set who loved it as they say the payback of eye for an eye is apt to deal in this kind of situation. From my end, though the social issue of moral policing being used as back drop, the film is more focused towards self-worth, ego and manhood. This film also revisit established definitions of hero and villain. The first half deals with moral policing and how the couple's joyful ride ends in shocking event, The night and the ordeal was bit painful to watch and tension gave away to annoyance soon. A finer editing and trimming down would have helped here a lot. Then comes the much talked about second half where the male pride and chauvinism drives the outcome. The film moving towards an effective psychological drama of inducing pain to bring out what they want is not that effective in execution. In the end we are reminded that the so called flatulent celebrations is just one side of the coin where in the other side (the real feeling of the women and what needs to change in attitude of society and men) is conveyed through the last 2 minute "gesture". And there goes my real applause. Having said that the concept is not new, if Varathan and Badlapur went on extreme side, the best movie that dealt with this subject so beautifully are The Salesman (the Iranian Oscar winner) and Ghar (starring Vinod Mehra and Rekha). Its a good start but not entirely convincing for me though the performances were flawless.
Verdict - 3/5(The prestige)
