Even if the resolution leaves you underwhelmed – and despite the artfully placed pointers to seediness, with ragpickers, porn DVDs displayed proudly in stores, derelicts and druggies, some may feel Talaash is just classily dressed up crap – the film is so beautifully made and so atmospheric that several scenes stick in mind. Kagti brings this all together with a sure touch that her first film, the fitfully entertaining Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Why did the car end up in the water? Was it suicide? If not, who was behind the accident? In short, we seem to be in for a nail-biting police procedural based on a “high-profile case.” But gradually, that search takes a backseat to others – a father’s search for peace, a wife’s search for a husband who’s vanished into a void of self-flagellation, and a forgotten victim’s search for closure.
The talaash of the title, at first, suggests the search for answers. Out on the streets, though, he’s a coward who meets a most unheroic death.
STORY OF TALAASH MOVIE 2012 DRIVER
Perhaps it’s too soon to declare that the biggest Bollywood stars are playing their age, shying away from overt heroics, but consider this: the driver of the doomed vehicle is himself a big Bollywood star, whose heroism is reserved for the shooting spot, where he’s seen guns blazing, in front of a green screen. (His dourness is doubled thanks to a thick moustache that curls downwards, resembling the emoticon for a frown.) As he drives up to the scene of an accident – a car swerved off the road and flew into the Arabian Sea, killing its driver – an awestruck subordinate tells him, “ Bahut suna hai aapke baarein mein.” This hint of far-reaching fame makes us expect another valorous saga like Sarfarosh – the film, instead, is an existential mood piece. Reema Kagti’s Talaash similarly dismantles the halo around its hero Aamir Khan, who plays the dour Inspector Suri Shekhawat. At the beginning of Jab Tak Hai Jaan, we watched Shah Rukh Khan make his appearance while defusing a bomb as the people around him spoke admiringly of his heroism – but the film, it turned out, wasn’t interested in heroics at all.