Badla—Of Reversals and Power

Sujoy Ghosh's Badla is the official adaptation of the Spanish film Contratiempo. Set in Scotland, the film is the story of Naina (Taapsee Pannu), an entrepreneur, who finds herself locked in a hotel room with the corpse of her dead lover, Arjun (Tony Luke). Naina hires Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), a bigshot lawyer, to defend her. Using a series of conversations, Naina and Badal try to piece together the details, which leads them to the case of Sunny (Antonio Aakeel), a young boy whose parents, Rani (Amrita Singh) and Nirmal (Tanveer Ghani), are looking for him as he has gone missing.

The underlying theme that Badla consistently insists upon is the concept of reversal and turnarounds. The film's title Badla means revenge which is retaliation for someone's prior action that caused harm. Badal Gupta's first name is also taken from the word Badla by reversing the last two letters of the word. At the film's beginning, Badal tells Naina that just as Sanjay was the eyes of Dhritarashtra in the Mahabharata, Naina will be the eyes through which he will learn about the events of Arjun's murder. As the film progresses, Naina continuously hides facts and cooks up parts of her story. But as it turns out, it was Naina, someone whose name means eyes, who was the one who was blind, and Rani was her set of eyes. Rani had laid a trap to make Naina see what she wanted her to see, reversing the events from the perspective of Naina. Additionally, Naina and Badal kept mentioning six (6) and nine (9), again a set of reversed numbers. At some other point in the film, Badal reverses Naina's story when he discovers the truth that she was the one responsible for the death of Sunny. He retells Naina's story, but the events are reversed. She had masterminded the plan to hide Sunny's body instead of Arjun. He tells her, "Jab ek cheez reverse ki hai, toh sab karke dekhte hain." If one thing is reversed, let's reverse everything else. In this particular sequence, the positions of Naina and Arjun at the restaurant, when they talk about the role of Sunny as a thief, are also reversed. As the film stresses on details, it is also worthwhile to observe the costumes of Naina and Badal. Naina is dressed in green on the top while wearing black underneath. Badal is dressed in the reverse way, wearing a black suit with a green tie inside, bringing to the fore yet another motif related to the subject of reversal in the film. Badla also reverses the genders played by the characters of Contratiempo, where Naina's role was played by a man, while Badal's role was played by a woman. 

Badla is the third film in the oeuvre of Sujoy Ghosh, depicting the stories of mothers. In Kahaani, there was Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan), who lost her baby during pregnancy. In Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh, there was Vidya Sinha (Vidya Balan), also known as Durga Rani Singh, who was the mother of a teenage daughter. In Badla, there is Rani Kaur, the mother of a young man. These films are not part of a franchise, but these mothers seem connected. In Kahaani and Kahaani 2, there was the common name Vidya; in Kahaani 2 and Badla, there is the common name Rani. These are all mothers whose kids have progressively aged in the three films. What stands out in these films is that these are stories of ordinary mothers who go on to do extraordinary things for their children. They are persistent and never give up, even in extreme hardship and danger. There is the perception around these mothers that they are weak but actually quite powerful. The intelligence establishment tried to use Vidya Bagchi, but, in turn, it was she who tricked them. In this aspect, the conversation related to power between Naina and Rani becomes significant when David Rani, who has lost everything, defeats Goliath Naina. Badla also references Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men, which, like this film, was based on the theme of consensus building. But, it also was about the power of an individual to turn the tide in his favor. 

Even though Badla takes its material from another film, Sujoy Ghosh adds elements from the Mahabharata to his film. A fascinating story, such as the Mahabharata, provides concepts that can be applied in many situations. Early in the film, Badal asks Naina if she has read the story of the Mahabharata. Thereafter, he keeps commenting on instances from the epic that fit their particular situation. Naina's boyfriend, Arjun, is also named after a character from the Mahabharata. At some stage towards the end, Badal remarks that the Mahabharata was the story of the revenge of Draupadi. She had told Yudhistira that it is not right to seek revenge every time, but it is also not right to forgive every time either. Unlike the original Contratiempo, Badla makes mother Rani the driving force of the film, making it a story of badla similar to the revenge of Draupadi, too. Rani is Draupadi, who works with her husband Nirmal (Yudhistira) to plot revenge. In her meeting with Naina, Rani repeatedly stresses the immense power of Naina, who had the wherewithal to do anything to protect herself. Compared to Naina, Rani had limited power, yet she could find the truth about her son. She adds that those who are blinded by power are unable to see their own downfall. Likewise, the Mahabharata was also a story of power where the five Pandavas, even with their smaller army, could defeat the might of the hundred Kauravas with tact and strategy. When Badal discovers the truth, he again compares Naina to Duryodhana and says, "Tumne toh Duryodhana se bhi gehri chal chali hai." You outdid even Duryodhana in playing a trick. 

The film Kahaani also had a connection with the Mahabharata. There is a point in the film when Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan) asks Rana (Parambrata Chatterjee) the meaning of his formal name Satyoki. He tells her that Satyoki was Arjuna's saarthi (charioteer), i.e., it was another name for Krishna. Kahaani's script mentions a slightly different dialogue than what was made in the theatrical version, but it adds to the Mahabharata connection in Sujoy Ghosh's films.  

At another stage in the film, Badal Gupta tells Naina that Rani trapped her in a chakravyuh, referring to Abhimanyu's situation from the Mahabharata. It is hard to miss the chakravyuhs in the paintings in Naina's apartment that gave a feeling of a whirlpool. All the paintings in her apartment are sending this chakravyuh vibe that Naina is also trapped in one. This took me to Ravi Udyawar's MOM where there was a Mahabharata-themed exhibition. One of the paintings was about a red dot surrounded by Cs, representing Abhimanyu trapped in the Chakravyuha. In fact, MOM, like Badla, was another story of a mother who takes revenge against the men who harmed her daughter. MOM also talked about Mahabharata as the story of Draupadi's revenge. At one stage, Devki (Sridevi) stands in front of a red painting that symbolizes the washing of Draupadi's hair in Dushasana's blood. Like Rani, Devki, whom no one suspects of anything, goes on to surprise everyone by her vengeance.

Early in the film, it is established that Naina is an unreliable narrator. Her unreliability is shown even in small acts, like when she talks about smoking to her husband. Even then, I could not anticipate the twist until the end because I kept thinking that somehow, Naina's husband was connected to the murders and would come into the picture at some point in the film. Overall, I enjoyed the twists and turns of Badla.

There is a point in the film when Rani and Nirmal argue about the better actor between them. She reminds him of their younger days when they played a role in a theater group where Nirmal won the award for best acting for 12 Angry Men. It is not surprising that he plays the greatest role of his life by enacting the baritone and demeanor of a man who is still referred to as 'Angry Young Man.'

Trivia:

1. In his short film Ahalya, Sujoy Ghosh subverted the story of Ahalya from the Ramayana into a contemporary setting where the men were turned into stones.
2. The moment Badal takes off his mask is reminiscent of the one when Vidya takes off the fake baby bump in Kahaani.
3. The nameplate on Naina's car says N4INA, which is quite similar to her name.

4. Arjun says he owned a bookstore in Notting Hill. Anyone remembers the bookstore in Notting Hill? :)
5. In some other places in Badla, Shakespeare's plays, such as Twelfth Night and Julius Ceaser, can also be seen.

The Cutting Scissors:

Nothing has been cut in Badla.

Other Reading:

1. On MOM—Link

2. On Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh—Link

Dialogue of the Day:

"Darte toh woh hain jinke paas khone ke liye kuch hota hai."

—Rani, Badla