By Murtaza Ali Khan
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Our Rating: 7.5
IMDb Ratings: 6.7
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Cast: Shashank Arora, Ranvir Shorey, Shivani Raghuvanshi
Country: India
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 124 min
Color: Color
Titli is
a 2015 Indian crime drama film co-written and directed by debutant filmmaker Kanu Behl who previously collaborated with filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee (who’s
co-produced Titli along with Aditya
Chopra) on projects like Oye Lucky! LuckyOye! (as an assistant director) and Love Sex aur Dhoka (as a screenwriter). The
movie stars Ranvir Shorey, Shashank Arora, and Shivani Raghuvanshi in major
roles. Titli premiered at the 2014
Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.
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| Ranvir Shorey as Vikram in Titli |
Titli
is a daring film about losers. It's not common
to make such a film, for everyone wants to hear about winners and not losers.
Who would want to spend his/her time and money on watching a tale of losers and
their drudgeries on the silver screen? But, what if it is revealed during a sequence of events unfolding in the
late hours of the night that these losers are also a part of a nexus of
carjackers, protected by the local police, operating in the dark and depraved
underbelly of Delhi? And, just like that, we are hooked.
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| Shashank Arora in and as Titli |
Titli
revolves
around a dysfunctional family of small-time criminals consisting of a
manipulative father and three sons. The family’s criminal activities are led by
the eldest brother Vikram (Ranvir Shorey) who is well supported by the younger
brother Pradeep (Amit Sial). Vikram’s bane is his irascible and violent temper
and it has led to his wife and kid leaving him. However, the youngest brother
Titli (Shashank Arora) finds his brothers’ actions repugnant and wants to live
a respectable and an independent life far away from the clutches of his
brothers.
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| Titli with his wife Neelu |
Seeing Titli’s unwillingness
to assist them in their criminal outings, Pradeep convinces Vikram to arrange
for Titli’s marriage. The idea being that the responsibility of marriage would
force Titli to take up the family business. Also, it would allow them to recruit
in their gang Titli’s wife, whom they would be able to use as bait, thereby
improving their prospects as carjackers on the deserted roads in the outskirts
of the capital during the night. Titli is a fine example of new age Hindi cinema which relies on honest storytelling as oppose to star power.
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| A Still from Kanu Behl's Titli |
Titli is a warning, a harsh reminder
of the naked realities of the world we inhabit. Renowned American novelist and
playwright Cormac McCarthy has often highlighted in his works, like No Country for Old Men and The Counselor, the dichotomous aspect of
our world wherein there is a clearly visible civilized world, governed by law
and order, we think we have built for ourselves and the real world hiding
behind its goody-goody façade where the law of the jungle holds true. The dark alleys
in the outskirts of Delhi are for Behl what the Mexico-United States border is
for McCarthy: a treacherous realm marked by anarchy and chaos. Navdeep Singh’s NH10 deals with the same dichotomy.
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| A Still from Kanu Behl's Titli |
Overall, Titli is a powerful work of cinema that jabs us in the small of
our backs with the aim of dispelling our ignorance and apathy. The movie
reminds us of the constant dangers that surround us and the helplessness of law
to perpetually keep them at bay. Titli is not an easy film to watch and appreciate.
Some sections of the film are deeply disturbing and require strong viewer
discretion (there is one sequence in particular wherein Shorey’s character
opens up a man’s forehead by repeatedly bashing it with a hammer). The movie's raw
power and its brutally honest filmmaking style remind us of crime dramas like City of God (2002) and American History X (1998). Shashank
Arora and Ranvir Shorey (easily his best performance since his remarkable turn
in Rajat Kapoor's Mithya) are an absolute treat to
watch as brothers of a dysfunctional family of small time criminals. And
barring the unsatisfactory and inconsistent third act denouement (a
Bollywood-like ending intended to satisfy one and all), Titli proves to be a
riveting cinematic experience.
Readers, please feel free to share your views/opinions in the comment box below. As always your insightful comments are highly appreciated!
References:
References:
Titli (2015) Trailer (YouTube)
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