Director: Meghna Gulzar
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah, Atul Kumar, Gajraj Rao
Running Time: 132 mins
GUILTY is a film based on the real life events of a family in India. After a 14-year-old girl and the family servant are found brutally murdered, a CDI detective has to figure out what happened, all as the murders become the most discussed topic in Indian media.
Two theories surrounded these murders; that the girl’s parents murdered her and their servant after having found them in bed together, or other servants assaulted and murdered the girl, then killed the servant after he threatened to tell the parents. This class divide is what sparked the media attention. The local police handled the crime scenes with no care at all, meaning detective Ashwin Kumar (Irrfan Khan) has to try to work with a contaminated crime scene and figure out what is actual evidence and what is just opinion.
The film is very long, and at some points it feels it. This is obviously still a very raw issue in India and it is clear director Meghna Gulzar wanted to take as much time as necessary to give every theory screen time. It feels as if the main purpose of this film was to highlight how flawed the Indian justice system can be. This is an interesting aspect to the film and not something which is traditionally seen.
One of the strongest aspects here is the acting and the layout of the plot. One of the most interesting points is when characters are trying to imagine the sequence of events during the murders. For this, different scenarios are acted out i.e. we see in one version the parents crying hysterically, and in the other they have no emotion on their faces at all. Scenes like this are interesting and show that Gulzar wanted to remain as unbiased as possible. The film leaves it up to you to decide which side is correct. There are terrific scenes where detectives are presenting their evidence (for both theories) and arguing about which one is correct, and ridiculing the other side’s. This gives the audience the opportunity to decide for themselves, as no theory is proven to be right. Irrfan Khan gives a great performance and so do most of the other actors here. It is good to see that a film with so many different actors in it is not let down by any of their performances.
Unfortunately, there are currently no plans for Guilty to be released in British cinemas – this is a shame because it is a film worth seeing. If you like films based on real-life crimes or are interested in seeing something a little different and from another country’s perspective, Guilty is the ideal film.
Verdict
