Over the centuries, India has produced some of the finest minds that the world has seen & it's a testament of our educational system. However, with time just like with every other system this also requires an upgrade & it's high time it is implemented so as to take advantage of the wealth of human resources that we have at our disposal. Our educational system needs to create individuals who could think critically with the knowledge provided rather than merely regurgitate verbatim onto the answer sheet. There has been no dearth of corruption in the education sector where money speaks more than talent at times & one such incident happened to be the Vyapam scam in MP in 2013. This happened to be the inspiration for Randeep Jha's "Halahal" which released last weekend on Eros Now.
Dr. Shiv Shankar Sharma (Sachin Khedekar), a reputed physician wakes up to the news of the death of his daughter, Archana (Enab Khizra); a brilliant Medical student. As per the the police, they conclude the cause of death to be suicide & promptly decides to close the case much to the dismay of the family especially since there were discrepancies in the autopsy report. The attitude of the investigation team raises suspicion in Dr. Sharma as it was evident that they had some ulterior motive. Soon enough he realizes that his daughter was the victim of a conspiracy though he didn't have any solid evidence to substantiate his claims. So he decides to sought the help of a corrupt officer Yusuf Qureshi (Barun Sobti) who swayed to the direction where the scent of money wafted from. Can Yusuf be trusted & will the real culprits ever be caught???
There is no doubt that Randeep Jha has chosen an interesting topic in the scam of Medical seats which has been penned by the trio of Gibran Noorani, Zeishan Quadri & Sandeep Gade. The manner in which the story reveals itself slowly is a delight & the reveal that is made in the climax is pretty impressive. They have opted to create characters that have grey shades & have made it in a completely believable fashion. However, it falters as far as the pacing is concerned since Randeep ought to have made the events much more tighter to give that sense of urgency to the audience which isn't there & hence there is a risk of lethargy setting in at times. As for other aspects, Piyush Puty's cinematography deserves praise as the visuals and the colour tone was in sync with the mood.
Sachin Khadekar is in fine form as the helpless & frustrated father and giving him good company is Barun Sobti, who after his praise worthy performance in "Asur" has impressed yet again. There are quite a few decent supporting artists, but the movie is virtually carried forward on the able shoulders of Sachin & Barun.
Verdict: It's not the type of the movie that would wow the audience but it is a slow pot boiler which will keep us interested, though it had scope for more if the execution was better. In short, give it a try!!!
Rating: 3/5
Regards...Ben
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