Rajkummar Rao, that chameleon of an actor and the uncrowned Badshah of biopics, returns. This time he is cast as public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. While titled after Nikam, the movie functions less as a traditional biopic and more as an intense courtroom drama. And that is its greatest strength.
The humbug factor is kept firmly in check. The narrative focuses primarily on the legal trial of Ajmal Kasab (played somewhat theatrically by Lalit Prabhakar), the lone terrorist captured alive during the 2008 Mumbai 26/11 attacks.
Getting the very talented cinematographer-director Avinash Arun to tell Nikam’s courtroom struggle with Kasab and his glib lawyer is a masterstroke. Arun is not a conventional Bollywood raconteur. His roots are in authentic cinema. Prahar never feels unnecessarily commercialized, nor bogged down by a severely self-consciously arty storytelling format. Rather, it moves on its own volition, avoiding triteness and pedestrianism and opting for understatement most of the way.
By and large, it feels right. The narrative tracks the journey of Ujjwal Nikam from his initial legal triumph during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts to his appointment as the special prosecutor following the 26/11 attacks. Instead of dwelling extensively on the violence of the 26/11 attacks, the narrative serves as a focused procedural drama detailing how the state prosecution meticulously constructed its case against Ajmal Kasab.
It highlights the legal strategies, cross-examinations and appeals that eventually led to Kasab’s conviction and execution in 2012, while also revealing Nikam’s internal drive to expose the cross-border handlers behind the conspiracy.
Whatever the film’s drawbacks—for one, it occasionally seems too solemn and anxious—Rajkummar Rao’s performance brings an enriching validity to the courtroom conflict. He is restrained and yet all over the place. His courtroom banter with Sikandar Kher as Mohd. Ahfaz Qureshi (a fictionalized defence attorney representing Kasab’s council) and Ashish Vidyarthi as Justice M.L. Tahiliyani (the presiding judge), are highlights of the film.
But the real scene-stealer of this compelling, quotable courtroom drama is little Verghese Dior. Playing a 9-year-old eyewitness to Kasab’s butchery, she knocks the ‘bawl’ out of the court.
Jaideep Ahlawat, returning weeks after his triumphant act in Drishyam, The Conclusion is all swag and serenity as a Pakistani lawyer; not overdoing the ‘Janaab’ and ‘Inshaallah’ stereotype, he makes the man look human.
The courtroom, for a change, moves realistically away from what we see in our movies. The dialogues do not strain for effect, nor do they turn legal proceedings into a vaudeville show.
The film is important for telling us what transpired in Mumbai on 26/11, 2008, but also for reminding us it can happen again. The plot is constructed with rare care, and the storytelling seldom seems compromised. There are no diversions,unless we look at Mrs Ujjawal Nikam (Wamiqa Gabi, miscast) adding nothing to the proceedings except the you-have-no-time-for-home trope.
