Movie Review: Vadh 2
Two ageing people, rejected by society. A woman who has been in prison for 28 years and dreads the freedom of the world outside. A man, a constable, who sits on the other side of the prison wall and listens to her woes. A prison where the superintendent does as he wishes, till he comes up against a deadly foe.
A spiritual sequel to Vadh (2022) where Neena Gupta and Sanjay Mishra played a desperate couple, Vadh 2 makes excellent use of two actors who say so much with their silences. Mishra, long condemned to comedic roles in star-fuelled franchises, has emerged as the philosopher we didn’t know we needed, with his pithy take on humanity. Gupta is a powerhouse who can go from traditional to modern in the blink of an eye. They function as our stand-ins as we observe the goings-on in prison—which reminded me of the series Black Warrant. Crime and punishment are terrible things. They weigh you down, but in an odd way watching them unravel onscreen is the greatest catharsis.