Film

Badla

Name: Badla
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Released: 2019
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Tony Luke, Amrita Singh, Manav Kaul

Badla is a tight, twisty courtroom thriller where a young woman accused of murder hires a brilliant lawyer to uncover what really happened. Built on clever dialogue and reversals rather than spectacle, it's a showcase for Amitabh Bachchan's weathered intelligence and Taapsee Pannu's sharp defiance. Satisfying for anyone who loves a plot that respects your attention.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a sharp whodunit where the suspense lives in interrogation rooms and clever back-and-forth, and you enjoy being outfoxed by a script that keeps rearranging its own clues.

Skip it if the theatrical acting and heavy-handed emotional swings can feel overcooked, and if you want a grounded, realistic thriller, its contrivances may frustrate you.

What it asks of you: Two hours of close attention, with few action beats and mostly dialogue-driven scenes that reward patience and a good memory.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Pink2016

A sharp, principled legal thriller about consent and power starring Amitabh Bachchan as a lawyer defending three women against false accusations. Similar DNA to Badla—character-driven, dialogue-heavy, morally clear without being simple.

But Some scenes feel didactic rather than dramatically earned, and the tone occasionally tilts toward messaging over story momentum.

Drishyam2015

A masterclass in how to construct an airtight alibi. A man uses his knowledge of cinema to outwit investigators after a crime. The same satisfaction as Badla—watching a nimble mind work its way through an impossible situation.

But It's more mechanical than emotional. If you need character warmth or moral complexity, you might find it cold.

Mulk2018

Rishi Kapoor at his finest as a Muslim patriarch defending his family's honour in court after his nephew is arrested on terror charges. Serious, dignified, with the same faith in intelligent conversation that makes Badla work.

But The film occasionally simplifies complex prejudices into speeches, and the pacing can drag in the second act.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Badla

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro1983

Both films understand that intelligence and wit are more powerful than violence, and that a story about being smarter than your opponent is inherently dramatic. They share DNA.

A 1983 comedy-thriller that invents the playful, twisty Indian courtroom film decades before Badla made it fashionable. Two photographers stumble onto a murder and must outsmart everyone around them. It's funny, clever, and genuinely surprising—the ancestor Badla didn't know it had.

But The print quality can be patchy, the pacing feels slack to modern eyes, and the humour is specifically of its time. It asks patience.

Jolly LLB 22017

Akshay Kumar as a scrappy underdog lawyer taking on a corrupt system. Lighter and more comedic than Badla, but with the same energy of an ordinary person outthinking their opponents through cunning and persistence.

But The humour skews broad, and it sometimes feels more interested in being entertaining than in the legal mechanics it sets up.

Section 3752019

Released the same year as Badla, this is a courtroom duel about a rape accusation with Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chadha circling each other. Provocative, efficiently made, and genuinely interested in the murk of he-said-she-said.

But Its commitment to moral ambiguity will frustrate anyone looking for clear villains, and some viewers will find it dismissive of real trauma.

Talvar2015

Irrfan Khan in a reconstruction of the Aarushi Honchowry case, exploring how the same evidence can support wildly different interpretations. Procedural, unhurried, and genuinely unsettling in its implications.

But The film offers no resolution and no catharsis—it's designed to disturb rather than satisfy, which some will find frustrating.

Jai Bhim2021

A Tamil-language legal drama where a lawyer investigates police brutality using method and persistence rather than heroics. Methodical, furious, and deeply human—courtroom thriller as moral reckoning.

But It's nearly three hours, deals with graphic violence and systemic injustice, and offers anger rather than catharsis. Heavy viewing.

Natrang2010

A Marathi film about a man who finds fame and power through a folk performance, only to have it corrupt him. Different genre entirely, but shares Badla's interest in how people deceive and are deceived, and what gets revealed under pressure.

But It's oblique and anti-climactic if you're expecting a conventional arc, and the cultural context may be unfamiliar to Hindi-cinema viewers.

Rashomon1950

Same central question: truth is unreliable, witnesses deceive (intentionally or not), and the version you believed first is almost certainly wrong. Badla is Rashomon filtered through modern Hindi cinema.

Kurosawa's masterpiece: four witnesses tell contradictory accounts of the same crime. Badla's entire engine—what really happened, whose story is true—comes from this structure. Watch the film that invented the twist-within-a-twist and understand how much of modern thriller DNA traces back here.

But It's black-and-white, subtitled, and from 1950. If you need colour and contemporary settings to stay engaged, that's fair. It also offers moral ambiguity rather than resolution.

Memories of Murder2003

Both films believe that the investigative process—watching someone think—is more compelling than action or spectacle. They share patience with character and moral complexity over plot mechanics.

A Korean film where detectives hunt a serial killer through a small town during political upheaval. Bong Joon-ho's masterpiece: tense, darkly funny, and absolutely grounded in the psychology of investigation and failure. It shares Badla's belief that a thriller lives in the minds of clever people trying to solve impossible puzzles.

But It's longer, grimmer, and more interested in disappointment than resolution. If you want catharsis, you won't get it. Subtitled, obviously.