Badla

Naina, a successful businesswoman, is found locked in a hotel room with her lover's body and charged with murder. Her lawyer Badal Gupta arrives to build a defence and wants the truth. She tells it, he objects, the story is rebuilt. This happens several times. Sujoy Ghosh directed. Taapsee Pannu plays Naina, Amitabh Bachchan the lawyer. The film adapts the 2016 Spanish production The Invisible Guest. The structure is kept almost exactly; what changes is the setting and the characters' class position. The whole film is one room and conversation; with each new version the same scenes are reshot with different details. The balance between Bachchan and Pannu is the engine; each is measuring what the other knows. It did better than expected in India and became one of the most discussed of Bachchan's late films. For anyone who knows the twist, the rewatch value is low. Who it is for: viewers who like closed-room puzzles and conversational tension. Who it is not for: anyone who has seen the original; this is nearly identical.