Vadh 2

A sequel is always a perilous undertaking. Once a film has established its tonal register and moral grammar, the space for reinvention narrows considerably. The past looms large, often shackling imagination and circumscribing execution. Jaspal Singh Sandhu’s Vadh 2 negotiates this terrain cautiously. While it is not a narrative continuation of Vadh (2022), it inhabits the same ethical cosmos, tethered by mood rather than plot. The connection is atmospheric, not anecdotal, and viewers are best served by leaving memories of the earlier film at the threshold.

Justice, we all know, by and large eludes the powerless. On screen, however, poetic justice as well as its vigilante variant has been delivered time and again. At times with a loud thump and less often in a quiet, restrained tone. ‘Vadh’, as the name suggests, is about killing. Since the word has much significance in mythology, we know it would be for the right reasons. Enter a jail in Madhya Pradesh. Now the much-acclaimed series ‘Black Warrant’ and many other Indian films have already shown us what all the innards of a jail possibly entail. So you bet the presence of a despicable criminal like Keshav (Akshya Dogra), with deep political connections, hardly comes as a surprise. What does is the tender love story brewing between a criminal serving life sentence and one of the jail’s guards. Trust both Neena Gupta and Sanjay Mishra to breathe life into their characters of Manju Mishra and Shambhunath Mishra.

Over the years, carceral imagery has been an important creative device for shaping tales of confinement and social control. This week, Shambhunath Mishra (Sanjay Mishra), a prison guard struggling with financial burdens and personal isolation, forms an unlikely bond with Manju Singh (Neena Gupta), an inmate serving a life term for crimes she may not have committed. The intimacy amid isolation gets a jolt when one night a politically-connected predator disappears from prison, triggering an investigation. As a determined officer, Ateet Singh (Amitt K. Singh) takes charge, and elements of caste dynamics and power struggles surface, involving a strict but prejudiced superintendent (Kumud Mishra) and a perverted inmate (Akshay Dogra).

Vadh (2022) came without much fanfare, yet the narrative of a couple battling their circumstances gradually gained recognition as a thriller. Vadh 2 serves as a spiritual sequel to the original film, featuring the same characters, although the storyline is entirely independent of its predecessor. With a runtime of just over 2 hours, the film’s length is reasonable; but even that becomes an uphill task because of the bland screenplay that relies heavily on the final ‘twist’.

The opening minutes of Vadh 2 feature a surprisingly tender moment. It’s past midnight in a prison complex in the wilderness of Madhya Pradesh. A wall separates the female and male wards. Manju Singh (Neena Gupta), a senior inmate of 28 years, sits on one side of the wall and chats with Shambunath Mishra (Sanjay Mishra), a long-time constable, from the other side. It’s a ‘blind’ date of sorts; they can’t see each other, but it’s a routine etched from decades of familiarity (he’s the official bootlegger) and friendship (her friends refer to him as her “aashiq”). Under the stars, they discuss each other’s life now. Her term is ending and she doesn’t want to leave; he speaks of loneliness and offers her a bottle on his birthday. You feel for the old ‘couple’: united by shackles, divided by freedom. They could be a film on their own. One of the merits of Vadh 2 is that it never loses sight of this little film. It’s a moment that echoes across a story that keeps expanding: a moment that keeps reclaiming the eyes of companionship from the jaws of a crime thriller.

If you compare the two, the spiritual successor of the 2022 Vadh is better than the original, but as a stand-alone, Vadh 2 stops short on delivering on the promise it begins with. First off, though, props to the way the prison drama gives attention to all its characters, not just to the two main leads: Neena Gupta and Sanjay Mishra bear the same names, but, in an interesting turn, do not reprise their roles. In the first film, Shambhunath and Manju are middle-aged spouses, done in by the selfishness of an only son. In this one, the former works in Shivpuri prison, the latter is an inmate, serving life imprisonment for a double murder.

किसी निर्दोष को मारना हत्या कहलाता है और किसी अत्याचारी या दुष्ट को मारना वध। लेकिन कानून की नज़र में तो हर हत्यारा दोषी ही होगा न? और किसी को जान से मारा जाए तो वह हत्या होगी या वध यह कौन तय करेगा? 2022 में आई ‘वध’ में एक अधेड़ दंपती ने अपने घर में घुस कर उन्हें परेशान करने वाले दबंग का ‘वध’ किया था। अब ‘वध 2’ (Vadh 2) में मामला घर के अंदर का नहीं, जेल के अंदर का है। मंजू सिंह 28 बरस से जेल में बंद है। अब उसकी रिहाई होने वाली है। जल्द रिटायर होने वाले जेल के एक सिपाही शंभूनाथ मिश्रा के साथ उसका दोस्ताना है। जेल में बंद एक दबंग से हर कोई परेशान है। एक दिन वह गायब हो जाता है। कहां गया वह? क्या उसे मार दिया गया? उसकी लाश कहां गई? मिली या नहीं? मिली तो कहां, कैसे? और यह हत्या थी या वध? किसने मारा उसे? कैसे मारा?

The arrival of Keshav (Aksshay Dogra) who picks up two cute puppies, is such a fine piece of writing that even before he utters a word, you hate him. You want to kill him. The writing, along with direction that’s in complete control of every character and every situation, makes Jaspal Singh Sandhu’s second outing with Shambhunath Mishra (Sanjay Mishra) and Manju Singh (Neena Gupta) an intriguing watch as details come out in trickles. Sandhu and co-writer Neha Shitole begin with a preamble set in 1994. A young woman is sentenced for a double murder. No words spoken by her.