Vadh 2 movie review: Simple virtues of Vadh 2…

Director Jaspal Singh SandhuActors Sanjay Mishra Neena GuptaRating 3 starsFirst off this film in parts could be a masterclass in onscreen actingThose parts being quite linearly divided between its top four leads who individually get almost equal exclusive screen time to draw the audiences in with their quietly understated performances throughout the filmrsquos twohoursplus tight durationEach is worthy of central roles at the movies anywayNamely actors Sanjay Mishra Neena Gupta Kumud Mishra Amitt K Singh The latter is a young confident detective investigating disappearance and possible murder of a highprofile inmate at a prison where Kumud plays a casteist calm jailerThe centre of attention is Neena Guptarsquos character whorsquos been behind bars for decades having supposedly befriended a lowly jail employee that is Sanjay Mishra along the wayBetween these topnotch performances the setup is stellar What about the payoffHave to admit there are multiple passages you might find yourself ignoring whatrsquos going on on the big screen and switch to your second screen insteadPrecious little happens by way of plotThat said a pic like this worksexcels not so much for the story per se as for its storytelling as it were As this does Vadh 2 is obviously a sequel In the sense that merely the two main actors returnChiefly Sanjay as the quietly genial Shambhu Nath Mishra mdash looking equally lost unkempt as is and being so himself that you can hear audiences respond to his every moveline even when he isnrsquot saying anything particularly funny or of much import anywayThe way Mishra Ji Ankhon Dekhi Kaamyaab is in general in life Hersquos such an Old Monk isnrsquot it Which is also his choice of drink Equally for the other rumdrinkers in this ensemble castTherersquos a portion where Sanjayrsquos character tells Neena about how his wife thatrsquos actually her had passed away his son had moved on leaving his parents behind with a huge debt theyrsquod taken in order to settle him abroadThatrsquos the story of the OG Vadh 2022 also directed by Jaspal Singh Sandhu along with Rajeev Barnwal which felt vastly overthetop on occasion for a realistic smalltown suspensethrillerYou neednrsquot watch that in order to enjoy this The writerdirector Sandhu has taken a fresh stab at the characters and the script let alone the worldbuildingIt starts with the logo of Madhya Pradesh MP tourism which makes it an odd film for a tourism board to endorse Itrsquos set entirely within a ziladistrict jail supposedly in a smalltown called Shivpuri with all the crooks criminals that no one should visit MP forIrsquom guessing the filmrsquos been shot in Bhopal jail Which was also the location for the Netflix series Black Warrant 2025 similarly set within the premises of a prisonThe bone of connection is the brash uncouth son of an MLA Akshay Dogra whose reign within is supreme Nobody can rein this villain in Hersquos the guy gone missing from jail or possibly deadHerersquos the obvious rub though This is a whodunnit where you feel goodriddance towards the fellow for whateverrsquos been done to himSurely murder is illegal Hence the detective investigating the case The viewer is always two steps ahead of this cop Audience privilege is completeThe word vadh itself implies vanquishing evil in the context of a good cause The question is simply howwhenwhy You consume this genre in the mould of say Drishyam which is effectively a writerviewerrsquos obsession with an unsolvable crime or perfect murder as it wereSpeaking of Drishyam thatrsquos on to its threequel of course Malayalam movies inevitably do this slowburn better Among so many examples take the more recent Kishkindha Kaandam 2024 Wersquove inhaled such movies regularly on OTTs assuming thatrsquos where such content belongsItrsquos actually mildly therapeutic to be in a quieter hall muted background score heightened performances when the point of a scene is to lead to another and for movie itself to hold your attention with a simple storyThatrsquos the virtue of Vadh 2 I walked in having lowered my expectations It remains a rare instance when the sequelrsquos way better