Halahal Shows Barun Sobti’s Uneasy Transformation

  The trailer of Halahal  promises  a fairly  gripping  thriller-drama  about a  father,  played by the  ever-dependable Sachin Khedekar who is convinced that his daughter’s suicide is  murder. Khedekar needs  no prompting to look like a  distraught after wrestling redtapism.He does well in  the  one-minute trailer  , exuding parental anxiety with  credible  convulsions. While the  work shirkers and  law enforcing rogues  look  guilty as sin.

 It’s Barun Sobti who had me staring at him with  disbelieving  eyes.  What WAS  he thinking? Sobti known for playing who characters who  express a  lot  less than they think , is  all over the place in Halahal as an uncouth corrupt cop who, obviously, goes through a moral transformation while helping the distraught father get justice.

Does  the transformative  character in khaki remind you of Ranveer Singh  in  Simmba? If  it  does, then  you are on  the right track.  The character  is   very much akin to Singh. But can Sobti  with his subdued persona and  allegiance to sobriety  pull  off  this  image-defying character? It’s like Waheeda Rehman playing Basanti.

In the trailer Sobti seems  hopefully miscast. We can  only hope for  the best , cross  our fingers  and wait for  the film to stream on  21 September.At the moment Sobti looks like the  film’s waterloo.