Te3n Trailer Knocks You Senseless

Last seen director Ribhu Dasgupta was grappling with his own Yuddh on television . The experience was a disaster for all concerned. The fact that Yuddh was an unmitigated disaster has not deterred its principal protagonist Amitabh Bachchan to come together withRibhu again, this time for a feature film that promises to raise some uncomfortable questions while offering the kind of edge-of-the-seat Kolkata-driven suspense that we saw in Kahaani.

Hang on. Didn’t we mention that Te

3n is produced by Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh? This time Vidya Balan is cast as an investigative cop on the trail of what appears to be serial child abuser.

It’s a  yucky subject to wade into. But dammit, it’s a yucky world out there. And we need to know through cinema of  the existence and to acknowledge this world of predators who feast on innocent children.

A spirit of melancholy grips the initial moments of the riveting trailer when AmitabhBachchan who was last seen mourning for his dead daughter in Wazir, is here mourning for his slain grand daughter.He listen on archaic audio cassette to a little anguished girl’s regretful outburst As the child’s anguished outpouring reaches a crescendo he stops the cassette abruptly.

The poignancy quotient is thus multiplied and the suspense element sharpened with a relentless stress on building a mood of foreboding and terror.

While the Big B dominates the spellbinding trailer, Vidya Balan is used sparingly in the chilling canvas. But yes, she does play a strong assertive woman in charge of herself and her work place in a male-dominated profession.

Most intriguing of all  is the casting of Nawazuddin Siddiqui  who is cast as priest with guilt-ridden past. Troublesomely Nawaz doesn’t look like a Catholic priest. I know we are indulging in a spot of stereotyping here. And this is precisely the mindset that a film like Te3n fights off with valiant vigour.

So is this the advent of a new directorial talent? Looks like.. Is this another opportunity for The Big B and Vidya to dazzle in simultaneous splendor as they did in Vidhu VinodChopra’s Eklavya?  Most definitely , yes! Would Nawaz surprise us by cloaking his earthy persona in convincing Catholicism?  Most likely.

An interesting aside: filmmakers and scriptwriters are looking at finding unique ways of casting Mr Bachchan with young beautiful co-actresses. The process started with Balki’sCheeni Kam where Mr B was paired with Tabu. In the recent Piku he was placed in a situation of compelling conflict with Deepika Padukone. Now in Te3n it’s Vidya Balan who is locked in a collaborative conflict of crime and punishment with the Big B.

Can’t wait.