Badla 2019

Here’s my rephrased version:

Naina Sethi, a poised and accomplished businesswoman with a seemingly flawless life, has her world turned upside down when she’s apprehended for the murder of her clandestine lover, Arjun. Enter Jimmy, her lawyer, who enlists the expertise of the illustrious defense attorney Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan) to defend Naina’s innocence. As they collaborate into the wee hours, their investigation unravels a tangled web of deceit and betrayal.

According to Badal, a crucial eyewitness has come forward, poised to incriminate Naina at any moment. Naina counters that she and Arjun were being blackmailed for their illicit affair. They received an ominous summons to a remote hotel room, where they were instructed to bring a substantial sum of money. When they arrived, Naina’s phone pinged with a text from Arjun’s device, warning her that their secret was about to be exposed. The next thing she knew, she was knocked unconscious. Awakening to find Arjun’s lifeless body and the blackmail payment scattered around them, Naina was met with the unwelcome arrival of police. Despite her protests of innocence, she was taken into custody.

The police investigation yielded no leads suggesting anyone else was present in the room or had broken in. The only clue that seemed out of place was the removal of the Allen key used to open hotel room windows due to heavy snowfall. As Badal begins to suspect Naina’s story may be more complex than initially thought, he presses her for more information. He produces a newspaper clipping about Sunny, a young man who had gone missing near the hotel and asks Naina how she’s connected to this case.

As Naina (no actor name provided) embarks on a narrative journey, she takes us back in time to a pivotal moment three months prior when she made the fateful decision to deceive her husband and daughter about attending a business trip in Paris. Instead, she found herself at a secluded cabin outside Scotland, reunited with Arjun (no actor name provided). As their weekend getaway came to a close, Naina’s guilt over lying to her loved ones ultimately led her to confess that she wanted to end their relationship. The ensuing heated argument between the two while driving home took an unexpected turn when a deer suddenly appeared on the road, causing Naina to lose control of the vehicle and collide with another car. Tragically, the driver of the other vehicle, Sunny (no actor name provided), lost his life in the accident.

As panic set in, Arjun reassured Naina that they couldn’t involve the authorities if they wanted to move on from the incident. He persuaded her that Sunny hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt and was distracted by texting at the time of the crash, making his demise not their responsibility. Convinced by Arjun’s logic, they decided to flee the scene but were soon thwarted when their own vehicle refused to start. Just as they feared being discovered, a car approached them, and Arjun swiftly hid Sunny’s lifeless body before assuming the identity of the other driver. As the driver stopped to inspect the situation, Naina and Arjun pretended to be exchanging insurance information, trying to cover up the accident.

As Sunny’s phone began to ring, Arjun answered it, posing as an insurance agent speaking with his “client.” The ruse convinced the driver, who departed, unaware of the truth. Naina then disposed of Sunny’s vehicle in a nearby swamp, attempting to erase all evidence of their involvement. Little did they know, however, that fate had other plans.

In a surprising turn of events, Rani (Amrita Singh) and Nirmal, a concerned couple, stumbled upon Arjun stranded on the side of the road. They kindly invited him back to their home to get Naina’s car fixed. Unbeknownst to them, however, Arjun had forgotten to dispose of Sunny’s phone, which began ringing once more. As Rani called out to the device, Arjun hastily improvised an explanation, claiming he had simply been sitting on it. The couple, however, remained skeptical, their suspicions piqued.

As Naina and Arjun returned home, they were confronted with a news report featuring Sunny’s face, prompting them to worry that their cover would soon be blown.

As the investigation into Sunny’s disappearance intensifies, Naina finds herself under scrutiny when her vehicle is linked to the case. In a desperate bid to deflect attention, she had previously disposed of her car and filed a fake missing person’s report in Scotland. The authorities, however, remain skeptical and demand proof of her time spent abroad. Jimmy, ever loyal, concocts a fabricated alibi for Naina, allowing her to distance herself from the investigation and clear her name from the suspect list. Meanwhile, Arjun leverages his wife’s connections at the bank to manufacture a narrative that Sunny was embezzling funds and had gone into hiding, thereby redirecting suspicion away from murder. Though this ploy successfully diverts attention, Naina is wracked with guilt over their deceitful actions.

In a dramatic turn of events, Rani, Arjun’s wife, confronts Naina at a business gathering, masquerading as an economist. With an air of authority, she reveals her knowledge of Naina’s true whereabouts and her suspicions that Naina is the last person who can provide vital information about Sunny’s disappearance. Furthermore, Rani produces Naina’s lighter, which had previously been returned to Arjun by Nirmal when he departed their residence. Despite the weight of Rani’s words, Naina refuses to cooperate.

Months later, a mysterious blackmailer emerges, prompting Arjun to dispose of his phone before meeting them at the Glen Moehr Hotel, where Arjun was found murdered. The blackmailer, knowing full well that Arjun will not be receiving any messages due to his phoneless state, sends Naina a cryptic text, effectively framing her for the crime.

In the midst of this turmoil, Badal hypothesizes that Rani had both the motive and opportunity to commit the murder, given her husband’s employment at the Glen Moehr Hotel. He suggests to Naina that Rani could have easily hidden in the room before they entered, received the Allen key from Nirmal, and then made a quick escape through the window. By implicating Rani and Nirmal, they can deflect suspicion away from Naina and exonerate her from the case. Furthermore, Badal advises Naina to confess to having been in Paris on the day of Sunny’s murder, which would effectively shift the focus onto Arjun as the perpetrator of that crime. With pressure mounting for Naina to reveal the location of Sunny’s body, she is forced to confront the reality that her own life is becoming increasingly entangled in a web of deceit and suspicion.

As the truth begins to unravel, Naina’s duplicity is laid bare when she confesses that Sunny was still alive in the trunk before she disposed of the car, and that she had deliberately killed him to clear her own name. Badal, shocked by Naina’s cold-blooded calculations, proposes an alternate scenario where she pressured Arjun into hiding Sunny’s disappearance. In this narrative, Arjun is wracked with guilt and decides to reveal the truth to Rani and Nirmal at the hotel, sending a text that Naina claims is from the blackmailer. This sparks a chain reaction, culminating in Naina’s attempted murder of Arjun and her subsequent injury, which she blames on Rani.

However, Badal refuses to take up Naina’s case, demanding instead that she be honest about whether or not she killed Arjun. Confronted with the truth, Naina begrudgingly admits her guilt. Despite this revelation, Badal surprisingly agrees to defend her, revealing that he had merely been bluffing to extract a truthful confession from her. As Badal excuses himself for a walk outside, Naina receives a call from Jimmy, only to discover that Badal’s pen is secretly recording their conversation.

The truth hits her like a ton of bricks when the real Badal Gupta arrives at her door, and she discovers that she had actually been speaking with Nirmal, who had cleverly disguised himself as Badal. Rani promptly calls the authorities, while Nirmal quotes the Mahabharata, referencing Draupadi’s revenge, which has been taken by Yudhishthira (Nirmal).

The movie concludes with another poignant quote from the ancient epic: “It’s not always right to take revenge, but nor is it right to always forgive.” As the credits roll, the audience is left pondering the complexities of justice and morality.