In the dead of a Mumbai night, a famous film actor inexplicably swerves his car off the road into the sea. Inspector Shekawat (Aamir Khan) is put in charge of the case, and he soon realizes that things are very complex. Shekawat has his own demons to subdue, he is guilt-ridden of his irresponsibility in the drowning of his eight year-old son. His strained relations with his wife (Rani Mukherjee) lead to sleepless, wandering nights, and he dips himself in the case. Into his life then, first as an informer and then as a confidant comes the prostitute Rosy (Kareena Kapoor). How Shekawat's relation with Rosy leads to the shocking revelation is the film's make or break point.
Talaash takes the safe, meandering and awkward road to the fifteen seconds of heaving us from our seats. The script and its treatment is not as confident, crafty and risky as a particular Hollywood film that executed a similar premise with unforgettable finesse. The additional overplayed scene in the revelation part and the crowd-comforting happy ending mitigates the effect to a large extent.
The cast is excellent. Aamir, Kareena and Rani all play their parts with craft. Raj Kumar Yadav, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shernaz Patel add luster to their parts, Siddiqui is particularly mercurial. The Ram Sampath soundtrack is good audio, though except for the opening credits Muskaanein Jhooti Hai, the other songs steal intensity from tense proceedings.
Finally Talaash is a good attempt in a genre where a tighter, defter and daring treatment would have given us a classic. No kidding. A definite one-time watch.
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