Badlapur review: A flawed but stylish thriller

In the slow-burning Badlapur, both the opening scene and the climax catch the audience unawares. They are the film's high points. The rest of the film may not be quite as unmissable, but director and co-writer Sriram Raghavan packs enough meat into his stylish, unconventional neo-noir thriller to ensure that it stays on track for the most part. The screenplay by Raghavan and Arijit Biswas pushes Badlapur beyond the familiar boundaries of the genre by placing the drama within a moral compass that is anything but formulaic.