By
Saibal
Chatterjee
Debutant
Kanu
Behl's
taut
and
telling
Titli,
jointly
produced
by
Yash
Raj
Films
and
Dibakar
Banerjee
Productions,
is
a
riveting
crime
drama
with
multiple
narrative
layers.
The
film
has
emerged
from
within
the
Bollywood
mainstream,
but
it
ploughs
its
own
independent
furrow
in
terms
of
both
substance
and
style.
Set
in
Delhi's
dystopic
underbelly,
Titli
tells
the
disquieting
story
of
three
car-jacking
brothers
trapped
in
a
cycle
of
poverty-fuelled
criminality.
The
youngest
of
the
siblings,
Titli
(debutant
Shashank
Arora),
wants
to
branch
out
on
his
own
and
explore
a
less
risky
way
of
making
money.
But
his
elder
brothers
–
Vikram
(Ranvir
Shorey)
and
Bawla
(Amit
Sial)
–
are
too
deeply
entrenched
in
the
family
business
to
entertain
any
thoughts
of
letting
Titli
fly
away.
This
conflict
in
the
brotherhood
drives
the
plot
forward,
while
the
powerless
patriarch
of
the
family
(Lalit
Behl)
stands
by
and
watches
the
boys
go
off
the
rails.
But
the
old
man
is
obviously
no
innocent
spectator,
he
is
responsible
for
the
moral
and
material
mess
that
his
sons
are
in.
However,
there
is
much
more
to
Titli
than
a
trio
of
bickering
brothers
and
a
dysfunctional
family.
The
central
characters,
driven
to
desperation
by
perpetual
financial
strain,
are
never
less
than
convincing.
Their
plight
reflects
the
precarious
reality
of
those
that
are
left
behind
by
a
rapidly
and
haphazardly
growing
city
where
all
the
money
floating
in
the
air
is
within
the
reach
of
only
a
minuscule
percentage
of
the
populace.
The
script
by
Behl
and
Sharat
Katariya
is
nimble
and
pointed
enough
to
weave
the
wider
social
themes
into
the
thriller
in
such
a
way
that
they
do
not
weigh
down
the
narrative.
One
major
strand
of
the
story
revolves
around
Neelu
(Shivani
Raghuvanshi),
the
strong-willed
and
tenacious
girl
that
Titli
weds
at
the
behest
of
his
brother
who
hope
marriage
will
bring
stability
to
the
young
man's
life
as
well
as
bolster
their
gang's
declining
fortunes.
Neelu
proves
to
be
quite
a
handful.
She
has
her
own
devious
plans
and
Titli
seizes
upon
them
to
further
his
own
dream
of
buying
the
parking
space
that
he
hopes
to
own
in
an
upcoming
mall.
Titli
is
strengthened
by
the
perfect
casting.
Shorey
plunges
into
the
role
of
the
violence-prone
eldest
brother
with
all
his
bearings
about
him.
Sial,
playing
the
less
volatile
middle
brother,
is
saddled
with
the
weakest
of
the
characters
but
rises
above
the
limitations
that
the
screenplay
imposes
on
the
character.
The
two
first-timers
in
the
cast
–
Arora
and
Raghuvanshi
–
are
called
upon
to
carry
much
of
the
film's
weight.
The
duo
does
a
fine
job
of
providing
the
film
most
of
its
momentum
as
the
vulnerable
but
fiercely
determined
youngsters
striving
to
snatch
a
better
deal
against
all
odds.
Verdict:
Titli
isn't
a
run-of-the-mill
Bollywood
film
designed
merely
for
the
purpose
of
delivering
entertainment.
It
poses
questions,
lays
bare
uncomfortable
truths,
and
delivers
sledgehammer
blows.