'Titli' review: It's all about choosing between a known devil and an unknown devil

Film: Titli

Director: Kanu Behl

Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Shashank Arora, Shivani Raghuvanshi, Amit Sial

Rating: ***1/2 (Three and half stars)

What's it about:
The first thing that strikes you about this family of four -- father and three brothers -- is an unspoken resignation to their lot. Things are always going to be this way, it seems to suggest. The two older brothers are violent carjackers, picking out and attacking their victims with impunity. The youngest, Titli, often used as bait, is ill at ease with his situation. He's got his eye on this 'parking' at an under-construction mall, which a 'friend' offers to help strike a deal for. Oldest brother Vikram only needs an excuse to lose his temper. An early example comes in the way he brutally assaults a deliveryman. Bawla (Sial) seems to be the voice of reason, often coming between volatile Vikram and the naive Titli's arguments. The father, an otherwise silent observer (played by veteran actor Lalit Behl), is more effective than an acid-tongued saas. 
Into the mix, comes Neelu (Raghuvanshi), Bawla's idea of keeping Titli from flying the coop and getting more effective bait for their carjacking. Only, if Neelu were that pliant. She actually has a mind of her own, something that becomes apparent as soon as they brutally hammer a car salesman's head in during a 'test drive'. 
She's got a married lover on the side, who belongs to an influential builder's family, Titli wants to be free of his family and the newlyweds come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement. Do the duo get their independence?

What's hot:
Strong, yet restrained performances mark Kanu Behl's debut. One look at Ranvir (even before the violence comes to light) and you know there's a feral beast waiting to be set loose. The complexly written Bawla, played by Sial, leaves much to the viewer's imagination. He remains a mystery throughout. Titli and Neelu are the kind of couple urban India might not want to believe exists. One that is selfish enough to have motives, honest enough to make you, the viewer, uneasy about their circumstance. 
In recent times, nobody has been able to capture small-town India as effectively as Sharat Katariya (who shares co-writing credits with helmer Kanu Behl) and that translates well on screen. Human emotions become as much a character as flesh-and-blood ones. Blinded by their own singular pursuits, Titli and Neelu find themselves constantly the victims of deals gone wrong. It says something when the one person you ought to revile the most (Vikram) is the one you feel sorry for. 

What's not:
It's not easy to sympathise with the title character. Anybody that naive in the face of pretty blatant corruption and stupid enough to carry lakhs of rupees in one's knapsack is asking for trouble. More so, in the second half, when Titli actually gets on a journey of self-discovery.  The cinematography is aptly claustrophobic, even in outdoor scenes. But it is the uneven editing in places that kind-of takes away from the experience.

What to do:
Not an easy film to watch, Titli sheds light on a microcosm within a microcosm, where frustration and sheer helplessness dictate actions and reactions. In the end, it all comes down to choosing between a known devil and an unknown devil.