Talaash: The Answer Lies Within


Talaash: The Answer Lies Within is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Reema Kagti, co-written by Zoya Akhtar, and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under Excel Entertainment and Aamir Khan under Aamir Khan Productions, with Reliance Entertainment serving as distributor and presenter. The film stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Rani Mukerji in lead roles, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkummar Rao and Shernaz Patel in supporting roles.
The film score and soundtrack of the film were composed by Ram Sampath, with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. Principal photography of the film took place during March–November 2011, primarily in Mumbai, Pondicherry and London. Released on 30 November 2012, Talaash: The Answer Lies Within received positive reviews from critics, who praised its themes, direction, screenplay, music, cinematography and performances of the cast. It grossed over worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films in 2012.
At the 58th Filmfare Awards, Talaash: The Answer Lies Within received 3 nominations, including Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

Plot

Late at night on a deserted road, well-known actor Armaan Kapoor loses control of his car, apparently trying to avoid something, and the car falls into the sea. Senior Police Inspector Surjan "Suri" Singh Shekhawat and his assistant Devrath Kulkarni begin an investigation. Surjan's relationship with his wife, Roshni, has suffered after their 8-year-old son, Karan, recently drowned during a family outing. Surjan's guilt causes him insomnia.
Surjan learns that on the night of Armaan's accident, Armaan was travelling with ₹2 million in cash, which is missing. Armaan had given the money to a blackmailer, a pimp named Shashi. Three years ago, Shashi had performed a cover-up for Armaan and his friend Sanjay. Once he learns of Armaan's death, Shashi takes off with the cash. Shashi's friend, Tehmur, begins blackmailing Sanjay with the help of an escort, Rosie. Sanjay gets Shashi murdered.
Roshni seeks solace from a medium, Frenny Mistry, who is in touch with Karan's soul, though Surjan is angry and skeptical of her. One night, Surjan is propositioned by Rosie. He declines but asks if she can become an informant. The police find Shashi's body, along with the blackmail money and a DVD. The DVD contains CCTV footage of Armaan and his friends leaving a hotel with Rosie. Rosie confides in Surjan that three years ago, she was picked up by Armaan and his friends, Sanjay and Nikhil. Surjan discovers that Nikhil has been brain-dead after the incident three years ago.
Tehmur blackmails Sanjay into giving him money so he can give it to his girlfriend, a prostitute, for a better life. Sanjay gets Tehmur killed too. The police learn Sanjay is behind Shashi and Tehmur's murders and arrest him. Sanjay confesses that three years ago, he, Armaan, and Nikhil had picked up an escort named Simran for Armaan's bachelor party. The unlocked car door in the backseat opened by accident, throwing both Nikhil and Simran out of the moving car. Armaan and Sanjay rushed Nikhil to the hospital but, fearing a scandal, left Simran to die on the road. Sanjay had called Shashi to take care of her. Since then, Shashi has continued to blackmail them. Surjan re-watches the footage and is shocked to realise that Simran is Rosie.
As he drives Sanjay to the police station, they approach the same road where Armaan had his car accident. Both men see Rosie/Simran standing ahead. In a re-enactment of Armaan's accident, they swerve the car to avoid a collision with her, and it falls into the sea. Sanjay dies but Rosie saves Surjan. Surjan writes in the official report that Armaan's death was an accident. He returns to the riverside place where he used to meet Rosie and uncovers her remains where Shashi had hidden her body. Remembering that he had been told that "the dead come to those who are troubled," he gives Rosie a proper cremation.
Now more accepting of the supernatural, Surjan finds a letter from Karan, penned by Frenny, in which Karan tells Surjan not to blame himself for his death and that he wants his parents to be happy. Surjan reconciles with Roshni.

Cast

Development

Following the release of her first film, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., Kagti was approached to direct many films by several production houses. However, unable to find any films that interested her, she began working on a new script with her friend Zoya Akhtar in early 2010. Speaking about it, she said, "Zoya and I thought of the story and co-wrote it. We do a lot of writing together. We are also best friends so it is fun and there is a huge comfort factor." Initially, Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Salman Khan were reportedly approached to play the male lead but opted out due to differing reasons. Upon finalising the story, she approached Aamir Khan with the script in November 2010 and he agreed to produce and star in it. Since the start of pre-production, there was speculation regarding the film's title. In November 2011, Khan confirmed that the film was titled Talaash: The Answer Lies Within.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Kagti revealed that a few months before casting Khan in the film, she had approached him with another project. Later, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji were signed on to star opposite Khan. Prior to the start of principal photography, the actors attended acting workshops and signed a non-disclosure agreement. To prepare for a key scene in the film, Khan and Mukerji took swimming lessons.

Filming

The principal photography for the film started in March 2011 with Khan and Mukerji in Mumbai. For a scene involving Khan and Kapoor, it was reported that both the actors would shoot in a red-light district. However, Kagti dismissed it and explained that it wouldn't be safe to do so. The scene was later shot at the Leopold Cafe on Colaba Causeway. The film's second phase continued with the entire cast in Pondicherry and was completed by the end of August. The final phase was expected to commence the following month in Khopoli with an underwater shot.
Khan, who never knew how to swim, underwent rigorous training for this underwater sequence. He was trained for 3 months under a specialist trainer and went well prepared for the shoot. Due to visibility problems, it was cancelled and later filmed at an undisclosed water studio in London. The filming was completed by November 2011 after some of the remaining shots were executed at the Bandstand Promenade.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by Ram Sampath and Javed Akhtar penned the lyrics for all the songs. The music was launched on 2 November 2012 by T-Series. The album features vocals by Ram Sampath, Vishal Dadlani, Suman Sridhar, Sona Mohapatra, Ravindra Upadhyay and Rupesh. The song "Jee Le Zara" has a remix version.

Marketing

Talaash: The Answer Lies Within tied up with Windows 8 for its marketing. Aamir Khan promoted the film on the crime detective series C.I.D. The episodes were aired on 23 and 24 November 2012. Aamir Khan visited Lucknow to promote Talaash: The Answer Lies Within. Aamir Khan also appeared in a TV special show 'Nayi Soch Ki Talaash, Aamir Ke Saath' to promote Talaash: The Answer Lies Within. Aamir Khan also visited Jalandhar for promotion purposes. The premiere of the film was held at PVR Cinema in Mumbai on 29 November 2012.

Release

The film received a U/A certificate from the Censor Board of India. Originally scheduled to release in October 2011, the film was postponed to its tentative release date of 1 June 2012. Media reports claimed that the reason behind the delay was due to the similarities with Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani ; the director, however, went on to deny the reports. On 26 January 2012, along with a digital poster of the film, the first teaser trailer of Talaash: The Answer Lies Within was released in theatres. Due to Khan's prior commitment plans with his television show, co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani announced that the film would no longer be able to release on its tentative date as planned and would officially release on 30 November 2012. Pre-bookings for Talaash: The Answer Lies Within opened on 25 November 2012 in all multiplexes of India. Talaash: The Answer Lies Within was released in 520 screens in overseas markets, a new overseas record for an Aamir Khan starrer; 3 Idiots was released in 415 screens overseas. The estimate for the number of release screens in India is around 2500.
In February 2012, Reliance Entertainment acquired the distribution rights of the film for whilst its satellite rights were sold for.

Controversy

After taking offense at Aamir Khan's TV show Satyamev Jayate for "projecting men in a bad light", several men's rights activists took up cudgels against his film. Virag Dhulia, the head of gender studies at a men's rights community center, said "We are not against Talaash: The Answer Lies Within, but Aamir. We want to send out the message that he can't portray a negative image of men."