Nail Polish – A good start to 2021

Nail Polish, the first release of 2021 is a courtroom thriller, with Arjun Rampal and Manav Kaul in lead. Directed by Bugs Bhargava Krishna, this Zee movie is an engaging affair, about the killings and disappearing of children of migrant workers.

Plot

Nail Polish has an engaging plot which is aptly summarised in the movie as  – “Its the mind that commits the crime, and its the body that takes the blame.”

Veer Singh (Manav Kaul) is an ex intelligence officer, who post his retirement runs a cricket training academy for students. He is arrested by his friend Samir Dharmadhikari for the rape and murder of 2 migrant kids.

Siddharth Jaisingh (Arjun Rampal) is a shrewd lawyer, who can go to any limits to win his case, takes up Veer’s case in return of a Rajya Sabha seat offered to him, and against him is the prosecutor Amit Kumar (Anand Tiwari), who is an honest lawyer and takes a lot of pride in his honesty.

As the proceedings go on, a lot of evidences are presented which clearly imply that Manav is guilty, and Siddharth keeps on countering those in the court of a reputed Judge Bhushan (Rajit Kapoor).

Veer is sent to jail and he is beaten up in an altercation with an inmate and he lands up in hospital. At that point, something happens which changes the course of the investigation and the case. 

The rest of the movie goes ahead with a few twists, what happens to Veer and is he really guilty, what does the court finally decides,  is what the rest of the movie deals with.

The Hits

The writing of Nail Polish is very good and the screenplay keeps the viewers hooked till the very end. The film does not drag at any point and the narrative keeps on moving at a brisk pace. 

Director has ensured that all the characters are subtle and the sequences or performances never go overboard. Director has also taken care of certain nuances of the characters and adds to the personality of the actors.

The performances are a high point of the movie and everyone has given a very restrained yet impactful performance. Even the track of every character is briefly touched, not much extended so that the proceedings never lose the grip.

The Misses

Nail Polish tries to stay clear of all the cliches but couldn’t resist inserting a love song at the final moments of the movie, which is a minor aberration. 

Performances

The performances of Nail Polish is one of the biggest pluses for the movie. Manav Kaul as Veer Singh has been excellent and has shown his versatility as an actor. He gets the meatiest role and does full justice to it.

Arjun Rampal is dashing as usual and displays command while playing the devil’s advocate. Anand Sharma on the other hand as Amit Kumar plays his role of a honest and strong willed prosecutor with authority and is the ideal opponent to Rampal’s towering personality with his grit.

Rajit Kapoor is very good as Judge Bhushan, he plays the judge occupied with the case and concerned husband to his alcoholic wife effortlessly. It was good to see Roja girl Madhu after a long time and she was decent.

Rest of the case is decent and contributes effectively.

FFC Take

Overall, Nail Polish is not a Damini or a Jolly LLB, it is a very subtle legal thriller with very restrained performances, and without over the top moments. But it manages to hold the viewer’s attention and interest with its genuine efforts and honest performances.

In a nutshell, the movie is a good watch and gives a good start to the new year after a disappointing 2020.