Badla released on 8 March 2019,[8][9] grossing over ₹1.38 billion (US$16 million) worldwide against a production budget of ₹370 million (US$4.3 million), thus emerging as a major commercial success.[3][5][10] It received widespread critical acclaim, with high praise directed towards its adapted story and screenplay, dialogues, visuals, cinematography, and cast performances.
Naina Sethi is a sharp, young businesswoman in London with a seemingly perfect life, until her world is turned upside down when she's arrested for the murder of her lover, Arjun. Her lawyer, Jimmy Punjabi, hires renowned defense attorney Badal Gupta to help, and over the course of one evening, they work to uncover what really happened. Badal informs Naina that a witness will testify against her. Naina explains that she and Arjun were being blackmailed over their affair. They were summoned to a hotel, where she was attacked and later woke up to find Arjun dead, along with the money they had brought for the blackmailer. Although arrested, she's currently out on bail. The police found no evidence of anyone else being in the room or breaking in.
Badal suspects Naina is withholding the truth and presses her about the disappearance of a young man near the hotel. Naina then admits that a few months earlier, she and Arjun had gone to a cabin in the woods. On their way back, she accidentally hit another car, killing a young man named Sunny. Arjun convinced her not to report it, and they covered up the accident. They put Sunny's body in his car's trunk, which Naina later dumped in a swamp. While waiting for her, Arjun was invited into the home of a couple, Rani and Nirmal, who happened to be Sunny's parents. Rani grew suspicious when she heard her son's phone ring in Arjun’s pocket, as he had forgotten to get rid of it. Though Arjun and Naina managed to escape, they were worried they'd eventually be found out.
Naina later saw news reports accusing Sunny of embezzling money from the bank where he worked before disappearing. She realized that Arjun had taken Sunny’s wallet and used his girlfriend’s credentials to hack the bank and frame Sunny. Rani eventually identified Naina’s car at the scene of her son’s disappearance, but Naina's lawyer falsified an alibi. Although the police accepted it, Rani wasn't convinced. She confronted Naina at a public event, begging her to reveal Sunny's whereabouts, but Naina kept up her lie. Months later, she and Arjun were contacted by a blackmailer, leading to the events that got her arrested.
Badal theorizes that Rani killed Arjun, with Nirmal’s help since he worked at the hotel. Naina admits she saw Rani in the room but had lied to test Badal’s competence. Badal then reveals that there was no witness—he had made it up to get the truth from her. Now trusting him, Naina confesses a dark secret: Sunny had still been alive in the trunk when she dumped the car, but she chose to let him die to avoid getting caught. Shocked by her actions, Badal suggests that Naina, not Arjun, orchestrated the cover-up and framed Sunny. He speculates that Arjun, overcome with guilt, went to the hotel to confess to Rani and Nirmal, and Naina killed him to keep the truth hidden. Naina denies this, insisting that her earlier story is the real one.
Badal refuses to defend Naina any further unless she admits to killing Arjun. Naina finally confesses, revealing where Sunny’s body is hidden. Badal agrees to continue helping her, but steps outside for a moment. Meanwhile, Naina receives a call from Jimmy and notices that Badal’s pen is disrupting the signal. Realizing something is wrong, she discovers that the man posing as Badal was an imposter when the real Badal Gupta arrives at her door. Horrified, Naina disassembles the pen, revealing a hidden voice recorder with her confessions. She looks out the window and sees the imposter and Rani in the apartment across from hers. The man posing as Badal removes his disguise, revealing himself as Nirmal. Rani then calls the police to have Naina arrested.
Three unplugged innovative promotional videos which involved a conversation between Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan were launched on 3 March 2019, 6 March 2019 and 9 March 2019 respectively, which also featured Taapsee Pannu, to promote the film.[24][25]
Dialogue promos
"Main Sach Hi Toh Bol Rahi Hoon" was published on 25 February 2019, "Homework" on 28 February 2019, "Sab Ka Sach Alag Alag Hota Hai" on 1 March 2019 and "Mere Paas Teen Sawaal Hain" was published on 7 March 2019 on YouTube, featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu respectively.[26]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has scored 60% based on 15 reviews with an average rating of 6/10.[29] Gaurang Chauhan reviewing for Times Now rates the film with 3.5 stars out of 5 and opines that Sujoy Ghosh has delivered yet another interesting, enticing and an edge-of-the-seat mystery thriller.[14] Rachit Gupta of The Times of India also rates the film with 3.5 stars out of 5 and finds that the film is a slick-but-predictable thriller with solid performances. He said, "Sujoy Ghosh’s Badla delivers solid thrills and some genuine twists with great effect." He feels that this whodunit film, keeps the viewer engaging and constantly guessing about the big reveal. Cinema200 too gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and praised the climax along with Sujoy Ghosh's direction.[12]Anupama Chopra of Film Companion gives 2.5 stars out of 5 with remarks, "Nothing is what it seems and there are many turns, but the film isn’t as clever as it thinks it is." and concludes the review as "Badla remains watchable until the end but it doesn’t become essential viewing."[30]Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV giving it 3 stars out of 5, finds Amitabh Bachchan classy and Taapsee Pannu right on button in edgy thriller.[31]Taran Adarsh gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and found the film and its star-cast, captivating and brilliant.
Box office
In its opening weekend, Badla collected ₹273.8 million from domestic market.[32] The film had a worldwide gross collection of ₹138.49 crore consisting of domestic gross of ₹103.88 crore and overseas gross of ₹34.61 crore.[4][5]
