An opening declaration of inspiration from a 2013 South Korean film (Montage) and you have two-and-a-half hours of thrills, suspense and mystery.

Te3n by Ribhu Dasgupta has everything going for it except the pace. Had it been short by a few minutes it could have been an edge-of-the-seat thriller. While one doesn’t expect the film to run an innings like a Khan flick, a slightly tightened script would have ensured a longer screen life.

Still, watch Te3n for brilliant performances by Amitabh Bachchan (John Biswas), Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Father Martin, a former cop) and Vidya Balan (police inspector Sarita Sarkar). They don’t act; they live their roles here … effortlessly. You become one with them as you enter a realm where cameras don’t exist.

Amitabh Bachchan’s last outing, Wazir, was great; reams have been written about his role in Piku and the last scene of Shamitabh was superlative. Here, as a septuagenarian middle-class grandfather John Biswas, he is on the lookout for the kidnapper/murderer of his granddaughter Angela (the checkered half-sleeve shirt nails down the character). The slight stoop, the raspy voice (instead of his famous baritone), the skin folds on the neck, the weekend facial hair growth and those emotive eyes accompanying the age-related gait makes Biswas your neighbourhood uncle who daily rides down in his dilapidated Lambretta scooter to the nearest police station to inquire about the progress of the case.

“Pichlay aath saal se har din aap yehi sawal karte hain,” says a flustered, helpless-looking Sarita Sarkar, the police inspector in charge of Angela’s case.

Watch Te3n for brilliant performances by Amitabh Bachchan (John Biswas), Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Father Martin, a former cop) and Vidya Balan (police inspector Sarita Sarkar). They don’t act; they live their roles here … effortlessly. You become one with them as you enter a realm where cameras don’t exist.

Biswas retorts, “Aur kuch hai hi nahi mere paas!”

Eight years ago, Angela went missing and Biswas received a tape with Angela’s recorded voice, saying, “Dadu, I’m sorry, Dadu. Mujh se ghalati ho gaye. Mujhe aap ki baat maan ni chahiye thi …” In the background is the eerie sound of water falling on a rooftop.

That eerie sound sets the film’s tone. With Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin in the film credits, the impression one got initially was that it was a sequel to the 2012 Kahaani by Sujoy Ghosh (co-producer of Te3n). Which it isn’t even by a long shot. Vidya plays a pivotal role here as she holds the story together but isn’t one of the main protagonists. In the screen time she has, her Sarita equals her Vidya Bagchi of Kahaani, which won her countless accolades and awards.

Now eight years later, a similar kidnapping takes place. This time it’s young Ronnie, the grandson of Manohar Sinha (played by Sabyasachi Chakraborty, a brilliant theatre, film and TV actor from West Bengal). The similarity in both the cases makes Sarita approach Father Martin. No spoilers here. But any avid film buff of thrillers will guess the outcome of the story.

The screenplay and dialogues aren’t up to the mark. In fact, director Dasgupta who had earlier worked with both Bachchan and Nawazuddin in the TV serial Yudh, and with Sabyasachi in Michael, fails to capitalise on their skills. Also, nothing much to write about of the cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray nor the music by Clinton Cerejo. No song or tune lingers here, not even Kyun Re by Amitabh Bachchan. The only thing that stays with you is the acting of the trio. Watch the film for them, especially good ol’ Amitji!

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 19th, 2016