Mumbai, September 17, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar has credited late actor Irrfan Khan’s compelling performance in Talvar with making audiences more receptive to the case of Aarushi Talwar’s parents, while stressing that the film itself remained grounded in the available facts.
Speaking to IANS during promotions of her upcoming film Daayra, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Kareena Kapoor Khan, Meghna said Irrfan’s portrayal of Ashwin Kumar, a Joint Director of the CBI, helped audiences empathise with Rajesh and Nupur Talwar.
Talvar was based on the 2008 Noida double murder case involving 13-year-old Aarushi Talwar and the family’s domestic help, Hemraj. Aarushi was found dead at the family’s Noida residence on May 16, 2008, while Hemraj was initially missing. His body was subsequently discovered on the terrace.
Meghna said Talvar did not take sides and was based on the facts available in the case.
“Irrfan sir’s performance has convinced you. But the facts are the facts and the facts are what have been depicted in the film. So, the facts look like they are veering more in favour of the parents, that was the reality,” she told IANS.
She added that Irrfan’s performance made the audience more convinced of that interpretation, but the performance itself was rooted in the facts presented in the film.
“But he convinced you with what? With the facts that he had,” Meghna said.
“And the facts were as they were in life, which is why the ‘Talvar’ family then got exonerated in the high court. ‘Talvar’ didn’t create that fiction,” she added.
The case initially saw Aarushi’s parents, Dr Rajesh Talwar and Dr Nupur Talwar, emerge as prime suspects after investigators ruled out the family’s former domestic servants.
Police had alleged that Rajesh Talwar could have killed Aarushi and Hemraj after discovering them in an “objectionable” situation. Another line of investigation involved an alleged extramarital affair and the possibility of Hemraj blackmailing Rajesh, leading to a confrontation.
The Talwars’ family and friends, however, maintained that the couple had been framed and questioned the police investigation.
The couple was convicted by a trial court in 2013 and subsequently acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in 2017, which found that the prosecution had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The CBI challenged the acquittal before the Supreme Court on March 8, 2018.
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