John Abraham’s terrific performance, Ritesh Shah's seeti-maar one-liners, well researched & stem-winding story and Nikkhil Advani’s superlative direction provide crowd pleasing entertainment to the core!Right from his fight against terrorism/politics/media to emoting a fit of pique by fighting the trial both within and outside the court, John Abraham’s Sanjeev Kumar Yadav is unequivocally his career best performance. Also, the Rashomon Effect highlights the impact even more!Mrunal Thakur's Nandita is amazeballs, particularly in the second half, when she gets to prove her acting prowess again! Ravi Kishann's KK is applaudable. Manish Choudhary as Police Commissioner Jaivir is a man of the first water. Rajesh Sharma is coruscating as the defense lawyer.Kranti Jha, Alok Pandey & Sahidur Rahaman have played their respective parts with earnest and confidently portrayed the requisite vulnerability. Watch out for Nora Fatehi in a scene with John Abraham where they have a long discussion! She did complete justice to her role!Amruta Sant is perfect. Sonam Arora gave a copybook shot. John Stewart Eduri's background score uplifts the overall mood of the film. Kudos to Soumik Mukherjee’s topnotch cinematography for realistically rendering the taut chase scenes! Maahir Zaveri's editing is razor sharp & stylish??On the flip side, songs aren’t quite memorable. No explanation for the straining of relationship between the lead pair. Lacks a solid political statement & the encounter scenes are bit confusing. Some scenes are tad repetitive and baffling.Batla House has the unmistakable stamp of deft direction. Nikkhil Advani tackled the knotty issue by staying close to the authenticity with extreme concern and caution. The penultimate and ultimate moments are the mainstay of the enterprise - exhilarating and clap worthy. ???The Nizampur episode, the brilliantly shot interrogation scenes, the courtroom sequences, scenes where John Abraham's character is quoting from the Holy Quran while interrogating Tufail, the intermission point and the climax are bound to be greeted with claps and whistles.On the whole, Batla House is taut, transfixing and spellbinding, with an astounding finale. This truly is a new age patriotic film, one without the baggage of jingoism. Looks like John Abraham & Nikkhil Advani have hit the bull's eye. Strongly recommended!
