A film that makes you uncomfortable. A film that makes you introspect over your beliefs. Is a film that has been made reasonably well. But the pacing is uneven enough for it to come in the way of you being completely engrossed.

You can tell the heart is in one place, and the head is in the other.

The audience is spending way too much time on watching people get in and out of cars. The chase sequence is long enough for you to notice that this locality—with festively lit-up houses so close to each other—is almost empty!

Then you have scenes that make you question their existence. Like the one in which a character is asked to read English in Devanagari script. I get the satire, but it didn't relate to anything else in the movie. Same goes for a character asking another to be unbiased but behaving like they have already made a judgement in every scene before and after. This last one could be intentional, but it's distracting nevertheless.

All this would have been alright had it executed the onus it had taken on well—presenting the argument from both sides—justice delayed versus media trial; justice delayed versus police encounters. While it manages to make you uncomfortable, especially disturbing is the rape scene, the debate doesn't go beyond a coffee table discussion.

The actors aren’t able to sink too deep in their characters. Now, that could be an issue with what they were asked to do. But every expression seems disconnected from the previous one thus bringing a jerky feeling to the narrative.

Thus, you are left with something half-baked. You feel the anger, but the frustration seems superficial. The arguments on each side get you interested but don't take a deep dive. So even though I believe that no human should be allowed to take another's life, I do get enticed into thinking, "Just this once." Or "The world can do with one less dirty person. Or four." But Daayra doesn't capitalise on that to make a conversion.

I would venture that the makers want to convince in the other direction—that the law should take its course. But I'd think that the film's execution is stacked against that tilted, even if slightly, towards instant justice. It does feel like the makers want to at least pretend that they are holding things in balance. But, you can see the heart is in one place, and the head is in the other.

Being pretentious about being unbiased could be intentional, but it's distracting nevertheless.

That sentiment can't be held against the film because it is relatable to the audience. But is it an unbiased take if the viewer can tell that? For now, though, we can be just glad that the discussion has been brought to the screen.

- meeta, a part of the audience