Sword), released internationally as Guilty, is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language crime-thriller drama film directed by Meghna Gulzar and written by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Produced by Bhardwaj and Vineet Jain, the film is loosely based on the 2008 Noida double murder case involving a teenage girl and her family's servant.

It was released theatrically in India on 2 October 2015 to mostly positive reviews, with particular praise for its writing and performances; however, many of the critics felt that the film was very biased towards the parents.

Fourteen-year-old Shruti Tandon has been found dead at her home in Sameer Vihar in Noida by her parents, Ramesh and Nutan, during the night of 15–16 March 2008.

The local police initially look for Khempal, the missing servant but his decomposed body is later found on the terrace of the building where the Tandons live.

The police chief organises a press conference, at which he says that Ramesh murdered Shruti and Khempal after he found them in a compromising position attributing this to honour killing.

The victim blaming of Shruti leads to public outrage, and the case is given to Joint Director Ashwin Kumar of the Central Department of Investigation (CDI) and ACP Vedant.

The CDI gives the case to a new investigative team led by Kumar's former superior, Paul, who concludes that the parents committed the murders.

The CDI files a closure report in the Ghaziabad court naming the parents as prime suspects, but the evidence is insufficient to prosecute.

[13] Bhardwaj was driven to write the script after an encounter with the case's first investigating officer: "There was a kind of black humour that was coming out of this tragedy.

[9] Konkona Sen Sharma was approached by Talvar's casting director, who told her about a role based on Nupur Talwar which attracted her.

[13] His character was based on CBI officer Arun Kumar, whom he met in preparation for the film,[14] and he was the only actor approached to play the role.

[21] Meghna said that the most difficult part for her was filming the murder scenes; although there were different weapons and different killers from different perspectives, the "one[s] to die w[ere] always the girl and the man, which did not change".

[39] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised its writing and performances, calling it a "gripping, genre-defying and non-exploitative cinematic examination" of the murder case.

[40] Srijana Mitra Das of The Times of India wrote, " ... Talvar is super-sharp, a sword swipe at Bollywood's song-and-dance, mehendi-fuelled escapism.

"[41] Rajeev Masand called the film a "gripping, then baffling, and ultimately disturbing account" of the murder, "deliberately unsentimental and melodrama-free".

[43] Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters noted that it is a "well-constructed, gripping film", but the filmmakers' bias about the case left a "bitter aftertaste".

[44] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in felt the film was a "slickly produced, tightly written and beautifully performed true crime documentary"; she also called Talvar a "legal petition disguised as a movie", whose sole purpose was to request the authorities to reconsider the case.

"[46] Jai Arjun Singh praising Khan's performance, said that his character's "commitment and comic timing" were rare in Hindi films.

He praised the "believable and flawed" character of Ashwini, who "drinks on the sly, out of bottles wrapped in paper bags, and distractedly plays Snakes on his phone while a parent sobs" instead of being a "punchline-spewing hero figure".

"[50] Raja Sen wrote in his review: "A tightly-coiled procedural made with such dryness that it seems, in parts, documentarian – resembling a reenactment more than a feature film".

"[54] Among overseas reviewers, Joe Leydon of Variety labelled the screenplay "solidly constructed" and the film's narrative flow "satisfyingly brisk".

[25] J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy wrote, "Talvar makes for gripping, infuriating, and at times illuminating viewing, and it's a film that will translate just as well to those ignorant with the case as to those intimately involved.

[2] Released with Singh Is Bliing and Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, the film made ₹3 crore (US$350,000) at the box office on the opening day.