Babita Singh Reporting review: Nimisha Sajayan's cop drama packs a feminist punch

When you hear the name Sudip Sharma and see a lead actor in a police uniform, your mind automatically goes to Paatal Lok or Kohrra, brilliant shows he's created. So when Babita Singh Reporting (Sharma as the executive producer) opens, there is given expectations of morally grey characters leading a crime story that leaves you questioning society. But this film isn't interested in becoming another dark crime saga.It's more a story about finding your own voice, recognising your strengths and weaknesses, accepting yourself and, most importantly, realising that believing in yourself can matter far more than having everyone else believe in you.At the centre is ASI Babita Singh, played by Nimisha Sajayan, a woman who has spent most of her life trying to please everyone except herself. She makes reels for her boss to stay in his good books, tells white lies to keep her in-laws happy — generally, she has mastered the art of making herself smaller. Her nickname, Baby, starts to feel almost painfully appropriate.Then comes a family obligation: her sister-in-law's baby shower back home. And because Babita has never visited her in-laws after marriage, she becomes so desperate for a break that she deliberately gets herself suspended from work. Yes, this is a woman willing to get herself suspended from the police force just to finally show up at her own sasural. The irony is delicious. On the way, she meets her childhood friend Bansi (Barun Sobti), who clearly wants to tell her something. But the husband says family obligation over reunion. And the next morning, Bansi is dead, and a drug addict is conveniently blamed. For Babita, however, this isn't just another murder. Bansi was the boy who stood up for her when she was bullied as a child for being overweight. He was one of the few people who saw her beyond her body, insecurities and the jokes. So while everyone else seems ready to move on, Babita's police instincts finally kick in, and this is where the film becomes much more than a thriller. Babita is investigating Bansi's death while simultaneously confronting the many ways in which her own life has been quietly killing pieces of her. Her weight, thyroid and inability to conceive become family gossip. Her mother-in-law offering her sugar-free ice cream in front of everyone stings because we know exactly what she is doing. Her husband jokes about her in front of his friends. Even intimacy becomes another reminder of how invisible she has become inside her own marriage. He finishes, turns around and sleeps, without considering that perhaps she, too, might want something more. Nobody really sees Babita; they see her weight, failures and supposed inadequacies.Babita's husband, Sharad (Anshumaan Pushkar), initially appears to be the supportive, decent husband standing by his wife. But the mask soon slips. When Babita offends a family member, he cries to gaslight her and reminds her of all the supposedly Brahmin rishtas he sacrificed because he chose her. He may look like a nice husband to the outside world, but underneath that facade is a man with deeply regressive ideas about his wife and her place in his life.The film gets even more uncomfortable when it introduces another woman trapped in a marriage with a police officer. It's more infuriating to watch men who are meant to uphold the law casually hitting their wives because an instalment of dowry didn't arrive. And when called out, he asks Babita's husband to keep his 'woman in check'.Nimisha Sajayan is terrific as the unconventional screen cop. Babita hesitates, calls up colleagues for tips, tumbles, falls and strangely straight up questions suspects. She is no superwoman with swag, not even a hero, but a woman finding herself. Sajayan, had already set a benchmark with The Great Indian Kitchen, a similar story about the everyday indignities women is expected to swallow. And she makes you feel along with her this time too.The supporting cast is equally solid. Anshumaan Pushkar does a fine job of making Sharad's supposedly caring exterior increasingly repulsive. Barun Sobti brings warmth to Bansi, while Sunita Rajwar, as Babita's mother-in-law, is so horrible that you may find yourself disliking her for long.Ambiecka Pandit’s direction is assured, particularly in the quieter interpersonal moments. And that is what makes the film’s shortcomings more frustrating. Babita Singh Reporting has the makings of an important film, with themes of childhood trauma, patriarchy, dysfunctional families, buried secrets and the unsettling realisation that knowing someone for years does not mean you know them at all. But the writing rarely digs deep enough.The film often seems more interested in rage bait than creating engaging, layered characters. It wants to be a feminist film while also functioning as a crime drama, a family story and a psychological thriller, but that ambition makes the execution shaky.Babita Singh Reporting eventually leaves you angry and uncomfortable, making you question the people around Babita and, occasionally, even the society that has taught her to question herself. But it doesn’t quite haunt you; and for a film with this much to say, that is perhaps its biggest missed opportunity.- EndsPublished By: Priyanka SharmaPublished On: Aug 28, 2026 06:10 IST