Parched

Bold and Beautiful. That's what came to my mind when I finished watching this movie. Based in a remote arid village of Rajasthan, this movie by Leena Yadav bares the parched souls of 4 woman whose lives are entwined with each others. 

Rani ( Tannishtha Chatterjee )  a young widow trying her best to support her teenage son and an old bedridden mother in law, Lajjo ( Radhika Apte), a young vibrant woman married to an alcoholic abusive husband who is taunted  for her inability to conceive, Bijli ( Suveen Chawla ) a dancer with a travelling entertainment company and a prostitute and Janki ( Lehar Khan) the young child bride who is married off against her wishes to Gulab, Rani's teenage son. 

Rani and Lajjo are fast friends from the same village and who look out for each other, while Bijli is an old friend of Rani ( considers her as a sister ) and is an worldly wise woman who advises Rani and Lajjo with their troubles.

The journey with these women will take you in their world of small pleasure, aspirations, hardships, helplessness etc. The movie is laden with situations of the hardship the women go through in the hardcore patriarchal society in-spite of trying to be economically independent ( these women have co-operatives to sell their embroidery work ). The episode where a young girl from the village is forced to go back to her in laws house by the parents, in-spite of her screaming  her guts out that she did not want to go since she was being raped by any and all the men of the house hold including her father in law, will make you realize how gruesome the life of women could be.

From Rani's struggle in watching her Son taking the foot steps of her late alcoholic husband to Lajjo's sleeping with a total stranger in an attempt to get pregnant, "Parched" will keep you glued to the screen wanting to see "what next".

The casting of the movie was just perfect. Each of the women portrayed their role like they were born into it. I liked the fact that it was factual about the state of affairs of women in remote parts of Rajasthan and the social message was quite subtle and not on the face. 

Verdict :- 8 out 10. Cannot be watched with Children. 

Lakshmi (2014)

 

This movie by Nagesh Kukunoor takes you along Lakshmi;s unfortunate Journey into the world of Human Trafficking and her brave fight to victory. This is a biographical movie depicting the social problem of human trafficking and child prostitution in the country. 

Lakshmi, the fresh faced, innocent looking 14 year old portrayed by Monali Thakur is the victim of human trafficking. Hailing from an rural and remote village of Andhra Pradesh in India, she is sold by her father for a mere 30000 Rupees. And none other than the local corporator facilitates the deal. 

The movie has tried to bring to the fore front, the various facets of the human trafficking nexus. To being with the owner of the brothel, Reddy keeps Lakshmi with him for a few days and he is nice to her. Just around the time that she starts to get comfortable at his house, he brutally rapes her and sent to the brothel to live along with several other girls. It's a gruesome life there and every time Lakshmi tries to escape, she is brutally beaten up.

The Madame of the brothel, Jyoti's ( shefali Chaya) behaviour is a paradox. One one end, she seems quite nonchalant and on the other end there are streaks of affection for the girls. She her has a daughter in the engineering school and is hoping to retire once the daughter is settled.

Some girls seem to accept their fate over a period of time ( like Suvarna played by Asha Saini) and this is driven by the fact that they are no longer accepted by the society or for that matter by their family who hide behind the wall of respectability.

There seems to be camaraderie among the girls and most of them look out for each other. They look for small pleasure in life and resort to alcohol and drugs to get by the ordeal of their lives.

And at the end of it, you realize that girls like Lakshmi who stand up to fight and dare to dream of freedom are far and few . Most of them just accept their fate and go back to their life in-spite to having an opportunity to break free.


Verdict :- 8 out of 10. Worth a watch but not a family movie for sure. 

Dear Zindagi ( Dear Life )

I owe my watching this movie to a casual remarks by a colleague at work and the fact that it came up in a movie database search. I had totally missed the release to this one due to my frequent travels abroad. But having enjoyed Gowri Shinde's debut movie, " English Vinglish" I sure wanted to catch up on this one. 

A very refreshing movie indeed. Alia's Bhat's portrayal of Kaira's bohemian life was to near perfection. Kaira is an astute photographer who is trying to make a name for herself and is very passionate about what she does. At the same time she is flighty, slightly vulnarable and quite messed up when it comes to relationships. She struggles with commitment issues. She hates her parents and  is surrounded by a group of close knit friends who stand by her through thick and thin. Kaira reminds one of a typical urban young adult one meets these days.

It is by chance that Dr.Jehangir Khan ( Shahrukh Khan ) enters her life. Dr. Khan is a well known and eccentric Psychiatrist. Alia engages him to help her get over problem. The entire movie pretty much revolves around this engagement. Dr. Khan helps Kaira confront her fears and shed her baggage's. This entire journey was quite engaging.

The movie was a perfect Sunday night entertainer. I wouldn't recommend it for kids at impressionable age though.

Verdict :- 7/10. Not bad at all.