It’s a busy Friday, too many films have been releasing this day, which certainly include Parched. The rural drama film is directed and written by Leena Yadav, while it is produced by Ajay Devgn under the banner of his own film Ajay Devgn Ffilms, while it was premiered at the Special Presentations of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival based in India. The film has slew of actors including Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla and Adil Hussain in the lead roles. Time to catch the review of the film and get the crux of the same in the following words:
Plot
The movie revolves around four women living in a village in the North-Western area of India in a pitiable and unwanted lifestyle. The women suffer a lot from the age ridiculed traditions including forced child marriages and a number of social stigma apart from having a number of financial difficulties besides getting the physically and emotional issues they receive from their alcoholic husbands. Rani played by Tannshthan Chatterjee who has been widow since her a couple of years and brought up her son called Gulab played by Riddhi Sen and married to a girl called Janki played by Lehar Khan. Then you have Lajjo played by Radhika Apte who is Rani’s friend. Both the friends are skilled workers and work for a local businessman called Kishan played by Sumeet Vyas. Lajjo though is a childless lady and keen to have kids but fails too often. She is been battered by her husband daily at night and last one is Bijil played by Surveen Chawla who is a local erotic dancer apart from quenching the thirst of many men in the village.
The men in the village keep the women deprived from the development in the fear that they can become rebel against their old traditional lifestyle they only talk about love, sex and their aspirations. However, the twist in the film comes up when Rani finds out Janki is dishonored women in her village and Lajjo is fed up of the atrocities of her husband while Bijli is jealous about the new girl in her workplace who is all set to replace her soon. This simply leads to a the story of freedom from their hurdles they face in their life for the peace.
Review
The title of the movie is apt and issues raised in the movie simply keep many in the after thought process. Practically speaking there is hardly any shocking thing about the movie despite the stirring representation found in it. The issues the film deal are the usual social sickness found in the village or Indian society as named above. You can find the issues larger than life and beyond reality in the movie. Hence one call the script of the movie to be laden with the sexual innuendos and the only thing one can find in the minds of these ladies is sex. The developmental element in the film like an activist called Kishan working for the development of women are seen getting lost in the film similarly the self-earning women who fight for cable connection just to avoid the sexual activities of Bijli is also lost. Also, the portrayal of men in the patriarchal society also seems to be so clichéd.
Star performances
Tannishtha Chatterjee seems to have done a fairly good job while playing the role of Rani. Despite having the complex character, which actually is seen passing the full circle from being a victim at the first for becoming the enforcer and so on, things have worked in the favor of the actors. Radhika Apte too while playing the character of Lajjo is also doing a decent job while playing this character. She is seen bringing out the innocence of the character extremely well. You can find her even in the intimate scenes to be very much calm and composed. Surveen Chawla while playing the character of Bijli seems to be a stunner she nails the things in a carefree fashion and untamed character with a complete might. The others in the supporting roles like Riddhi Sen, Chandan Anand, Sumeet Vyaas and Leher Khan too played the best of their part.
Direction, Music and other elements
The film can be called as bold but certainly not a beautiful one. Quite often there is a scene wherein the Panchayat is seen discussing the issue of Champa keen to leave the home of her husband. Similar is the story on other fronts which Yadav has failed to manage in the film. In fact, she has simply reduced the film fulfilling the carnal desire of the women. Talking about the music, the film doesn’t become saleable as it has the least amount of elements found in it, which often becomes the concern of a number of non-commercial cinemas. Talking about the photography the Oscar wining cinematographer of Titanic who is seen perfecting catching up the scenes that the ladies are seen enjoying their private space time away from all types of prying eyes of the villagers.
Parched Review The Last Word
The film Parched can be called as a powerful women centric drama movie, however, it seems to falter with the underlying themes of fierce desire. At the same time, the film is seen breaking up from the shackles of tradition along with the society, which stands just for the character of Kishan more than than those ladies in the leading role. Thus the film doesn’t deserve much of the ratings.
Rating – 2.5
