It’s the punchline of the year: “How come there are abuses only about women. ‘How come there are no brother-f****rs, father-f****rs?’”
Objecting to gaalis only being female-oriented, a quartet of women fire a volley of freshly minted invectives. And such vignettes are not the only bold, brazen, and sarcastically humorous element about writer-director Leena Yadav’s whiplash of a movie titled Parched.
The outcome is anything but dry and thirsty of ideas and wit. Rather, the 118-minuter snaps, crackles and entertains while dealing with the age-old subject about the oppression of women within the arid badlands of the nation. Crafted with muscular force and oftentimes aimed below the belt of the male species, the film establishes Yadav as a name to reckon with in world cinema. Make that international-quality cinema.
No more jousting with compromised endeavours like Shabd and Teen Patti, for her, in the cut-throat Bollywood bazaar.
The story elaborating the lives of four women bonded by birth to everyday exploitation and bestiality–Rani, Lajjo, Bijli and Janaki–command your attention and empathy as their characters evolve from submission and servitude to a form of self realisation and liberation.
If that sounds Utopian, why not? That’s the way to be. Of the quartet, Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee) is quite easily the most resilient and pragmatic. A widow, she longs to get her gadabout teenaged son (Riddhi Sen) married to a girl from an adjoining village. So what if it’s Rani who has to cough up a hefty ‘dowry’ for the bride.
Meanwhile, the nubile bride Janaki (Lehar Khan) harbours her own stock of secrets and lies. In love with another boy, she rebels by cutting off her hair to spite the groom on the wedding night.
Over next to Rani’s saheli Lajjo (Radhika Apte) who’s believed to be a barren as a brick although it’s her lout of a drunken husband who’s sterile. And the foursome is complete with the raw-as-desi-daroo cabaret performer Bijli (Surveen Chawla) who flaunts her sexuality like a lethal weapon.
To elaborate on how the four escape from their caged lives would tantamount to disclosing the terrific twists and fury in the plot. Suffice it to say, whenever the camera is trained on the quartet’s aspirations and anxieties, you’re captivated.
Perhaps the only flaw you can find in Yadav’s dramaturgy is in the presentation of the male characters. The males are either fiends including the inevitable panchayat elders frowning away at women carrying cell phones. Or on the other extreme, they are portrayed as paragons of virtue, in particular the sweetie pie social activists. Moreover, hai rabba a grandma dying at an ironic juncture of the script, strikes you as a cheesy cliché. Never mind.
There’s still plenty of nourishment for thought and reflection in this technically inventive ode to Woman Shakti.
A coup has been achieved by recruiting the eminent cinematographer Russell Carpenter to lens the chameleon-like locations of Northern India.
Sure, there’s plenty of exotic couleur locale sparking up the frames. Besides the costumes border on the ethnic chic, the sort you can see in state emporium. Yet, these cannot subtract the impact of Parched.
Its outlook throughout fluctuates between the realistic to the hyper-imaginative. By the way, jibes are darted at Shah Rukh Khan and perhaps inadvertently to The Dirty Picture. Note please, a dance competition between an ageing pole-dancer and an upcoming tantaliser. Both quite cheekily done.
On the upside, too, count Hitesh Soni’s music score which marvellously fuses authentic folk and Bollywood boom-shaka-laka beats.
Of the cast, all the four women in the forefront belt out extraordinary performances. My heart went out, especially to Surveen Chawala who chews up her role with the hunger of a tigress.
Bravo, then, Leena Yadav and Co. You did it.
Image Source: Goldposter