Panga

All readers who feel I am very harsh with my reviews, be warned. Serious criticism coming your way.

We have yet another oppressed woman finds her identity to wave the flag of feminism in the chauvinistic Indian society film. Enough already. How many more of those are we going to get? Aren’t the makers bored? Or are they completely seduced by the idea of remaking the mold and making those hundreds of crores? I mean, it is just so easy isn’t it? I don’t even think they need a scriptwriter now? The mold works. Perfectly. Especially when media is covering the rape and molestation stories with so much passion. Feminism is the talk of the day. Which, by the way, is vented on celluloid and fills the void of injustice in our soul. The public is just consuming the whole idea in kilos. And the films are raking in the crores.

This one doesn’t even have the lady oppressed. She is probably lost her identity and trying to find it or something like that. I couldn’t be bothered. Whatever happened to the game of kabaddi? We hardly get anything about the game. The techniques of the sport. Something to make the story interesting. To get your audience involved. We have had similar films which had intensity. They had passion. About the game. The matches. The players. They had depth. This one barely does lip service. A weight lifting tomboy character played by Richa Chadha, is like the mother figure driving the protagonist in her Bihari Hindi. And a kid who should have been slapped for arguing with the mother is actually the male chauvinist? Two or three remarks to show the villainous side. A jump or two here and there. And voila. India wins an international kabaddi championship. Disappointing.

A complete waste of a seriously talented, explosive and instinctive actor. We want to see the Kangana from Fashion again. We want to see the Kangana from Tanu weds Manu and Queen again. She is probably waiting in a script somewhere. May she come back soon. We finally have a smile that can beat Madhuri Dixit's smile. Fair and square. And it is of a man. Jassie, a gorgeous Punjabi plays the ram avatar husband and frowns exactly twice in the film. The screen is lit by his blessed set of teeth which is, at some level, redeeming. This is no panga. It is just dhanda.

Rating – 2 / 5

Chhapaak

Chhapaak is the sound of the acid hitting the face of the woman who has been attacked with it. The title song in the film says that with one chhapaak ( splash) the identity of the woman is changed forever. A few drops destroy her face forever. She cannot look beautiful anymore. She cannot work anymore. She cannot fulfill her wishes and desires anymore. It's amazing how inventive a man is to destroy, torture. mutilate, afflict suffering on a woman. Anytime a woman pursues something more than she is allowed by the patriarchy, the men invent new ways of suppressing her.

 Like the lawyer fighting for acid attack survivor Malti Agrawal says in the film that most of the victims were women who had a mind of their own and wanted to live their lives on their terms by making their own choices. The choices to be independent, love or marry a man of her choice or any other choice that went against the repressive and tyrannical man. What can be crueler than destroying the face of a woman which is an integral part of her identity? And then faces isolation thanks to the same patriarchy that judges her by her beauty, her face.  A distorted part of her identity that makes her unacceptable and victim of societal bigotry.

Chhapaak hits you hard with the lives of women who are acid attack survivors. It makes you angry and emotional while you witness their grave fate. And like me, you end up thinking of acid attackers and how they can be punished. And in that, the director has achieved his purpose of making this film. In telling the story of Malti who not only survived but fought to punish her attackers, become independent and find love. Deepika gives a poised yet, intense performance of a very beautiful girl who chooses to correct her disfigured face with grit and determination. Vikrant Massey gives a complimenting performance as a serious social worker working for the cause of acid attack victims.

Another important film that intends to wake us up and stop atrocities against women.

Rating - 3.5 / 5