Chhatriwali movie review: This film about safe sex is too coy to embrace its message
After Karnal’s world-famous Kalpana Chawla, the primary Indian origin lady to enter house, we’ve got Sanya Dhingra who needs to lift the standing of ladies on this bustling Haryana city. The reference to Ms Chawla comes up a few occasions in ‘Chhatriwali’, clearly the writers of the movie are pleased with this real-life Karnal-ki-beti.
However Ms Dhingra (Rakul Preet Singh), the movie’s fictional chemistry whizz, isn’t any pie-in-the-sky dreamer. All she needs is for individuals to follow protected intercourse — males to make use of condoms so that ladies are saved from undesirable pregnancies and well being hazards. Going by the difficulties she faces, it’s clear that an astronaut’s job is less complicated.
Just some months again, we had Nushhratt Bharuccha doing nearly the identical factor in ‘Jan Hit Mein Jaari’. Many parts of ‘Chhatriwali’ remind you of the sooner movie, however on condition that it’s such an necessary topic, there’s no hurt in additional movies focussing on it. However the identical drawback that beset ‘Jan Hit’ overpowers this one too: why ought to any dialog round condoms and protected intercourse result in drained, jaded strains about how these are ‘ashleel’ issues, not solely not applicable for younger girls and boys, but in addition in bedrooms the place ‘respectably’ married {couples} presumably have interaction in mutually pleasurable copulation? Why, within the guise of being progressive, is the remedy of the movie so backward? Why so coy? Is that this the 60s?
Watch Chhatriwali film trailer right here:
Right here’s what an initially reluctant Sanya (Rakul Preet Singh) has to face when it’s revealed that she works as a high quality management skilled in a condoms manufacturing facility run by a good-hearted gent (Satish Kaushik), who calls it a ‘nek kaam’ (noble work). She is roundly berated by Bhai ji (Rajesh Tailang), elder brother of her husband Rishi (Sumeet Vyas), who stands by mutely. She’s yelled at by the women she has been making an attempt to transform, telling them that if their males is not going to use these ‘chhatris’, they need to not put out. A prissy chemist (Rakesh Bedi), horrified by the sudden spurt of condom gross sales by the husbands denied their rights, takes up cudgels towards her.
A movie which has a personality use the road ‘ladka ladki mein koi pharak nahin hota’, additionally cravenly balances it with calling a brand new daughter-in-law, ‘ghar ki izzat’. Singh is perky, Vyas is dependable, however the duo in addition to the opposite characters battle towards a script which is afraid to completely embrace its message. It’s the ladies who’re made chargeable for their reproductive standing, as a result of males solely wish to have enjoyable. And simply because a feminine character (Prachee Shah) suffers from ‘a headache and abdomen ache’ after utilizing them, doesn’t imply that every one ladies will: this messaging is each irresponsible and harmful.
Sanya is handed out a ‘victory’, along with her husband by her facet, and Bhai ji is left shame-faced, however after nearly your complete movie is spent in undermining her. ‘Mera kaam galat nahin hai, aapka nazariya galat hai’ (my work isn’t unsuitable, your perspective is), she says. Proper on the finish, after all.Too little, too late.
Chhatriwali film solid: Rakul Preet Singh, Sumeet Vyas, Satish Kaushik, Rajesh Tailang, Dolly Ahluwalia, Rakesh Bedi, Prachee Shah
Chhatriwali film director: Tejas Deoskar
Chhatriwali film score: 1.5 stars
