Hindi Movie Reviews

Story:
A dull treat, the story is about Pranali (Nargis) who belongs to a lower caste and is given as a dedication to the god as a 'Devdasi' to upkeep the vicious traditions of a let down society. Soon, she becomes a victim to the lust of the high priest and from then on she is used physically in the name of divine dedication and becomes a sex worker. As expected, she gets pregnant and gives birth to a girl child but as the child grows, problems begin to arise as the girl is refused admission since she is the daughter of a prostitute. Everything looks lost and defeated for Pranali until the arrival of an NRI (Raman Trikha) who comes on a mission to do research on the lives of the sex workers and find more about the 'Devadasi' tradition. Soon, the NRI figures out the loopholes and then gathers Pranali along with her co sex workers like Akka (Sudha Chandran) Chanda (Deepshika) Kanchi (Rohini Kapoor) and Salma (Vaidehi Singh) and from then on starts an upward battle against the battle for achieving the status of legality to their flesh trade. Are they successful in their struggle? What role does Pranali play during the course of events? All this forms the rest of the story.

Presentation:
The debut effort of Hridesh came out very clearly at every frame and though the plot and thought was inspiring it lacked the finesse of handling a sensitive and social subject. The narration was pathetic and the presentation was horrendous. The script was like quick sand and the screenplay lacked the grip to keep the audience engaged. Not much happened even in the music department despite big names and the editing desk seemed to be on leave when the movie was made. Nargis who played the title role seemed to give it her best as a debut attempt but then it was not enough to carry the movie. However, she has shown good potential. Upendra Limaye was not required at all, the others like Sudha, Deepshika, Vinay Apte did have it in them to pull of something good but their roles were minimal which limited their performances too.

Conclusion:
A severely condemnable system like the 'Devdasi' system is a very good headstart for making a film but then it requires great intensity and powerful grip on the presentation if some social awareness and impact is to be made on the audience. The entire film carries on at an own pace and one really is not sure where it is heading. There is no real connection established between the screen and the viewer and it is not long before the audience realizes that this is a dud. Expectations were high since the theme was meant to be thought provoking but it is really hard for the movie to survive even a week. Hridesh needs to work on his basics and Nargis needs to check the script before she takes up further roles. Same goes with the producers who want to create an impact in the audience and a name for themselves.

Bharatstudent verdict: Terrible!!!