Begum Jaan Hindi Movie Review

There is that moment in the recent history of the country: dramatic, delicate, victory in the midst of moaning widows and wailing victims of rape and loot, the Indian tricolour replacing the Union Jack. It is this pious tradition filled morally upright India that stands to be exposed in Srijit Mukherjee’s offering. It is this conflict filled moment that is so full of opportunity to deal with in cinema but so rarely visited. Yes, till MS Sathyu’s poignant Garam Hawa (one of the best films ever made in this country) it was nearly forbidden territory but a few excursions thereafter have caressed the scenario.
This at the periphery deals with the challenges of a whore house in the hands of the Cyril Radcliff line that is to divide India and Pakistan even as the nation heard the rhetoric of the midnight tryst with destiny, but more importantly the film exposes the huge double speak of a societal order that even sixty plus years ago showed all the signs of the decay that is blooming in brighter colour today.
Begum Jaan (Vidya Balan) runs this house in the middle of nowhere but is reasonably prosperous since men would go the distance to satiate their under the belly requirements. Then there are the prototypes who are the inhabitants of the house: the reluctant, the forced, the poor, the exploited. Add to this those who have been disowned by the family in the midst of the madness and the typical tales of the initial resistance and the hot scenes with crass customers.
At one level, it talks about the trials and tribulations of the victims of flesh trade, their emotions and how time and the profession rob them of the social niceties we in a bourgeoise sense associate with acceptable social behaviour. Running parallel with the tale of the hardcore protagonist, the elder lady (Illa Arun) the young child Laadli (Gracy Goswami), the latest victim Shabnam (Mishty Chakraborthy). It also deals with the concept of independence and how it has really no meaning to a pointed section of society. The bureaucrats (Rajit Kapoor and Aashish Vidyarthi) stick together to ensure that the inmates are evicted and when the system fails to deliver, they utilise the services of the local ruffian Kabir (Chunkey Pandey). This results in a louder wail and a near civil war that ends in complete destruction of the Begum Empire. The survivor connects it to contemporary India and shows how gender injustice continues to plague free India as it did to the polity decades ago in the midnight cusp to freedom.
While the cast is appropriate, the narrative surely belongs to Vidya Balan. Vidya Balan is in the use and occupation of a niche space. She has ensured that film makers go to her with roles worth navigating (and raunchy!). She is clearly different from the glam doll Barbie image perpetuated by mainstream cinema. Far from perfect, but arguably her best. In emotions unmatched, in anger wanting. Emotive but a tad short in the rough and edgy moments. If she is to be compared with Shabana (Mandi) or Sharmila (Mausam) she surely falls short, but both the instances are too high for compare. In the context of the day it is award winning performance, and a compelling poignant one at that. Watch Begum, not for the expected steam but for the more veil tearing appeal.

Rating: 2.5
+: Vidya Balan
-: Very Superficial

L. Ravichander.