It was Willaim Congreve who said:
Heav’n has no Rage like Love to Hatred turn’d, Nor Hell a Fury like a Woman
scorn’d. It has been but a few weeks that we saw a Mother avenge the rape of
her daughter now we get another full drawn revenge drama on how a woman gets even
with the rapist without having the law catching up with her. More of our cinema
is disturbingly advocating personal vendetta as an answer to solving legal
issues. Needless to mention that art after all reflects the mind of its times
and today nothing reflects functional India more than anarchy. A sociologist
could well see this as a source of concern that we increasingly are
appreciative of persons who dare to take the law into their own hands.
There can be no doubt that rape is arguably one of the most gruesome of crimes
and its increasing incidence in our society is no less worrying and to advocate
strong response against crime in a society is only welcome. However crime and
punishment are matters of expertise and it would be irresponsible and dangerous
to permit the victim to charter her own course of revenge.
However the thematic content of a work is the right of the artist and thus the
film maker has the right to his opinion. Vasuki (Nayantara) is married to
Venkat (Mamoothy) a lawyer who reviews films (interesting combo I thought!!).
Married against the wishes of his traditional family he lives with his wife and
young daughter (Baby Ananya) in a flat. All is fine till two youngsters in the
flats along with a dhobi rape her one day. She does not share the information
with her husband. Soon she runs into the local DCP Deepika (Sheelu Abraham) who
helps her avenge the crime. How she goes about it systematically is what the
film is about.
The film takes too long to lay down the premise. While it is obvious that
Vasuki is carrying baggage, we are waiting for too long to know the details.
Once revealed the execution gets fast – nay snappy. What robs the film of its
punch is the long drawn intro. The usual credibility is missing. The execution
somehow lacks the conviction of the women wronged and it is more a zombie at
work than a woman wronged.
Nayanthara, I suspect over tries and leaves you with an impression that she is
more exhausted about the script than convinced about it. She is more in
physical trauma than emotional is the message conveyed. Mamoothy who gives the
film its final twists in a narrative that is superfluous after the victims are
dead also looks faded. From the high expectation levels of a film from Kerala
this is disappointing but if you are willing to invest on some good
craftsmanship then and only then it is a worth taking outing.
L. Ravichander.