With a mammoth ensemble cast and a director who’s ready to go leaps and bounds for the movie, Sonchiriya delivers quite amazingly and satisfies you till the very end. However, a realistic character development may be taken as a pacing issue for the movie. The movie is rated A which marks restriction for certain age and group of the society. The movie shows you the burning issue of society in a very quiet and unforced nature. Be it a man’s redemption, untouchability and caste discrimination, politics in the late 70s or gender inequality, writer-director Abhishek Chaubey has crafted a scenery to portray them rather than completely relying on dialogue. The cast of the movie not only performs but hits the ball out of the park for a home run. The movie is shot in parts of Madhya Pradesh with Chambal being the center of the filming spot. The writers have employed Bundelkhandi (a regional language spoken in parts of Madhya Pradesh) which provides authenticity to the canvas. The dwellers of ravines are not shown as complete goons but their humane part is explored to convey why they are better as a vigilante. The movie is very culturally enriched which is enough to grab your attention for the majority of it.
RUNDOWN :
We are introduced to a group of dacoits who are ranging to their next spot. The group encounters a dead snake on their path (considered as a bad omen ) which is moved aside by the leader of the gang Man Singh. The group is elated about a wedding of a goldsmith’s daughter taking place the next day. With a local cop Gujjar on their hunt, the gang decides to stall the wedding and loot the dowry. The plan goes wrong, thanks to a police set up to catch the rebels which result in numerous casualties with some major deaths.After fleeing the place of encounter, the gang encounters a strange girl asking for help who has some people looking for her. Whether the remaining gang members run for their lives and help the girl or back track the police for revenge is what forms the rest of the story .
PERFORMANCES :
Sushant Singh Rajput stars as the good-hearted lead Lakhna whose conscience plays a central role in the story. He carries the persona of a dacoit and also carries the responsibility given to him as a lead. You may tell that he has had his shares of language classes for the role which pays well in the movie. His character may appear a bit too contemporary as compared to other important characters but that is the nature. Sonchiriya is definitely another feather in Sushant’s filmography. Bhumi Pednekar plays the role of a fleeing woman, strong at will named Indumati. Her character is the symbolism of female atrocities and their fightbacks in the country. She is more or less the central female character of the story and her acting skills are very much up to the mark. Manoj Bajpai is the show stealer with his intriguing yet humbled act as Thakur gang leader Man Singh. His role suits him perfectly and his acting calibre proves it. Ranvir Shorey and Ashutosh Rana are the backbones for the majority of the story. They bring their own set of experiments to their characters and entertain. In the end, it is Ashutosh’s character that I felt was provided with the best one-liners and dialogues in the movie. It is a delight to watch such actor reappear in a role that he aces.
Talking about the technical aspects of the movie, the directory successfully captures the essence of Chambal and serves it hot with the violence and hard hitting dialogues. I have been a fan of Chaubey’s Ishqiya series not for the screenplay but for the chemistry that his characters offer. A similar chemistry is visible between many characters of this movie who never talk to each other in a simple manner but are closer than ever. The plot of the movie is very linear with a revelation awaiting the audience in the second half. The screenplay does get slow during the starting portions of the second half which is an evident drag. The movie could have been easily trimmed by at least 20 minutes.
The camerawork is no cinematic masterpiece with beautiful scenery to capture because there aren’t any. The camerawork is very authentic and sometimes gives you the first person perspective. My favourite shot was Sushant running back to the house in the opening shootout where the camera gets shaky to capture his running from backward. The colour palette of the movie is kept unsaturated for most of the scenes to suit the location and it works high time. It is these technical aspects which indirectly influence the audience’s viewing big time.
The music and score are composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and the score is very intense and you can feel yourself right in the middle of the action. The movie has a scarcity of songs which is very confiding because of the genre. Although there is a beautiful title track sung by Rekha Bhardwaj which is nothing less than a rock softening melody.
The movie does borrow from Shekhar Kapoor’s 1996 acclaimed genre-defining drama Bandit Queen in more ways you would expect. There is a surprising character reveal I totally forgot about which is kind of moderate influence. The movie has Bandit Queen’s raw content but lacks the psychology part. This can be considered Abhishek Chaubey’s best work yet. Nevertheless, the movie is a victory for the director and cast in many ways. It may not be a complete masterpiece but will undoubtedly be this year’s finest. Only once in half a decade you get such a culturally accurate film backed by a big production house with dependable actors putting in their heart and soul into this movie. Sonchiriya may drag for several minutes, but it should be watched not only for its rural setting but also for its performances, determined screenplay, and exemplary direction.
Image from indiatimes.com
