Chhatriwali: Review
Rakul Preet’s character Sanya Dhingra echoes the quintessential modern educated woman with scientific thinking, struggling under the oppressive and outdated stigma about safe sex and condoms, some of the hallmarks of sexual education. She fails to get a job and one day her expertise in chemistry impresses Mr. Ratan Lamba, the owner of a condom factory. Sex education is basically non-existent in this country, but the damage is very real and cannot be swept under the rug very easily. When our main protagonist saw her sister-in-law suffer from the horrible consequences of repeated abortion and the callous way it was handled and accepted, just like the responsibility of sterilization or preventing pregnancies is dumped on women alone, she decided she will make a change.
From catchy slogans to actually going on the ground to teach the schoolchildren what a vagina is, she is determined. However, if only things could be this smooth both in reel and real life. Whilst her average middle-class husband, played wonderfully by Sumeet Vyas, was initially reluctant and confused but later on became a pillar of support for his wife, the same can’t be said about her brother-in-law Bhaiji, ironically a Biology high school teacher. They own a “devi-bhandar” or shop which sells religious items, a sharp contrast to Lamba’s condom factory where our protagonist works at. And when asked about copulation, he literally teaches his students about birds. But we are humans and don’t have feathers. Hence, as a surprise to no one, these kinds of euphemisms fall short. Or the medical shop uncle who instead of being happy about the increase in sales of condoms (and mosquito repellants), was instead angered and offended. But in real life as well, people seldom go buy out condoms on their own, and always take a zig-zag sort of approach. Even then, this country shushes about practicing safe sex, while this year becoming the most populous country in the world.
The film was a little similar to a film last year, Jan Mai Jaari, and while it is really refreshing to see mainstream Bollywood finally tackling these taboo yet important topics head-on, the cinematography lagged in certain areas. After all, toying with the line of sensitive topics and making it entertaining, is a tall order that even the actors couldn’t outshine with their stellar performances.
The new Bollywood movie starring Rakul Preet Singh feels like a lingering government ad aimed at supporting safe sex by encouraging condom use. But this film, directed by Tejas Deoskar, has no original idea for building a story on the subject. For about 80% of its run time, you’ll be reminded of Vicky Donor, a film that conveys its message perfectly and seamlessly. Lamba offers Sanya a condom quality tester position. Sanya is initially reluctant to take the job but eventually agrees. I understand. The fact that safe sex rates are shockingly low in a country like India definitely makes movies like Chatriwari proper movie. But other than its “social message” element, there is absolutely nothing creative about this film. Much of this film is a poor re-enactment of Vicky Donor. If Vicky was hesitant to become a sperm donor, here Sanya has the same problem as a condom inspector. Both hide their jobs from their partners and family. Both face setbacks when the family finds out about the job. Towards the climax, you would hope they would take another step. Unfortunately, this other step is an oversimplified lecture. Rakul Preet Singh is in the big bubbly zone of this movie. However, given how the entire movie is written, there is little she can do to make the movie look better. Talented veteran Rajesh Tailang plays the role of Sanya’s brother-in-law. Luckily, his experience in making his performances look a little nuanced keeps the film from becoming a dull, everyday soap. plays Sanya’s mother. The role corresponding to Annu Kapoor is played by Satish Kaushik in this film.
From a creative point of view, this movie is completely boring. Because the creators describe the structure of the story in a very formulaic way. The predictability of the script is a major drawback, as the film simply skips over events and conflicts.
While Ayushmann Khurrana’s protagonist humanized the characters and aroused sympathy in us, Tejas Deoskar and his writers are the safest I am only interested in conveying to my audience the need for healthy sex and the relevance of sex education in schools. When trying to experiment with these “thematic” films, it is important and fundamental to be effective. A production that looks like his two-hour version of Padman’s anti-smoking commercial starring Akshay Kumar is not what viewers might expect. Dumping the NCERT books really refreshed a lot of old memories of awkward class 8 Biology reproduction classes.
The script fell flat and boorish at certain points, and personally, as much as I liked the depiction of the harmful effects of women undergoing repeated abortions and unprescribed contraceptives and promoted the preventive measure of wearing a “chhata”, still it could have discussed more on the alternative contraceptive options and their safe usages. Another shortfall of the film is the scope of CSE in school levels and the teachers being properly trained for delivering accurate sex education to the students.
Written By: Baishali Mukherjee
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