The feeling after watching this movie –Chhapaak……
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★Synopsis
Chhapaak is a 2020 Indian drama movie directed by Meghna
Gulzar and starring by Deepika Padukone. The movie is based on the life of the
activist Laxmi Agarwal, who was burned with acid in New Delhi 2005, and has
since become an advocate for banning the sale of acid in India. Details like
names and ages have been changed, but the substance of Agarwal’s story remains
the same.
★The characters
Deepika Padukone is the soul of the movie, delivering a
brilliant, immersive performance. In fact, there are many scenes where her act
will move you to tears, like the one where she holds up an earring to her face
but realizes now she can’t put it on. Or her piercing cry when she sees her
face for the first time in a mirror after the attack.
And one where she determinedly tells Amol, “Mujhe party
karni hain.” Precisely why Malti’s character is a winner because at no point
does she succumb to self-pity. And as Deepika embraces her character
completely, her transformation is enhanced through effective prosthetics.
Devoid of even a hint of glamour, all we see is Malti throughout.
Malti’s chief allies are Archana Bajaj (Madhurjeet
Sarghi), a crusading attorney who rails against a national legal system that
appears to treat acid assaults on women, a commonplace crime in India as scarcely
worse than misdemeanors.
And the aforementioned Amol, the type of single-minded
zealot who would serve as buzzkill at a party celebrating a legal victory
because, well, he didn’t think the ruling went far enough. It speaks volumes
about Vikrant Massey’s underlying charisma that his character doesn’t come
across as a complete pill.
★Description of the story and plots
Chhapaak begins in 2012 when Delhi is crying we want
justice for its gangrape victim. You've seen those scenes far too many times
now. Among this crowd, a man holds up the photo of an acid victim in front of a
TV camera.
He is asked to move out of the frame. Amol spits at the
crew, "Rape ke aage acid ki kya keemat. Uncle ko samajh hi nahi
aata." Meghna Gulzar takes us next to Malti’s story, trying hard to make
us understand why, why would anyone do this to someone. The director handholds
her viewer through the courtrooms where hope sinks into hopelessness which
transforms into hope. Life oscillates between what could have been and what is.
The director takes a light approach to this heavy
subject, using familiar stylistic flourishes to soften the story. Though there
are no staged musical numbers, the score includes several songs, with the first
introduced in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Malti.
The music draws the story into the heightened,
emotionally manageable space of melodrama, an approach that remains consistent
throughout. There are scenes of anguish, but the movie doesn’t make a spectacle
of pain. And as Malti, Padukone is by turns inquisitive, watchful and serene
but never maudlin.
The visual effects used to represent Malti’s burns are a
rather extraordinary mix of makeup and prosthetics, which subtly change as she
receives treatments. Gulzar has also cast real survivors of acid assaults and
the camera rests just as plainly on their faces as it does upon Malti’s. Gulzar
emphasizes the dignity of survivors and the joy that exists even after
devastating injury.
Many of the most moving scenes feature Malti and real
survivors playing and fantasizing about future treatments, their faces lit up
not in pain but in laughter.
★Conclusion
The
dialogues of the movie are simple. They do their job of telling a story without
coming down heavy on your ears. Meghna Gulzar lets Deepika's face do the rest.
Every time you see her staring out of the screen, you are reminded of this evil
that India is still fighting.
Acid
is still being sold and bought for 'prices cheaper than cola'.
If
you walk into Chhapaak expecting typical Bollywood razzamatazz, you may be
disappointed.
There
are no lavish production numbers, no exhilarating romantic interludes, no
slo-mo acrobatics of any sort, and only two songs, neither of which are sung by
anyone onscreen. On the other hand, if you’re up for a conventional yet
compelling tale of an exceptional young woman who overcomes brutish
mistreatment and regains control of her destiny, you won’t miss the usual song
and dance at all.
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