Woman-oriented films have become commercially viable, and we see one more film –“Parched” which will be released on 23 September 2016. The movie, however, is not the usual kind of fem-dom stuff served by the high brow film fraternity.
The film is built around conversations between women. Women only conversation is a rarity in Indian movies and even in refreshingly fresh and forward-looking film like Piku had male-female or male-male conversations.
Leena Yadav directed “Parched” turns these foregone assumptions on its head.
There is hardly a scene in the movie which has men talking only to men. What we have is a woman talking to a woman in different capacities as friends, as concubines, as wives, or something much more complex to be adjudged.
The flick was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and has been generating rave reviews at festivals in various countries and released in theaters in the US and Europe. The film is set in rural India and the fact that it strikes the chord of the persons in a foreign land makes it distinct.
Audience reaction:
Women around the world have problems and only the setting and the background changes from a rusty village to a swanky swashbuckling metro city. The problems remain and this makes the fairer sex to better identify herself with the protagonist of this film.
What strikes most about the movie is its optimism.
It is very clear about the injustices meted out to women in rural India, but the story rolls on and wraps the viewer with a level-headed optimism. The film is lively and cinematographer Russell Carpenter has worked hard to give a realistic color within the confines of a dull and drab rural background.
When compared to contemporary flicks like Sairat or Killa it leads to a feeling of melancholy and optimism in equal proportions.
Sairat built up a fantasy which was shattered at the end. However, this is not the case here. We know the eventuality of social customs and redundant traditions crushing hope, but the director leaves the door just open to let sheen of opportunity percolate in an otherwise dark surrounding.
