Beware Of Girlpower:
This woman-on-rampage film seems to have been made to fulfill a year-end quota or something like that, because Apurva written and directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (streaming on Disney+Hotstar), looks rushed and half-baked.
It starts with a scene of gratuitous violence, when a group of unwashed lowlifes attack a car, and kill the occupants– kicking one of them to death. The most vicious is a juvenile, Chhota (Aaditya Gupta). The other three of the gang are the gruff Jugnu (Rajpal Yadav), nasty Sukha (Abhishek Banerjee) and nastier Balli (Sumit Gulati), all bandits for hire, who follow up on tips to loot vehicles on lonely roads.
Just because a bus driver does not give their car right of way, they rob the passengers, and kidnap Gwalior-resident Apurva (Tara Sutaria), who is on her way to surprise her Agra-based fiancé Siddharth (Dhairya Karwa) on his birthday. Their arranged-turned-love match is hurriedly introduced, but no other small details that might give some idea of who they are, or what makes them click, so in this very low rent version of NH10 (2015, Navdeep Singh), the lead pair remains uninteresting. Similarly, the villains are cardboard cut outs. The plot exists in a void, without any sense of place — it is supposed to be the Chambal valley, but instead of the ravines, most of the action takes place in what looks like a dig site– a maze of stone walls and red soil, that could be anywhere.
It is also observed that a film, supposedly “based on true events,” that purports to be opposed to violence against women has endless shots of Apurva being dragged, manhandled and slapped. When she falls unconscious, Sukha tells Chhota that he won’t enjoy raping her unless she screams. Then, in the most distasteful scene, the four literally have a pissing contest to determine who gets the first turn.
Inexplicably, an astrologer turns up in the desolate spot, with no houses or people for miles around. And he does not serve any purpose– Apurva escapes into the wilderness and faces the ordeal with great courage. Siddharth lands up at some point, and tries, in vain, to goad an apathetic cop into action.
The film’s relatively short running time is welcome, but it also means there is no build up of tension, or the unfolding of Apurva’s emotions, from desperation turning to rage and then fearlessness. All of this simply portrayed by her running around or hiding, and, at some point, miraculously finding a sickle that just gives the film a dramatic poster image.
If at all, the film does anything, it is to offer Tara Sutaria a role that allows her to act, rather than just dress up and play pretty love interest to the leading man. With no other stand-out performance or impressive scene, Apurva just falls by the wayside, where other quickly made-quickly forgotten films end up.
(This piece first appeared in rediff.com)
