Movie Review - Anaarkali Of Aarah by Suhel Johar

Anaarkali Of Aarah Is Bold And Beautiful.

 

 

Anaarkali of Aarah revolves around an erotic singer, Anaarkali, from a small town of Aarah in Bihar. Anaarkali struts around in her blingy lehengas and is very popular for her songs. She is the star performer of the troupe and is confident of her success. She and her orchestra perform at parties on songs which are replete with double meaning. Considered to be a local treasure, Anaarkali is nearly a celebrity thanks to her popular performances. However, her life takes a twist when during one such stage show, a drunk and politically-connected VC (Sanjay Mishra) gropes her, she decides to fight back instead of cower.

Disgusted by his act, Anaarkali objects to being touched without her consent. She is definitely not one to take things lying down and she slaps him and walks off the stage. But the politician is too powerful to let this insult be forgotten, and he has the local police under his command. She even considers filing an FIR against him on grounds of molestation. Due to her profession, she is misjudged by many and is framed by police as a prostitute to contain her from bringing forth, the VC’s misconduct. The VC begins to hound Anaarkali so much that she is forced to leave Bihar and flee to Delhi.

Anaarkali Of Aarah is a social commentary at its best. It highlights Anaarkali’s struggle against a misogynistic world that believes has no shame in objectifying women as mere objects of desire. Like Pink, this film once again puts a stress on ‘No means No’. Anaarkali may be putting it out in public with her revealing clothes and seductive moves but there’s nothing called ‘asking for it’. But despite its women playing subservient roles to men folk, the plucky and fearless Anaarkali shows what self-respect translates into for her: Didn’t she say a firm “No”?

Avinash Das’ script unabashedly throws light on some of these men and women who may be considered gross by many, and gives them a certain gravitas too.

One of the best things about Anaarkali’s character is that at no point the script hints at an impression that she is an innocent naive girl. She may be feisty, spirited and an electrifying performer but she has the right to her body and hence may have chosen to have multiple sexual partners in the past but that does not make her ‘available’ to any man who can force his way through.

Anaarkali’s background as a child too is explained swiftly. In shockingly tragic circumstances, her mother is shot dead during a performance by an inebriated neta, as she danced on stage. Following her death, Anaarkali takes over the role that her dancer-mother had all along performed: that of an erotic dancer in Aarah. She makes full use of her sexuality to woo men and has the entire Aarah eating out of her hand. The film though never appears too “adult” perhaps, for the fear of the censors’ axe could guard morality that could befall any scene, line or film’s dialogues these days.

The movie loses some of its bite when the setting changes from Aarah to Delhi. It seems like Bihar has a way of making things interesting in Hindi films like no other place. Because only while on the run and in Delhi do her high spirits sag, and then the film begins to drag too. Maybe the director agrees too on this, for he has Anaarkali deciding to go back to her hometown and face the politician and face her destiny.

Director Avinash Das is a brave new voice with a refreshing take on women and their sexuality. He makes a good directorial debut with this film. But one feels it can be quite tricky for a debutante filmmaker to singlehandedly work on a script and the execution part of it too. There are several places in the film where the script writer in Das fails the director in him. For instance, in the first 30 minutes you have no clue as what is happening since nothing significant happens. Similarly things start to slacken in the second half and tedium seeps in at some places. Also Anaarkali’s over enthusiasm to confront anyone at anytime attitude strikes a discordant note. For a woman who is not too educated to display so much nerve and bravado seems a little farfetched.

Music by Rohit Sharma plays an integral part of the film with the songs bringing alive the rustic charm of unpolished small town India. The background score is effective too. Cinematography by Arvind Kannabiran is good. Editing by Jabeen Merchant could have been more crisper.

The performances, in fact, help keep the narrative together and the film rests fair and square on Swara Bhaskar's performance. She does deliver with self-possession. Her acting is perfect as a feisty dancing girl who wants to maintain her dignity. She is thoroughly impressive.

Pankaj Tripathi is as dependable as he has always been but his role looks half baked as he disappears from the film. All others in the cast like Sanjay Mishra, Vijay Kumar, Mayur More, Ishteyak Khan and Nitin Arora are cast perfectly and prove remarkably effective in their roles.

On the whole, Anaarkali of Aarah could have been a far better film then it is but it still deserves to be seen for all the performances and its concept.

.