There have been countless films in Hindi cinema on political corruption and misuse of office. How the leaders misuse the government machinery to save their power and politics, the audience of Hindi cinema has seen hundreds of times on screen. Bhoomi Pednekar's inaccessibility, released on Amazon Prime on Friday, is a very weak link in the same tradition, which is treated like a horror-thriller. However, Durgamati fails on both fronts.
Durgamati is a remake of the Telugu-Tamil film Bhagmati, directed by G. Ashok, who took over the reins of the original film. The co-producers of Durgamati also include Akshay Kumar, who himself played the lead role in Lakshmi, a remake of the Tamil film Kanchana 2. After watching Durgamati, a question flashes, after making a hit film in South India, what happens to those same people when they make a film in Hindi that the charisma is missing? Those who have seen Bhagmati will be able to understand this question more.
The story of Durgamati begins with Ishwar Prasad, the character of Arshad Warsi. Ishwar Prasad is a very honest leader with a clean image and Minister of Water Resources. Old idols are constantly being stolen from temples in the vicinity of Ishwar Prasad, which makes people angry. In a meeting, Ishwar Prasad promises that if the idols are not recovered within 15 days, he will retire from politics and also declare one of his confidants as his successor.
This announcement of Ishwar Prasad creates panic in the government. Ishwar Prasad is conspired to prove him to be corrupt in order to not become a hero in the eyes of the public. For this, CBI officer Shatakshi Ganguly (Mahi Gill) is hired. To find out more about Ishwar Prasad, it is planned to interrogate IAS officer Chanchal Chauhan, who has been Ishwar Prasad's personal secretary for ten years.
Chanchal is in jail for the murder of his fiancée Shakti Singh (Karan Kapadia). Shakti was the younger brother of ACP Abhay Singh (Jishu Sengupta), who was doing a good job abroad after completing his MBA from Stanford University, but leaves all for social service and returns to the village. The villagers respect him very much and are ready to do anything with one voice.
In order to keep Chanchal's interrogation secret, he is shifted from jail to a deserted palace in the middle of the jungle, the responsibility of which is left to ACP Abhay Singh. The reason for shifting to this palace is that the villagers consider this palace as ghostly and also afraid to go around it. During his stay in the palace, Chanchal learns about Durgamati. Durgamati's soul takes Chanchal in its possession and comes into its form as night falls. Agile is injured in this order.
Finally, to save Chanchal, he is sent to a mental hospital, where Ishwar Prasad meets him and then several secrets are revealed. The realities of Ishwar Prasad, the murder of Shakti, conspiracy against Chanchal and the ghatal worth Rs 1800 crore are revealed.
Durgamati is a very weak film at the level of writing. In the beginning it is shown that to settle Ishwar Prasad politically, people in the government put CBI behind him only because he is honest. It is another matter that Ishwar Prasad is no different from other leaders. He is as corrupt as the CBI prosecutors.
Ishwar Prasad also gets the nitty-gritty of the authorities, because he is afraid that after Ishwar Prasad's departure, a small person will sit on his foot. The film seems to be embroiled in political thinking and fails to make any meaningful comment. There is an orthodox thinking dominating throughout the narrative, which also appears in the filming of scenes.
Even on the level of acting, inadequacy does not leave its impact. Except for Bhumi Pednekar and Arshad Warsi, all the characters appear to be energyless and ineffective. Jishu Sengupta is considered one of the best actors of Bengali cinema, but his compulsion to do such a role in Hindi cinema is not understood. Mahi Gill does not impress at all in the role of CBI officer. Her character is shown in Bengali, which she struggles with accent to justify.
In colloquial usage of the wrong verb for gender is not enough to show Bengali pronunciation. More accurate than Bengali accent of Punjabi actress Mahi is the Hindi accent of Bengali actor Jishu Sengupta. Karan Kapadia, the son of Dimple Kapadia's sister, Simple Kapadia, got an important character in the film, but his screen presence is lifeless. His parts came up with some emotional scenes in which Karan could leave an impression. Sunil Shetty is reminded of Karan's dialogue payment. The supporting star cast of the film also failed to impress.
Durgamati - A Mythology thriller from The Myth Name and Treatment gives the feel of the film, but in reality it is a revenge story with a backdrop of politics and government machinery in the background. Barring a few scenes, the film is not intimidating even if it scares you. The film's climax is drawn and full of hyper-dramatics. The duration of the film is also one of its weaknesses. This could be tightened by reducing the duration of the film by two and a half hours.
Artists- Bhumi Pednekar, Arshad Warsi, Karan Kapadia, Mahi Gill, Jishu Sengupta etc.
Director- G. Ashok
Producer- Bhushan Kumar, Akshay Kumar etc.
Verdict ** (two stars)
Duration - 2 hours 35 minutes
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