Reviews

OK, it was made for pocket money. Basically nobody's being paid. The whole crew are probably amateurs.

So far, so good. But the writing, the acting, and especially the editing reflect these budget values to the overall detriment of the whole. It just doesn't 'flow' like it should. Nothing is glaringly bad or anything, but it's not really very 'good' either. Overall, it has a bit of a 'first year at film school' vibe, which is not actually a bad thing, but more a reminder to manage one's expectations.

Maybe the camera work is a bit too intrusive. Maybe the characters could be more fully developed. Maybe there's a bit of a slow start before the inevitable mayhem ensues, and perhaps a bit too much reliance on teen stereotypes. In fact, some of the teen and racial clichés can become grating, and what's with the appalling "Brit" accent?

I'm afraid I can't quite get all the love for this screenplay. The acting's fine, as is the cinematography, but the storyline is to my (albeit western) eyes implausible to say the least!

I get that as a female Devi is regarded as something of a liability to her father. I understand that the birth of a boy in an Indian family is regarded as a joyful & jubilant occasion of celebration, ant that of a girl as a time of shame & commiseration. Then there's the issue of bride-price to be considered in marriage arrangements, an sometimes ruinous financial imposition on a girl's family. Having fallen on hard times, perhaps Pathak senior might feel resentful for the consequences of his daughter's impropriety & indiscretion. Even in a society still obsessed with pre-marital 'purity' as that depicted. It would only be a crime under the oppressive Sharia laws of fundamentalist Muslim jurisdictions. Hindu mysticism, by contrast, celebrates sexual athleticism and prowess.

Therein lies my problem: fornication is not a crime in contemporary India. Not even within the somewhat conservative lower castes in Varanasi/Benares. The entire 'setup' by the corrupt officials beggars belief. Firstly, that she is accused of prostitution, a crime easily refuted. and secondly that she is threatened with abetting the suicide of her young lover. It was the police presence that was the primary, and indeed sole, reason for the silly boy's actions.

He would've taken HOURS to bleed out if unattended. Wrist cutting is a slow, relatively inefficient means of suicide, and the overwhelming majority of attempts simply get it 'wrong' anyway. The blood supply to the hands is relatively feeble and slow. Sever perhaps a femoral or carotid artery, or even the jugular and you will likely bleed out in a minute or two. But even if successful in severing the wrist's radial or ulnar arteries, which is in fact protected by a cluster of tough, resilient sinews, and about the worst that will happen if unattended for some minutes is the eventual loss of the hand (a few weeks later) by tissue necrosis!

Why not tell the cops where to go in such a ham-fisted and amateurish attempt at blackmail? Yes, I realise the real, actual threat was to the family's reputation rather than that implied by the spurious charge of abetting suicide. But as the screenplay implied, her 'reputation' actually followed her into her subsequent employment anyway. Loss of face perhaps, but that's all. We all must pay the price for our youthful waywardness and indiscretions.