Star Cast- Deepika Padukone, Vikrant Massey, Madhurjeet Sarghi, Ipshita Chakraborty
Genre- Social
Rating- ***
Sensitive and Disturbing!
Jyothi Venkatesh
The film Chhapaak revolves around the life of a brave nineteen-year-old girl takes a turn when she is subjected to a horrific acid attack. But she resolves to fight for justice and reclaim her life. The film is about the girl’s extra ordinarily indomitable spirit though at times it turns out to be a dry documentary. ‘Chhapaak’ is based on the story of real life acid attack survivor, Laxmi Agarwal, who has become a symbol of strength and inspiration for many women. The film is a fictionalized account with Deepika Padukone playing the central character Malti, who is attacked in broad daylight on the streets of Delhi by a friend of the family, Bashir Khan aka Babbu and his aide, because she does not reciprocate his one sided love for her.
Unfortunately for Malti, she has to go through a number of complicated surgeries in the complicated process of her recovery. In fact, far from the dreams she nursed of being a singer, her life is now an intersection of her work with an NGO for acid victims, her multiple surgeries and her court cases, besides the PIL that she has filed for stopping the sale of acid, which has still not been curbed by the government.
Owing to her brother’s illness and father’s death, it is Malti’s lawyer Archana (Madhurjeet Sarghi), who stands by her through her arduous journey. Even while support from her family becomes zilch, Archana’s team of women lawyers take on the system. Her other main support comes from Amol (Vikrant Massey), who employs her to work for his NGO, which offers solace to her though he is not in a position to pay her salary every month.
Deepika Padukone steals the show as Malyi, who is the soul of the film and delivers a brilliant and immersive performance and, there are many scenes where her act will move you to tears – like the one where she holds up an earring to her face but realizes now she can’t put it on or the one where she looks at her disfigured face on the mirror and screams in utter disbelief. From being a helpless victim, she turns into a gritty survivor over the years and later became a crusader for the upliftment of the acid attack victims..Vikrant Massey is terrific though he does not have an author backed role, as the bearded Amol, who loves Malti but does not muster enough courage to propose to her till Malti decides to take the first step.
The music track by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy stands out – with ‘Chhapaak’ title track and ‘Nok Jhok’ and lyrics by Gulzar add to the poignancy of the mood. If you compare this film with Meghna Gulzar’s earlier films like Raazi and Talwar, the spark seems to be missing since Meghna struggles to maintain a stoic balance between sensitivity of the subject and a predictable court room drama, especially since she has opted for a non linear narrative.
To sum up, in spite of its flaws, the film deserves a onetime watch, if you are bold enough to get over with your momentary depression.
