Produced by -Grass Root Film Company
Presented by & Anurag Kashyap
Writer/Director –
Varsha Bharat
Cast -Anjali Sivaraman, Shantipriya, Hridhu Haroon, Teejay Arunachalam, Saranya Ravichandran etc
Censor Rating-
U/A
Running Time -112 Minutes
Rating -***
Way back in 1973, it was veteran filmmaker K. Balachandar who projected and presented a particular community in a different light setting his script around an orthodox, conservative Brahmin family, where the elder daughter takes to the world’s oldest profession owing to the financial constraints faced by the family.
The film created a flutter because of its bold scenes which also drew some controversy on some issues discussed and deliberated in the film.
Varsha Bharat has taken a similar route here but the objectives are diametrically different!
Varsha Bharat has deliberated on the coming of age of a school girl, -physically and emotionally – in full measure.
Her journey has been assertively presented with scenes and situations that may not go well some sect of the audience but the contemporary generation will lap them all up with both the hands!
The dialogue appears to have been targeted at menfolks- sample this for a flavor-
A school staff reprimands the girl who has misbehaved as well as secured low grades- You talk like boys…,finally, fail like boys!
Next,
All men should be killed says a girl! But all in a lighter vein, the explanation could be!
While the mom of the protagonist tries her best to travel along with her rebellious daughter, the latter keeps blaming her for all her own personal failures!
‘You chose to stay bound by the chains that you tied up with which have passed on through generations while I want to break myself free from such imprisonment and lead a life of my own , for my own and on my own!
Some food for thought!
Smoking, Drinking, partnership in sex with multiple men and eventually blaming them all for being opportunistic – contemporary trends realistically presented!
The protagonist even remarks against having ‘protected’ sex with her male partners!
We have to applaud Varsha for having been bold to paint such pictures on the celluloid while ensuring that there is never a dull moment in the film thanks to her screenplay that moves at a steady pace!
Her creativity sparkles in some scenes that she has conceived, crafted and translated on the screen in an aesthetic manner!
There is a scene where the protagonist asks her first boyfriend (at school) whether she can pose a weird question. A pertinent question that has no proper answer!
A bold attempt, anyway …