Devi Film Review: Kajol, Shruti Haasan and the women’s team shine in the short film | tabloid
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00:00It's been a good week for women in Bollywood in general.
00:03If Tapsee Pannu gave a searing portrait of misogyny and patriarchy and male entitlement
00:09in her hit film Tappad, then we have Kajol who tries her hand at something different.
00:19Within 13 minutes, Kajol seems to have come up with a sussing tale about nine women,
00:24nine different tales, but their reality is very harsh.
00:28These nine women, who belong to different ages and classes, are rape survivors.
00:33The short film opens with the bickering among nine women about whether they should let an
00:37intruder in. Somebody is ringing their bell but they already feel that this space is crammed.
00:44You don't know where they are really heading. I mean, at first the story is quite convoluted.
00:48If you stay with it, you realise that these are nine women who have to live with the reality
00:53of being violated and being physically assaulted.
00:56There's this young party girl, played by Shruti Hassan, who says that she was thrown into the
01:01street with a beer bottle rammed into her, or that medical student who was raped and
01:07left for the dead. So these are harsh realities that every Indian woman fears and faces.
01:12In fact, the staggering statistic is very sobering towards the end.
01:16It says that although India is a country that worships its goddesses, we don't treat
01:21women too well because of the violence against them.
01:24Even it talks about statistics such as 100,000 cases, rape cases,
01:28are still waiting to be tried in courts. So they are awaiting trial.
01:32It's a sobering reality and Kajol has done a spectacular job of bringing all these women
01:37together. She plays the sane voice. I mean, she is very responsible and she's trying to
01:43calm the women down because they are already so frustrated being in each other's company.
01:48But the inside may be hell, but the outside is even worse.
01:51So it's a very interesting analogy that the stuffy living room that this movie is set in
01:56is better than what lies outside, the dangers that lurk outside.
02:00You have to remember that this movie is very heavy-handed in its tone and it's a bit on the
02:05nose. Sometimes the messaging can be not so subtle, but that's a tiny blip in an otherwise
02:10enjoyable short film. And here's a big shout out to actors who try to make decent films,
02:17even if it is not the mainstream Bollywood film. Even within 13 minutes,
02:21they drive home the sobering reality of what it is to live like a woman in India and how
02:25unsafe it is for women there. Watch it. It's got a very interesting clutch of actors as well.
02:32There are seasoned actors like Mukta Barve also thrown into the mix. Very interesting film.
02:38And you know, what we need to do is also, it may have its flaws. The plotting may be slightly
02:44convoluted, but at the end of the day, the messaging is from the heart. Do go watch it.
02:50It's there on YouTube right now. So make sure that you go watch Devi. It's written and directed
02:55by Priyanka Banerjee. So one of the best parts about this movie is that it's set from a female
03:00gaze and not the usual male gaze. So go watch it and let me know what you think of it.