Bhoomi movie review: This Sanjay Dutt film is disturbingly voyeuristic
Bhoomi movie review: Sanjay Dutt's face is kept in close-up for much of the film, and there is still power in it. This is an actor who can explode off the screen, given the right story. Maybe he needs something better told to vent his anger.
Bhoomi movie cast: Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shekhar Suman, Sharad KelkarBhoomi movie director: Omung Kumar
Bhoomi rating: 1.5 stars
Sanjay Dutt’s umpteenth ‘comeback’ is a 70s style worn-out rape and revenge film, reeking of staleness. Under the guise of striking a blow for feminism, Bhoomi is, mostly, disturbingly voyeuristic.
Yes, a father (Dutt) has every right to rage over the rape of his daughter (Hydari). Yes, he can plot violent revenge. And yes, the film does pay lip service to the notion that a girl, after being violated, has every right to let live ‘with her head held high’.
But only after we’ve been shown, in gory detail, the abduction, the leery faces of the rapists, and the ugly enjoyment of the neighbours. And only after the mandatory prolonged court scene in which a sneering female prosecutor feels free to shame the victim, and thunder on about ‘girls ‘ coming home late at night not having any morals.
You do not expect a here-today film to use the phrase character-less, that old, hoary terms of reference, to define a girl who has the courage to complain with such emphasis. Hydari’s character is made to cry silently in mortification. And the viewers behind me were snickering the whole time: if you want to truly change the narrative, you have to be very careful of the languaging around rape, and the incredibly complex feelings of rage and helplessness and shame that surrounds a survivor like a miasma. Making us laugh should not be part of the game.
Dutt’s face is kept in close-up for much of the film, and there is still power in it. This is an actor who can explode off the screen, given the right story. Maybe he needs something better told to vent his anger.
Or maybe he needs to come back as Munna bhai to give us the lessons we love to learn.
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