MOM’S REVENGE
Devki a really strong character and ensure that the audience completely buys the challenging relationship between her and Arya. When Devki discovers what has happened to Arya, we feel for her seemingly hopeless situation. But all the good intentions with the story are hampered by silly mistakes in the development of key characters and illogical scenes.
Matthew’s actions in the climax belie his character’s intentions throughout the film. When Devki comes to the hospital to see Arya for the first time after the rape, there is no medical staff member who prepares her for what she is about to see. She is merely ushered straight into the hospital room. The staff member, who eventually explains Arya’s condition, seems poorly equipped to be providing serious information.
When the rapists are being targeted, Matthew and his team consider Anand may be responsible and place him under surveillance. When it is established that he cannot be the one who is taking them out, it is not long before they consider Devki a suspect; her being better placed to carry out the attacks.
The rape is covered by many media outlets in print and television. But yet when the judgment is given, there is not one reporter at the Courthouse. Arya has a good relationship with her friends, but none of them comes to see her after the attack. Many of these scenes are not realistic.
If more focus was given to ironing out these chinks in the screenplay, the film would have been much stronger. However, despite these scripting challenges, the cast acquit themselves more than capably and, along with the suitably moody score by Oscar-winning music composer, AR Rahman and Anay Goswami’s atmospheric cinematography, the film becomes quite engrossing.
Sridevi, the glamour girl of the 1990s is back on the screen, after making a return to acting in 2012. The always excellent Nawazuddin Siddiqui is, initially, almost unrecognisable as the investigator due to an unnecessary make-over, but still delivers the goods in loads.
It’s great to see the always reliable Akshaye Khanna returning to acting as well from a break. Despite the illogical reasoning of his character, he still gives a convincing performance. Sajal Ali makes the most of a difficult role as Arya. The rest of the cast are equally good.
The overly long film is more than just a vigilante revenge thriller. It does pose some serious questions and, while flawed, is worth watching.