Film: Durgamati
Date: 11.12.2020
Director: G Ashok
Cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Arshad Warsi, Mahie Gill
Rating: 1 *
In the year 2018 director G Ashok released his bilingual film Bhaagmathi in Tamil and Telegu. A year later, he was ready to cast the Hindi remake of Bhaagnathi with Bhumi Pednekarplaying centre stage.
The film opens in Delhi where they decide to put a CBI inquiry on the Water Resource Minister, Ishwar Prasad/ Arshad Warsi. The officer investigating the case is SatakshiGanguly/ Mahie Gill and her prime candidate for interrogation is Ishwar Prasad’s Personal Assistant, Chanchal Chavhan/ Bhumi Pednekar, an IAS Officer now detained in jail for the murder of her fiancé Shakti/ Karan Kapadia.
Chanchal is released from the jail and driven to a far-offlocation not for an encounter inside a haunted mansion far away from civilization. The two nights spent at the mansion have ominous tales to tell and are a replay of all Bollywood horror films, so there is the predictable forbidding gate, then an old, scary watchman resembling a ghost, sprawling unkempt rooms, distorted paintings on the walls, dust layered mirror, broken chandeliers hanging from the ceiling making eerie music, creaky windows, rain, storm, lightening, a lady walking with the candles asking ‘kaun hai’, screams, shrieksand cut to…
Mental Hospital or was it a secluded ward in the central jail and the climax hosting a press conference and a sting operation followed by some clarifications in the concluding scene are an embarrassment. Everything – the characters, the locations, the art design, message, the concerns are pathetically artificial, unconvincing and illogical. The narrative fails to evoke any emotion, leave aside in the audience. Yes, some questions do hammer in your head in case the director wishes to answer.
One, who in their right mind in present times makes films about the mystery of the missing precious idols robbed from the temples and sold at astronomical prices? These films got outdated in the seventies.
Two, where is this extra-ordinary jail that provides Bhumi Pednekar with fitting costumes and other facilities to maintain her shampooed hair and lipstick?
Three, the haunted mansion which has not been dusted or cleaned in decades, which has no provisions for electricity, food or petrol nearby is overnight setup with multiple cameras and computers by the CBI, miracle isn’t it?
Four, what kind of a mental ward is this where ministers can trespass without permissions or security to interact withpatients and spend as much time as they like?
Granted that it is a make-believe world of creative liberties but even the mainstream cinema is accountable for some reality check to make a narrative palatable. But Durgamatifails in every endeavour. What’s most disappointing is that three talented actors – Mahie Gill, Bhumi Pednekar and Arshad Warsi are wasted in a senseless, meaningless film that could easily have been dubbed rather than remade in Hindi.
I rate Durgamati with 1 star.
Bhawana Somaaya