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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ** ½
Set in rural Bihar where nothing works except the law of the lawless, "Antardwand"
takes the firm and gripping route to expose a hinterland-headline - the
kidnapping of marriageable boys by desperate fathers of wannabe brides.
This was a prevalent malpractice in Bihar until some years ago. Not so much any
more.
Debutant director Sushil Rajpal`s film works more for its deeper resonances than
just the surface sincerity. It is not so much the sensational value of the theme
(`dulha uth gaya`) that makes "Antardwand" watchable as the treatment
of the layers of socio-political irregularities and caste aberrations that
generate a society of anarchy where kidnapping an aspiring groom is serious
business.
The narrative is punctuated with bouts of savage humour. When the Delhi
University civil service candidate Raghuveer (Raj Singh Choudhary) with a
pregnant girlfriend (Himanshi), is kidnapped just yards away from his parents`
home in rural Bihar, his confoundedness, and rage at the bizarre confinement is
expressed in bouts and spasms of indignance.
The director knows the milieu well. He doesn`t waste time exploring rural Bihar
just because he has chosen to film his story on location.
The narrative never loses its momentum. Rather than opt for a dry docu-drama
tone, director Sushil Rajpal has chosen to format the film as a thriller. The
pace from the moment of Raghuveer`s kidnapping to his escape is largely
relentless.
The second-half of the plot gets more introspective as it becomes the story of
the humiliated bride (newcomer Swati Sen, well cast) who finds herself with a
man who has been forced to marry her. The rage of confinement and the anguish of
rejection ooze out of the tense frames.
Sequences in the couple`s bedroom with a gigantic tell-tale double-bed at its
centre, capture the ironical nullity of a marriage based on bullying tactics.
There is an element of naïve desperation in the couple`s shared space.
The writing is hard-hitting but relentless, supple and slender. There is ample
room for innuendoes in the dialogues and situations.
"Antardwand" avoids the easy road to realism. The ambience does not
depend on how the actors pitch the accent in the spoken word or their body
language. Though these are authentic, it`s the deeper malaise of a society
buried neck-deep in prejudices and superstition that the director focuses on.
The camera work by Malay Ray is exploratory but non-judgemental. Scenes of
characters moving in and out of dark old-fashioned interiors are shot without
wallowing in symbolism.
The performances are thoughtful. Akhilendra Mishra and Vinay Pathak pitch into
the ambience of rousing realism as the father of the bride and the kidnapped
groom, respectively. Raj Singh as the precious groom last seen in Anurag
Kashyap`s "Gulaal" again reveals an admirable ability to blend into
the bleeding fabric of mofussil mayhem.
The film is suffused with sincerely sketched characters. Jaya Bhattacharya as
the bride`s far-from-persecuted bhabhi (sister-in-law) and for that matter the
unknown actor Dadhi Raj Paney who plays Akhilendra Mishra`s faithful servant,
bring a kind of fringe fertility into the storytelling.
The finale is self indulgent in its idealism. A society so breached by gender
and caste biases cannot be lit up by a sudden beam of optimistic light.
But no harm in trying.
"Antardwand" is a commendable attempt to examine the underbelly of
rural Bihar. It doesn`t purport to shake up the status quo. The film only wants
to remind us that we need to heal our collective social conscience before curing
the discrepancies that feed into our dream of emerging from the darkness into
the light.