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Review - Provoked: Touched yet unconvinced
Quick Review
Provoked certainly brings attention to the plight of women at the hands of psychotic male chauvinists. So, what do you do when you want to get the average movie-goer to watch the sad story of a lady who is physically, emotionally and sexually abused by her husband? Get Aishwarya Rai (Kiranjit Ahluwalia) to be the lady! And she delivers with a performance that is, without any doubt, her best so far.
Naah, by no means is it a flawless performance. Every once in a while Aishwarya does inadvertently slip into ‘oh, I am sorry, I am this gorgeous supermodel made to look like a battered housewife’ mode. But the positives easily outweigh the negatives this time around. And that is one woman who needs no make-up to look stunning! Performance-wise the transformation from an unsure, easily-dominated wife to a confident, inspirational woman was wonderful. Especially note the slouch turn into a confident straight back. The nuances of the complex character were captured well – frustration, anger, hatred, guilt, glimpses of happiness.
What did not work for the movie though, are the gaps in the story. Though the memory-triggered flashbacks were a nice way to narrate the story, they ultimately failed to make an impact. They tried to do with dialogues what needed to be done through story and visuals. Also the shortcomings had a lot to do with the pace, the time allotted to each part of the story. While the first half took its own sweet time in establishing the background, the second half was left to cover a lot of ground (including the abrupt digressions for the side characters’ stories).
The biggest hole of them all was the torture itself that Kiranjit was subjected to. All through the movie you are expecting something gruesome to happen that will shake you from the inside. But it doesn’t happen. And that is you leave the theater moved yet unconvinced - uncertain of what made a plain village girl take such a drastic step. Maybe they did not want to shoo away the audience with the gory details.
But then, if the idea was to keep the audience interested, it desperately needed better dialogues. Especially, the lines given to the beautiful Nandita Das were lousy. Again, the inevitable tussle between dramatize-for-effect and stick-to-reality. Tricky one, indeed.
The only thing other than Aishwarya’s moving performance that makes it worth a watch is the subject itself. This subject needs attention and is certainly more than one woman’s story. But will it make anyone stand up for the cause?
Provoked - Cast and Crew
- Official Website: Link
- Director: Jag Mundhra
- Lead Cast: Aishwarya Rai
- Supporting Cast: Naveen Andrews, Nandita Das, Miranda Richardson
- Story: Book by Rahila Gupta and Kiranjit Ahluwalia
- Screenplay: Rahila Gupta, Carl Austin
ranjith:
gr8 movie. aishwariya did use her eyes pretty well and her acting was awesome.
posted 2 years, 7 months ago
nirmal:
I never expected that Aishwarya Rai would be able to perform so well. Before I watched the movie, I was hesitant only because Aishwarya rai was in it. This probably will cause a row in the readers, but honestly I hate Aishwarya Rai for her hopeless performances in may be all her movies. Kudos to Jan Mundhra on being able to extract such performance. Naveen Andrews is perfect like he always is.
Coming to the subject itself - either the narration was poor or the British Govt is foolish to have awarded the 'Asian Role Model of the year' to Kiranjit A'walia who in reality did not seem to have even fought enough. It was the system itself that saved her. By no means can she be called a courageous woman. Her cowardice is reflected in her act of trying cause 'pain' to her husband. Sorry women out there - please don't follow her footsteps.
Having said that - overall I do think its a movie well made. Some of the prison scenes were really well done.
posted 2 years, 4 months agomeetu:
Thank you Nirmal, for your comments.
posted 2 years, 4 months agoNirmal:
Hello Meetu
Just wanted to say that I have become a daily visitor to wogma after I read your review of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag. Although I found some of the reviews a bit 'not really' type - I think you are doing a great job overall. Just when I started thinking that there are no 'reliable' websites for Bollywood reviews, I come across yours and hopes risen again. Here is hoping you'll continue the good work!!
Kudos
Regards
posted 2 years, 4 months agoNirmal
meetu:
Thanks Nirmal! Just the words that made my day!!
Feedback, feedback - 'not really' type? Can you please elaborate?
With readers encouraging me, of course, I will continue with my work.
posted 2 years, 4 months agoNirmal:
Hello Meetu
You can blame my laziness for not having responded any sooner. That doesn't mean I haven't been reading your reviews though. Scrolling is easier than typing isn't it. (May be its the other way around for you).
Anyway - coming to the point. When I said some reviews were 'not really' types, I just meant that I don't necessarily completely agree with you on some of your reviews. Example - your review on Ek Chalis ki last Local - honestly I watched the movie only after I read your review but was disappointed - I could not understand what was entertaining about the movie or may be I watched it with a preset mind. Another one was 'Guru' - Fantastic movie indeed but I wasn't sure if the actors deserved much praise except Mithun, Madhavan and Vidya. As far as Abhishek and Aish are concerned I think it is fair to say 'Manirathnam has extracted very good performances from them' than saying that they have actually 'delivered' excellent performances. Sorry but I am too picky about movies and performances. But that's just 2 'not really' out of nearly 90-95 reviews on wogma. So I must say that, I think you are still doing a brilliant job.. especially when compared to others including some major news companies.. I don't want to take their names!
Take care
posted 2 years, 3 months agoNirmal
wogma:
Hi Nirmal,
Scrolling vs. typing - lol!!
oh wow! 2 out of 90+ is not bad at all...I am going to take that as a compliment!
I don't think 100% match is possible...
posted 2 years, 3 months agoNirmal:
Compliment indeed.!
I agree 100% match is not possible and it is not good either!
cheers
posted 2 years, 3 months agoNirmal
Prerna:
Nirmal,
posted 2 years, 1 month agoI'm referring to your comments on other women not following in Kiranjeet's footsteps. Tell me, have you ever been raped, abused, or even subjected to 1% of the torture that battered women are subjected to? I'm guessing not, since you seem to be another one of those male chauvinists. You can't possibly imagine the constant terror and fear that she must have lived in, when a single out-of-place word could make her "husband" lash out at her. You can't possibly imagine, how it is to have all your freedom, all your self worth taken away from you. Tell me, how you would feel if your spouse went on a sleeping spree with other people, told you to fend for the children with no money and expected you to take all this graciously. Can you even begin to imagine, how a pregnant women would feel, if she couldn't even be sure of the safety of her unborn child. Let alone help her cope with her pregnancy, the bastard didn't even think twice before shoving her down a flight of stairs while she was heavily pregnant. Don't you think that caused her pain, probably a lot more pain than you could even begin to imagine. So please, don't advise people on things about which know very little and certainly don't presume to tell us how we should act in a situation like hers unless you've been in one yourself.
Prerna:
And by the way, how can you call her a coward?? Was she supposed to bear all the torture for the rest of her life, or let her children bear the brunt of it? Or was she supposed to commit suicide? Would that make her brave? Why don't you tell us what she should've done, considering that she didn't know any english, was in a completely foreign country and considering that her husband made sure she never got any information about the outside world.
posted 2 years, 1 month agomeetu:
oooh Prerna! sizzling...i really love it when people take their movies seriously. Especially when there is a social cause involved. Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts here.
posted 2 years, 1 month agoLeave a new comment