#Movie #Review #BegumJaan (2017)

Today we are here with the review of BEGUM JAAN (2017) which is the remake of Srjit Mukherjee’s own directorial Bengali film ‘Rajkahini’. With Vidya Balan, Gauhar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Ila Arun, Naseeruddin Shah & Chunkey Pandey in lead roles, the movie is based on a unique concept of division of a brothel during the time of partition between India and Pakistan. The movie also strike on the patriarchy prevalent in the society at the time till now.

PLOT:

BEGUM JAAN is a story of a brothel owner (Vidya Balan), who is living a carefree life with her girls under the patronage of a local Raja (Naseeruddin Shah) until the turbulent time of partition which comes as a storm in their life.  

As we know, before leaving the country Englishmen divided it into two parts i.e. India and Pakistan through a line called Radcliffe named after                Lord Cyril Radcliffe, a man who divided the country without the knowledge of the topography of the country. In this new division, Begum Jaan’s brothel or Kotha falls straight in the way and hence she is sent a notice by the government through INC leader Hariprasad & Muslim League leader Illyas, asking her to vacate the same.

But Begum Jaan refuses to leave her place and seek help from Raja (Naseer) which is later refused due to his inability. An adamant Begum and her girls put up a strong fight for their home irrespective of the disastrous consequence.

 

ANALYSIS:

Begum Jaan’s opening scene shows us a young couple in Delhi getting harassed by a bunch of boys. With this the filmmaker want to make a statement that women were never ‘independent’ neither then nor now. Further, the film is taken back to the Begum Jaan’s newly independent India.

Vidya Balan has played Begum Jaan with hard work and put in every effort to give soul to her character who is like a elder sister to her girls at times and also a disciplined businesswoman on the other hand. The scene where Begum has a nightmare gives some insight into her character.

The scene between Rubina (Gauahar Khan) and Sujit (Pitobash) where Sujit expresses his love for Rubina is really a great. In another scene where Begum is shown conversating with Master about independence of India is really spot on. She tells him that independence to the country will not make difference in their life and still have to sell their flesh. She further questions him, “Can anyone will come to my Kotha and marry one of my girls after Independence?” 

Overall, one can say that Mukherji has put too much melodrama in the movie which irritates at times which is quite evident from the screechy conversations among the Begum’s girls. Some sub plots of the movie such as Ila Arun’s character of ‘Amma’ of the brothel, who keep narrating brave heart stories to the young girl, Laadli imagining those characters to be Begum Jaan could have been avoided.

One thing which is somewhat not digestible in this film is that Begum Jaan doesn’t want to leave her brothel and want to die instead in an era of partition when lacs of people are forced in getting displaced from their roots and numerous got killed.

Music is good and sound better as per the situation in the movie.

WHAT’S GOOD:

Strong performance by Vidya Balan and other supporting actors in unique but loosely handled plot.

UNINTERESTING:

As already said story is loosely handled with addition of unnecessary melodrama and ruining the very spirit of movie.

STAR PERFORMANCES:-

Vidya Balan, once again brilliantly played the role of stubborn and daredevil Begum Jaan (a brothel owner). From the supporting cast, Gauahar Khan, Pitobash, Pallavi Sharda and Vivek Mushrah mark their impact in the film with their strong performances. Naseer doesn’t look as good in his Cameo. Chunkey Pandey as Kabir, the bad guy has played his part with perfection. Actually he is looked evil.

FINAL WORDS:

Despite the mind-blowing performances by the cast, the film loses to make impact due to lot of melodrama inspite of a nice concept.

My ratings for this movie is 2.5 out of 5 stars.

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