BHOOMI

ABOUT BHOOMI

MOVIE RATING

Film Bhoomi is a Sanjay Dutt’s comeback film. After Maatr and Mom, Omung Kumar, who exhibited a spark with Mary Kom, seems to have fallen into the trap of making formula. Bhoomi is a revenge drama that tries a lot to be bold, heroic and advocate feminism but wants to stay in the comfort zone of a typical Bollywood masala movie. The result is stereotypes, over-the-top melodrama and a foreseeable tale.

Film Bhoomi rotates around Arun Sachdev (Sanjay), a widower and a functional alcoholic, who dotes on his daughter Bhoomi (Aditi Rao Hydari). When Bhoomi is kidnapped and gang raped by a local goon Dhauli (Sharad Kelkar) and his two assistants for spurning the advances of his cousin on the eve of her wedding, Arun initially decides to let the law take its course.

But, when the judiciary fails to punish the culprits and Bhoomi is attacked for the second time, Arun decides to take the law in his own hands and goes on a rampage to avenge the rape of his daughter. How Arun manages to do this with the help of his loyal pal Taj Mishra (Shekhar Suman), forms the rest of the narrative.

Sanju Dutt is back and his fans will be more than content to see him onscreen. Fascinatingly, Dutt, who returns to the screen after three years, plays an age-appropriate role in the film directed by Oomung Kumar. And he is in form. Sanju Dutt watch him on the big screen, especially because of his impressive physical presence. Whether it be humourous or intense scenes or action scenes, Sanjay is in top form on all fronts. Aditi looks pretty as Bhoomi and gives a good performance, though most of her screen time is spent weeping. Shekhar Suman is comical with didactic one-liners as Sanjay’s friend while Sharad Kelkar is terribly effective as the villain Dhauli Singh.

The courtroom sequence is reminiscent of Amitabh Bachchan-Taapsee Pannu-starrer Pink. But contrasting the 2016 movie, the dialogues that focus on the kind of treatment rape survivors get in our society feel forced. A monologue delivered by Dutt about how his daughter is continually humiliated in the court feels especially misplaced. To begin with, he is not even the lawyer.

If you have seen Maatr and Mom, there is nothing new that Bhoomi has to offer as such, except the manly presence of the lethal Dutt. Also, the movie is full of stock characters- insensitive cops, a sneering public prosecutor, judgmental neighbours worried about ‘mohalla ki badnaami’ following the rape, a spineless fiancé who runs away at the slight hint of trouble and the loyal subordinate who dies while trying to save the day.

There is something very 80s-90s about the treatment given to the movie and you may feel transported back in time to an era of unsophisticated plots and black and white characters. Even though Sridevi’s latest release Mom had a comparable plot, it was interesting to see how a mild-mannered school-teacher would exact revenge on her daughter’s rapists.

Sharad is too much the caricatured baddie from the 80s, mouthing over-the-top lines. The overall writing is clunky. Artur Zurawski's camera work is competent. Sachin-Jigar have composed a couple of foot-tapping numbers.

In the climax, Hydari is shown as Adi Shakti or a devi of Hindu mythology who is wreaking revenge. While Dutt does the actual fighting, symbolically, Hydari is the one punishing the wrong-doers.

BHOOMI

ABOUT BHOOMI

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