For the past few days since India's daughter released there was a lot of debate whether people should watch it and whether it will help uncover the mindset behind that brutal act. While I found myself oscillating between both sides of perspective, I happen to watch a movie called NH10. Its about an urban couple, while on a road trip happens to watch an honour killing on NH10 with a nearby village ruled by khap panchayat.
Throughout this edge of the seat thriller where the couple is terrorized by the gang, the director tries bring out the stark contrast between urban and rural India and its attitude towards women. The entire movie has a sense of doom to it as if you are watching a horror movie except the situations are realistic and so are the characters. it has all the elements of slasher-thriller to it a la films like eden lake, Hills have eyes etc. But what makes this one different is that the director has deftly embedded into its soul, critiques on rural India's misogynistic attitude towards women.
Though adeptly scripted and directed, this film has its share of flaws. After giving us a sense that this film is realistic, the director does expect us suspend our disbelief. For example people will run only through roads in which trucks can pass through so that they can conveniently get injured or killed. But for the most part the makers of NH10 have given us an immersive and thrilling experience with its usual twists and turns. The only time you flinch are at the time of those horrific scenes where the women are slapped, hit and bludgeoned with an iron rod. This film is not for the faint hearted, mind you. If you are looking for a nice romantic outing with your spouse, look for something else
NH10 is, on the whole, a must watch for those who want to experience the environment where people like Mukesh Singh are born. Kudos to Navdeep Singh for his brilliant attempt at bringing those routine newspaper articles to life while at the same time never letting you become bored with any cliched "heropanti" or "dialoguebaazi". Acting is top notch from Anushka Sharma and rest of the cast even though a good actor like Niel Bhoopalam is wasted in a badly written role. Apart from the fact that this film will negatively impact Haryana tourism (Nobody will venture into rural haryana for a while after watching this film, trust me), this is a film that should be made and seen in spite of the fact that it may not run in packed houses collecting "100 crores"
Throughout this edge of the seat thriller where the couple is terrorized by the gang, the director tries bring out the stark contrast between urban and rural India and its attitude towards women. The entire movie has a sense of doom to it as if you are watching a horror movie except the situations are realistic and so are the characters. it has all the elements of slasher-thriller to it a la films like eden lake, Hills have eyes etc. But what makes this one different is that the director has deftly embedded into its soul, critiques on rural India's misogynistic attitude towards women.
Though adeptly scripted and directed, this film has its share of flaws. After giving us a sense that this film is realistic, the director does expect us suspend our disbelief. For example people will run only through roads in which trucks can pass through so that they can conveniently get injured or killed. But for the most part the makers of NH10 have given us an immersive and thrilling experience with its usual twists and turns. The only time you flinch are at the time of those horrific scenes where the women are slapped, hit and bludgeoned with an iron rod. This film is not for the faint hearted, mind you. If you are looking for a nice romantic outing with your spouse, look for something else
NH10 is, on the whole, a must watch for those who want to experience the environment where people like Mukesh Singh are born. Kudos to Navdeep Singh for his brilliant attempt at bringing those routine newspaper articles to life while at the same time never letting you become bored with any cliched "heropanti" or "dialoguebaazi". Acting is top notch from Anushka Sharma and rest of the cast even though a good actor like Niel Bhoopalam is wasted in a badly written role. Apart from the fact that this film will negatively impact Haryana tourism (Nobody will venture into rural haryana for a while after watching this film, trust me), this is a film that should be made and seen in spite of the fact that it may not run in packed houses collecting "100 crores"
:-) good review
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Delete:-) good review
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