Antardwand Movie Review, Rating : Slice of Bihar

Welcome back to Real India where the bizarre and the bona fide co-exist. Weeks within Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli [Live] took us to the barren backwaters where farmers mull over suicide for sarkari compensation, debutant Sushil Rajpal’s Antardwand sets out to regale with a film about forced marriages in the heartlands of Bihar.

Rajpal’s film, coming with the advantage of National Award recognition, banks on familiar gritty idiom that has defined Bollywood’s exciting crossover movement in recent times. The small town setting comes alive in the Bihari twang lacing the dialogues. And like most attempts in the genre, Antardwand fleshes out a set of characters you are likely bump into if you happen to trek the milieu the film is set in.

Sure, there is drama, lots of it. And Rajpal’s narrative is an intense one too — almost overtly so in parts. May be, that’s just the sign of a newcomer who’s dying to make his point. Or, may be Rajpal wanted to keep it loud in parts, given his backdrop and set of protagonists.

In the centre of things is Raghubir (Raj Singh Chaudhary), smalltown Bihari boy who is studying to be an IAS officer. Papa’s (Vinay Pathak) proud, naturally.

What papa isn’t proud of is Raghu’s confession that he has a girlfriend in Delhi — who’s pregnant, by the way — whom he wants to marry. Raghu walks out on papa, and that’s where the story takes off. He is kidnapped by a powerful man (Akhilendra Mishra) who desperately wants him as son- inlaw, because an IAS husband for his daughter would raise his status in the community.

At one level, Antardwand works as a thriller because it is simply impossible what will happen in the next few minutes. At another, the film mixes well the trauma of the kidnapped man and the desperation of his powerless bride, with the caustic comment it aims at putting across.

Technically, the film doesn’t aim at being too ambitious. It is deftly shot (Malay Ray) and edited (Aseem Sinha) to exude minimal gloss, just as this screenplay required.

Raj Singh Chaudhary, returning after Anurag Kashyap’s Gulaal, underplays his act with remarkable restraint as he did in his debut role. The finest performances however come from the two dads.

While Vinay Pathak makes the leap from comic hero to hero’s dad with admirable ease, Akhilendra Mishra as the father of the bride is more or less chalked out to suit the actor’s proven screen persona. Despite the persistent loud trait, Mishra manages to impress.

You could say director Sushil Rajpal merely joins a burgeoning band of young filmmakers who are exploiting the travails of grassroots India to dole out their brand of entertainment.

Or, you could say at least such films bring relevant issues to popular notice.

Rating : 3.5 / 5