Provoked: A True Story

The people behind this movie are the ones who should have been set on fire. It's that bad.

The (they claim it's all true) story of an Asian woman in Britain who set her husband on fire because he treated her badly. She eventually becomes a cause celebre because of the incident.

The movie itself is full of melodrama, from over acting to cheesy music, tear-jerking scenes of women bonding in prison, it's a real soap opera. There isn't anything original here, this was all done during the 80's with the "burning bed" movie. It's so one sided that any Asian male who buys into it is probably sleeping out in the garage, in a locked car, after carefully hiding the gasoline can. There is no attempt at all to be objective, or to point out that setting someone on fire isn't a good solution to your marital difficulties.

The problem here is the message: it's OK to set your spouse on fire if they don't treat you well. Never mind the fact that you could just leave, or turn him in to the police, or a hundred other options. This film would have you believe that it's not only OK to set him on fire, it's your moral obligation and you will be a heroine to women everywhere if you do so.

Even if you think it's a good idea to initiate spontaneous combustion of your spouse, and I grant that there may be some who could benefit from that, this movie isn't realistic at all. I'm not reaching for realism in my entertainment, but when you claim it's a true story - try for some truth. Only die hard haters of the male gender could enjoy this, and possibly not all of those. If you have any objectivity at all you'll finish by hating this movie. If you enjoy decent movies, you'll finish by hating this one. And if you have any regard for the opposite gender whatsoever, you'll hate this movie.

There were two reasons why I had decided to catch this film, and they are the beautiful Aishwarya Rai and composer extraordinaire A. R. Rahman. Provoked is based on the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, whose autobiographical book "Circle of Light" forms the basis of this movie. However, its textbook delivery style resulted in a film that's quite plain, despite its powerful potential in examining domestic violence against women.

Rai plays the protagonist Kiranjit, a Punjabi woman instructed by culture and social norms to be the dutiful wife to Deepak Ahluwalia (Naveen Andrews), who whisks her off to London. Kiranjit doesn't know what she's in for as it's an arranged marriage, and soon enough the true colours of her spouse start to show - the drinking, the womanizing, and the verbal, physical, emotional abuses. For 10 years she tolerated and suffered, until one night she snapped and gave her husband his just desserts. We're talking about the law here, and so she gets sent to the slammer.

Then on it's split down a few paths. Along one path, iIt's like Prison on Fire, where glimpses of the harsh realities of the world inside with criminals start to harden Kiranjit to fend for herself, along with the making of new friends and "sisters". On another path, the courtroom drama which was pivotal, given that it's a landmark case which debated upon the fine definition of provocation, somehow got delivered quite blandly, no doubt because attention was drawn toward the very British courtroom with its wigs and polite legal language. And finally, the path of melodrama and flashbacks, used ad nauseam here in telling the abuse that Kiranjit had to endure.

I'm gonna be biased here to say that Aishwarya Rai's performance is probably the best thing in the movie. As in Mistress of Spice, those eyes can speak a thousand words with just a flicker, a movement, or a blink. And she can do unglam too, sans thick makeup and making prison garb fashionable. As an abused woman, you can't help but feel sorry for her, and very much root for her to get herself out of her plight, using whatever means possible. Nothing too breakthrough, but she's as effective as can be.

Unfortunately, bad acting plagued most of the supporting cast. Naveen Andrews as the husband Deepak only managed to look snarling, but is never menacing enough, and the rest seemed to have been sleepwalking, in part being let down by the lack of meat in these roles, being in true one dimensional fashion. Only Miranda Richardson's fellow jailbird and cellmate Veronica Scott offered some balance in the acting department opposite Rai.

Veteran director Jag Muhdhra seemed to have a bad outing trying to polish the film into the gem it should be, and certain scenes were badly edited that they seemed to be pasted side by side without much thought to gel them together smoothly. It seemed to have dwelled too much in the beginning, and felt hurried toward the end. It also lacked details of the rationale, and failed to pound deeper into the heart of the subject. Rather, what we got was a brief introduction and explanation of the topic, followed by a very quick, superficial resolution, leaving us wanting more. A. R. Rahman's score seemed to have disappeared into the background at times, though when it's on, you can always ensure a treat for the ears.

Perhaps that's the point, of enticing the audience to pick up the book to read first hand the plight of someone being abused, and the challenges faced in being a mother from within a cell, battling innate customs and expectations to come out from within a shell and into the open, not only to try and save oneself, but to be a beacon of hope for many others in the same boat.

Straight to the point, no frills storytelling, recommended for the curious and for those who want a launching point into a hot subject of abusive relationships.

Hidden, this is the story of control, power and abuse of a woman, like so many women in Asian marriages which has been rife from the late 60's to the 80's. Poorly acted on a low budget. The point is all too clear. This should never happen and yet I have witnessed it myself.

The movie is based on a true story which was the first reason i saw this film. Aishwarya Rai has performed well in the role of Kiran.

The story educates one of the atrocities that can happen to a woman and her fight to claim the justice that is initially denied to her cause she was ashamed to discuss the abuse that she suffered.

The movie looks like a low budget movie and the screenplay or the camera-work may not fascinate you. The movie is based on facts and stays true to its original content.

See the movie for its content and the message it wants to convey to the society.

The first thing I noticed about the main review made by a person (with subject Awful propaganda, awfully done with an awful message) made on this movie is by mentioning that this is based on a real story and the woman should have done in a different way by calling police or leaving her husband. I can see the person is ignorant of how Indian women treat these kind of issues. A person from other country can not understand this situation, as I personally experienced this kind of situation with a woman with whom I was very close when I was a child. I have not only seen this woman, but seen several of my neighbor ladies having the same situation. It was very common thing to physically abuse/beat their wives in some rural parts of India and they still be obedient to their husband and husband's family. I understand that fact that movie is bad in narrating the story as it could not briefly depict the situation of that Indian woman. It really gets into you when you see the situation in real, I believe she did the mistake too, but most of the times, Indian women consider its their own mistake and be quiet about it. And I say its not always true for all Indian women, some are more educated and feel confident enough to find a solution to the problem and drag it onto the court. Some don't at all. One must stay in this situation and see what goes around in that culture and in those situations to accurately review a story. As another male, I stood in those situations where males were dominating with physical power over women, watching trying to find whats the solution. I could not do anything as a child,I pity on those women who are going though this situation. We being on a computer and read IMDb.com would never understand what goes on in real and in some homes.