Provoked

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.

Well when i bought the DVD and sat to see the movie I wasn't a bit aware of the fact that the movie is going to be so heart wrenching. The film has been superbly directed and the role of Kiranjeet Ahluwalia has been just perfectly played by Aishwarya. After reading about the story of Kiranjeet one will be able to understand how well the film has been set up. I would highly recommend the movie. Be read with your napkins as for the emotional junta this is going to be a weepy ride throughout. Nandita Das has also done justice to her role. Ironically the laws in UK are being amended for the sake of Indians and India still faces loads of such cases. All I can say about the movie is that it brought tears to my eyes and I'm not a weepy kinda person. kudos to Aishwarya and the director of the movie.

Since it was based on a true story (I remember the case in the media) I really thought that the movie would have been really great. The subject matter had so much potential. Maybe it was the direction of the movie but I did not get the severity of the attacks by the husband to warrant the wife's actions. They also could have delved a little more into both the husband's the wife's character. I'm not really familiar with Aishwarya Rai's work but we've all seen Naveen Andrews in Lost and other works and I know that he is a good actor but I don't think his talents were utilized well. More could have definitely been done with this movie.

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.

What I found most compelling about this movie is the way in which the core subject matter of the husband abusing his wife was revealed to the audience. It didn't focus entirely on the actual act of abuse which is something the movie could've easily gone in the direction of. One might argue that showing the actual scenes might've garnered more sympathy for Kiranjit but I beg to differ. I think by showing glimpses of the violence and leaving much to the imagination the director has done well to extract genuine sympathy from his audience. I must also mention that Aishwarya Rai has portrayed this role earnestly and might perhaps be the peacock feather in her acting career. She was apt, didn't over or under act and perfectly exhibited the emotional trauma that Kiranjit might've actually been through. The movie was controlled realism, in it that it portrayed the story realistically but didn't go into the gory details, which I believe isn't necessary at all.