Begum Jaan

Director Srijit Mukherjee is a man of art and with Begum Jaan he has a strong message of self-belief and self-empowerment being the most important part for a country or an individual to be independent and to fight for ones own rights. The movie might appear to be a non-sense or over-dramatic to shallow audience but if even once have you felt weak in the hands of the unwritten, unjust laws of the nation or the society, you would get the essence of this story. This is not a commercial entertainment made up to glamorize the female actors rather a film which speaks about the darker face of the society i.e. a brothel, a place where people go to seek happiness but won't give a damn if required to spread happiness with. And as the brothel and its residents are the life of the movie, the characters are found swearing in almost every other dialogue, hence the movie is not recommended for meek audience.

Strength: Acting, Casting for each character, Songs seem situational thus goes okay with the scenes. Weakness: Sub plots-which are there for a reason to depict the external factors leading to the present situation of each character, but is feels dislodged at times.

Great casting! Apt locations! But am I the only one who thinks there was really no story to support the movie? Two aspects that were beyond my understanding - First, I am at a loss to understand a compelling reason for the ladies to live in that house, even at the cost of their lives. It is not as if a rogue neighbor or a local goon was kicking them off their property (and they didn't own the house either; the King did!]). It was a freaking partition of the country! And they weren't the only ones being marginally inconvenienced. Millions of people lost their homes and life savings; hundreds of thousands lost their lives because they couldn't escape early enough. Why did the ladies want to live there? They weren't leaving their farms behind. They could continue with their profession wherever they relocated! Second, the two gentlemen assigned to put a fence along the partition line - what was so compelling that they couldn't move the partition line by 100 meters so the house would safely fall in either of the countries? The ladies did not care if they were in India or Pakistan - all they wanted was live where they were and continue with their lives. What was so important that the country line had to be drawn through their house? What was so important about that piece of land that made it more important than the tens of lives they were willing to sacrifice? There are reasons why people prefer to fight for their rights even at the cost of their lives. And there are principles folks follow even if it costs lives. But neither of these seemed like a valid reason in the story.

India Pakistan partition is back drop of this film. A brothel comes between the border line and then government officers from both side and brothel women stands against each other. It starts with conflict, ends with battle. Characterization is major problem of this film. As writer director had clear cut vision that every person outside the brothel should have been grey or dark. Due to his this point of view most of the characters behave abruptly or turn grey without much logic. When local Inspector fails to evict them, two powerful government officers, rather than seeking help from higher authorities, they jointly decide to take help of a brutal goon, as if they had some personal grievances against the brothel, which is not clear and if they did it, just for their ego satisfaction then they are stone hearted but then they get highly emotionally affected in climax!! Why it was so necessary to demolish the brothel, is not established. Brothel or border fence could have been shifted or at least tried for the same. How and why, brothel care taker Salim had collected so much guns and ammunition is not clear, yes he was dismissed Inspector. Just because of makers had thought to use all this in climax! Director is so desperate to prove himself that he used new way of taking shots and even repeated them many times without thinking of its effect like, India and Pakistan partition offices only half face in frame most of the time when they converse emotional. It could have been bearable just for once but this type of frame has been repeated. Dialogues are very good, especially the line at interval 'Maheena giinne toh hamen khoob aata hai saab......'. Climax is very heavy. Performance wise Vidya Balan as Begum Jaan is first rate. Good performance is the main strength of this film. Gauher Khan as Rubina shines in the scene when she speaks with Surjit at the stone of river. Her performance is very layered. Pallavi Shrada as Gulaboo is fine. Chunkey Pandey as Kabir is brilliant. His looks and expressions, both are terrific which create the much needed terror. Flora Saini as Maina is fine. Pitobash Tripathi as Surjit is impressive.

Begum Jaan works only because of Vidya Balan. As a performer, Vidya has never disappointed. Since her debut Parineeta, Vidya showed us why she's one versatile actor to watch out for. As Begum Jaan, Vidya gives the film her all. She's totally convincing as the owner of a brothel who's worldly wise and spouts philosophy at the drop of a hat. The only thing unconvincing about her appearance (and that's not entirely her fault!) is her unibrow. I don't understand why would the director ask Vidya to sport a unibrow while all the other girls in the brothel have perfectly shaped eyebrows. But that's just nitpicking in an otherwise brilliant performance. Now let's move on to the other aspect of this movie, I think it's the direction that falters the most. I never understood what the director is trying to tell us through this movie. He seems really confused about how to get his point through. There are a lot of scenes in the movie which don't seem to add to the actual plot of the movie. We never get to sympathise with Begum Jaan's plight to save her brothel. We know that she's emotionally attached to her house and that's about it. The time of The Partition was a tough one and we know that a lot of people were leaving their houses as they had no other choice. Then why would Begum Jaan try to challenge this movement at the cost of so many people's lives at her brothel? I mean, she's not the only one who is asked to leave her house at that time! Also, the background score seems too loud at some point and absolutely unnecessary at some. Talking about the supporting cast, I must say Vidya gets ample support from them. Gauahar Khan lends credibility to her role as Rubina, Begum's right hand woman. Pallavi Sharda also shines in some of the scenes. But the surprise package is Chunky Pandey in his never before seen evil avatar.

Overall, Begum Jaan could have been a much better film had the director put some thought on how to build up an engaging plot without unnecessary melodrama and sub plots. Still, it can only be enjoyed for Vidya and Vidya's performance only!

A strongly written and well-thought script that shows partition vows with a very different and unique angle. Barring the irrelevant noisiness of some characters, it's a well directed and acted movie. Vidya Balan along with other characters like Gauhar Khan, Chunky Pandey, Sumit Nijhawan and Ila Arun were brilliant.

Storyline Rating: 4

Acting Rating: 3 Vidya Balan: 3 Gauhar Khan: 3 Chunky Pandey: 4 Sumit Nijhawan: 4 Ila Arun: 3 Naseeruddin Shah: 3 Pallavi Sharda: 2 Ashish Vidyarthi: 3 Vivek Mushran: 2 Rajit Kapoor: 3

Direction Rating: 3

Music Rating: 3

Cinematography: 3

Editing: 3