Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Robbie Coltrane, Rebecca Pidgeon, Miranda Richardson, Nandita Das
Producer: Sunanda Murali Manohar
Director: Jagmohan Mundhra
Music Director: A R Rahman
Cinematography: Madhu Ambat
Making films on social issues has been director’s Jagmohan Mundhra’s forte. His films have always generated media focus for their controversial themes or their burning issues like his earlier film ‘Bawander’. ‘Provoked’ is inspired from real life incident that took place with Kiranjit Ahluwalia. The film fails to provoke any emotion through its emotions and drama and eventually lacks the screenplay to hold the audiences to their seats.
Provoked is the story of trauma, pain and courage. The story has been set in London where Aishwarya Rai plays the Punjabi housewife and the mother of two. Deepak Ahluwalia (Naveen Andrews) plays the character of her husband. After the initial goody goody days, the man turns into a hunter who takes charge on his wife under the affect of alcohol.
Finally, the lady of the house gives up and sets her husband on fire. Charged with first-degree murder, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, where she befriends her cell-mate, a wealthy white woman Veronica Scott (Miranda Richardson), from whom she learns English.
Her cell mate is so moved by her story that she asks her step-brother Lord Edward Foster (Robbie Coltrane), a highly respected queen’s counsel to file her appeal. Her case comes to the notice of a motley group of south Asian social workers running a under funded organization called South all Black Sisters. They bring her plight to the attention of the media by organizing rallies to gather public support for her freedom. Ultimately, she is freed by the judicial system in a landmark case and most importantly, reunited with her children.
The film works in bits and pieces but in totality it fails to leave an impact. The narration lacks crispness and is stretched. The sequences between Ash and the cell-mate are interesting. But the overall content fails to leave a deep impact. The story had the ingredients to work as a cinematic interpretation, but the writers haven’t utilized the opportunity to the optimum.
Aishwarya Rai seems to be in top form since Guru and she has gone beyond her external looks to deliver a fantastic performance. Naveen Andrews is good as well but his character is quite restricted in terms of emoting. Nandita is wasted in this one.
For Mundhra, though, the huge publicity generated by the presence of Aishwarya Rai and, now, by her wedding with Abhishek Bachchan, is definitely something that is welcomed considering that the film seeks to bring to light a burning issue like domestic violence faced by women across the globe.
On the whole, the movie may work due to the hype created but it won’t go a long distance.
RS Rating: 5/10
Hanumant Bhansali
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did we watch the same movie? aish cannot act at all i found the movie to be total crap aish did not give a passionate performance she did not look real someone else should have played the role
dissapointing movie