Leena Yadav’s Parched is an irresistible beast of a film. As incendiary as it is entertaining, it goes where Indian cinema rarely does without becoming exploitative - into the erogenous fantasies of long-suppressed village women who are no longer willing to countenance their restrictive veils.
It tackles themes that are both elementary and universal - the perils of misguided masculinity, child marriage, domestic violence and the pitfalls that lay in wait of women who seek to express their innermost urges.
The sheer verve that the writer-director packs into her compelling tale of three women and a child bride battling rural India’s gender gridlock gives the film a distinctive texture and quality.
Parched is provocative and playful, grim and defiant, tender and disquieting all at once. It is, therefore, anything but a dry cinematic tract with feminist messages strewn across its expanse.
In fact, while the film does show a paternalistic panchayat ordering a victim of domestic violence to return her husband’s hell hole of a home to protect the honour of the village, it does not point fingers at anybody in particular as much as it does at the community as a whole, the women included.
The meticulously composed frames of Parched are awash with colour and light and its taboo-breaking narrative is imbued with a captivating spirit of emotional and visual abandon.
With the exception of a 15-year-old girl married off against her will, none of the protagonists of this film is an ingenue stumbling through the pangs of growing up and dealing with the first flush of sexuality.
While Parched might remind some viewers of Thelma & Louise, the film is rooted in India. The theme of women being mistreated in traditional and even modern societies may be universal, but Parched remains Indian in its tone, ethos, and the very distinct and disturbing male-female dynamics.
The film’s leads - Chatterjee and Apte - are two of the finest Indian indie cinema actresses of our times. And both give strong moving performances, including a brief tender scene between the two - a rare moment in Hindi cinema. The rest of the supporting cast is equally good.
The film is lovingly shot by Russell Carpenter ( Titanic, Jobs) . He makes the characters and Rajasthan’s landscape glow.
And under Yadav’s able guidance, Parchedgenuinely shines.
If you’re into chick flick, especially Sex and the City, here’s a nice treat for you ladies! It is quite a wave of fresh air to see so many women centric films come in a span of nine months. And all of them have managed to work tremendously not just at the box office but even attain a big thumb’s up from the critics. Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla, Tannishta Chatterjee and Lehar Khan starrer Parched also takes us back to seeing what happens when four women chill together. Now before I speak further, I’d like to wipe out the misinterpretation caused by the promos of Parched and state that no, not a woman empowerment film! Bewildered? I was too when I watched the film. Here’s a film that focuses not on how a woman is troubled by the old school norms of the society but also how her sexuality is affected because of the same. The film is of sexual awakening, more than women empowerment and good that the director, Leena Yadav has turned our attention to something so different yet so basic.