‘Bhakshak’ Netflix Movie Review - An Unsatisfactory Crime Drama

The opening moments of Bhakshak, directed by Pulkit, are tense and terrifying. The casualness with which the characters talk about burning a girl and the context in which they use the word "Udghatan" makes you very uncomfortable. You feel as if someone has thrown you into hell. What further increases the uneasiness is Satyakam Anand's performance. As Sonu, he uses his lecherous gaze with such entitlement that you shudder with horror. Notice how he ogles Vaishali (Bhumi Pednekar), a news reporter working at Koshish News (really? Couldn't the writers have come up with any better name than this?) when she initially arrives at a shelter for young girls. Vaishali apparently is the only honest journalist in this film. Then again, other news channels are neither seen nor heard (the other reporters are seen briefly towards the end).

When Guptaji (Durgesh Kumar), Vaishali's source, gives Vaishali a report about the crimes that take place in a girl's shelter home, she becomes determined to find the truth. As her understanding of the case deepens, so does her unwavering commitment to meting out justice to the culprits. There are many culprits, though the main villain is Bansi (Aditya Srivastava). Srivastava plays this shallow baddie effortlessly. He doesn't have a menacing aura. He simply chews the scenery. This is the kind of role a talented actor like Srivastava can do in his sleep. Writers Jyotsana Nath and Pulkit make a big mistake by not giving more dimensions to Bansi. They trap Srivastava within narrow confines. His Bansi, as well as other bad guys, make villainous faces and are conceived for perfunctory purposes: To push the buttons of the audience.

Bansi, we are told, has numerous political connections. He is someone who can say, "Fuck off," to the police. Yet, he looks feeble - almost like a joker pretending to be scary. I mean, towards the end, the criminals don't even try to cover up their crimes. They just sit quietly after dispensing all those "Hey, don't mess with us" expressions. Moreover, I am not sure how to respond to the scene where Bansi tells a woman to give him tea with biscuits. It's shot in such a manner that it almost prompts us to whistle. This, more than anything, filled me with an uncomfortable feeling.

Then again, Bhakshak's main problem is its perspective. The story, at first, leads us to believe it's about those poor girls who are sexually harassed by Bansi and his team. But slowly, it becomes more about Vaishali and her fight for justice. As a result, the sufferers of sexual harassment are relegated to the sidelines. During a flashback, one of the girls warns and helps a cook by pulling her into a room. For the rest of the film, however, the girls are reduced to nameless, voiceless, weepy victims. If the bad guys make you want to punch their faces, the victims motivate you to say, "Aw, poor lassies." This superficial drama only intends to ignite the most basic reactions from the audience.

Mithilesh (Chittaranjan Tripathy), a police officer, tells Vaishali he has two cute daughters. Even Bansi has a girl child. The two characters talk about their daughters in such a way as if suggesting that having a girl in the family automatically frees them from all accusations. Would Mithilesh have acted so casually if his own daughters had been assaulted? What about Bansi? Before these thoughts can fully develop in your mind, you get a confrontation scene between Vaishali and her husband, Arvind (Surya Sharma), where the former yells something along the lines of "Would you have kept quiet if your own daughter had been sexually assaulted?" The moment where this husband becomes supportive of his wife is bizarre, considering this change occurs when his brother is admitted into the hospital. It's evident that the filmmakers have not conceived this character properly. All the confrontations between the husband and the wife appear like Twitter rants. The same can be said about the final speech, but it's also an extended version of that lecture the Pednekar character gives to a teenager in Afwaah.

Pednekar was so good in her debut film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha. I haven't liked her performance anywhere else. There is so much exertion in her acting that it seems as if she wants to desperately, forcefully steal the spotlight. Even minor winks and slight trembles of the skin are magnified and exaggerated for all to see. Her theatrics in Thank You For Coming got her acclaim from critics. In Bhakshak, however, Pednekar is more bearable because her character, too, is someone who craves attention. The main highlight, in terms of acting, here is Sanjay Mishra (unsurprisingly). His seemingly calm and quiet countenance expresses a wide range of feelings effectively. His wise face indicates that he has seen everything (or, more subtly, he has worked in better films).

The characters in Bhakshak blame the government for being quiet on such a sensitive topic. There is a party flag with the words "Jan Seva Dal." Establishing a connection between the real world and this film is easy. In a story that talks about sexual harassment and mentions the POSCO Act, there is a character named, ahem, Brijmohan Singh. After the scandal reached the ears of the larger public, a minister issued a statement asserting that the government has always prioritized women's empowerment. Huh. Now, where have I heard such sentiments under similar conditions before?

Final Score- [4.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times