Grahan Review

Four very long years I have awaited its release. Grahan promised to be a sensitive and sensible movie about the traumatic experience of a rape victim and the lawyer who drives her to insanity. Critically speaking, everything seemed to be working in its favor; a talented cast and director being supported by a first-time star producer who claimed he wanted to make the audience think rather than talk during his movies. Only the Lord knows what went wrong. (Heck, because of the delays, I even went in with zero expectations.)

The tale centers around Paro (Manisha Koirala), a happy-go-lucky, lower class woman who teaches dance to young girls. Sanjay Acharyaa (Prasad Parundare), the conniving son of the Chief Minister, spots Paro at a dance recital and the following night, brutally rapes her. A month later, a bystander journalist sees Paro's near lifeless body thrown from a moving van, and apparently convinces her to take legal stand against her rapist.

Sunita (Anupama Verma), the brother of the rapist, becomes the CM upon the death of her father, and Jaggu (Jackie Shroff), her fiancée, takes up the case for the defense of her brother. But along the line he discovers the truth.

A strong story that had considerable potential and would have resulted in a most thought-provoking product in the right hands. And you would have thought that K Shashilal Nair, the man who brought us both Falak and Angaar, would be that person. But alas! Nair is clearly lost as captain of this ship, accepting the most inane screenplay and dialogues for the proceedings. He allows Paro's character to be drawn as a mix between Sridevi's Sadma performance and Tabu's Sazaa-E-Kaala-Paani act.

Koirala tries her best to infuse likeability in to Paro, but droopy eyes and a sullen look are not always enough. She sometimes hams and overacts, particularly in the pointless and inappropriate choreography and unfolding of the film's songs. (Poor Karthik Raja would probably cringe viewing the buffoonery taking place during the videos to his awesome tunes.)

Anupama Verma and Prasad Parundare appear quite capable of long innings in the film industry, but again, the film fails at providing them any clear character traits to make them memorable in the audiences' mind. Sunita is far too akin to Suchitra Sen in Aandhi, and Prasad's villainy seems to be semi-inspired by Nana Patekar's old acts. The screenplay writer clearly pulled from too many external film sources.

The editing further mars the film's appeal, by jumping from one abbreviated scene to the next. There is little character development and therefore no chance for the audience to relate to, or sympathize with, the protagonists.

It lacks enough conviction and cohesiveness to be taken seriously by either the intelligentsia or the masses. I am just peeved I wasted so much time awaiting the release.