Kalamkaar Picture Productions and Waveband Productions’ Dukaan (UA) is about surrogacy. It deals with the sensitive topic of surrogacy. In particular, it is the story of a town in Gujarat, which has become a hub of surrogacy as a number of unemployed women in that town made a business out of renting out their wombs. What happens when a surrogate mother, Jasmine (Monika Panwar), owing allegiance to a hospital popular for its surrogacy services, runs away with the newborn child after delivering it, refusing to give its custody to the biological parents, Diya (Monali Thakur) and Armaan (Soham Majumdar)?
Siddharth-Garima have written a story which tries to look at the humane side of surrogate mothers. But unfortunately, the emotional quotient hardly comes across. Rather, what unwittingly comes to the fore is the selfishness of the surrogate mothers. This happens because the surrogate mothers are professionals who rent out their wombs, not first-timers who are unaware of the legalities involved. None of the surrogate mothers shown is so naive that she would be helping couples have children but without complete knowledge of what she was getting into. In other words, the surrogate mothers are professionals, and hence renting out their wombs is not a one-off experience for them. The duo’s screenplay gets too heavy for an average cinegoer to handle or digest if only because the drama is the in-your-face type which, after a point of time, embarrasses rather than enlightening. The costumes, which the ladies carrying the unborn child in their womb, wear, show their baby bump so obviously and so completely that the sight becomes too much for an average filmgoer to behold. Subtlety doesn’t find a place in the writer-duo’s scripting, it would seem. It is because of the drawbacks listed above that the sensitivity of the plot is almost completely lost. It is for the same reasons that the audience are unable to sympathise with the community of surrogate mothers in the Gujarat town. Even womenfolk will often feel repulsed by the proceedings of the drama although it ought to have actually struck a chord in the hearts of the ladies, in particular. This is not to say that there are no scenes which touch the heart. Of course, there are a few scenes which have been written sensitively but the overall scripting is not at all what it should’ve been. In fact, the very title of the film reeks of insensitiveness. Dialogues, also penned by the duo, are okay.
Monika Panwar does well as Jasmine. Sikander Kher does a fair job as Sumer. Monali Thakur is good as Diya. Soham Majumdar is supremely natural in the role of Armaan. Himani Shivpuri lends reasonable support as Walbai. Geetika Tyagi makes her presence felt as Dr. Navya Chandel. Aparajita Dey is okay as Bhurribai. Bhoomika Meena is alright as Kinjal. Vrajesh Hirjee is average as Pramod Trivedi. Piyush Kumar is ordinary as Mandar. Suhita Thatte is so-so as Ahilya Devi. Sanjay Tripathi lends routine support as Jandrubhai. Ananya Vaidya (as Pinky), Hridansh Parekh (as Jamaal), Sharvari Deshpande (as Ramola), Yug Pandey (as the 6-year-old Dhaval), Ranveer Shekhawat (as the 11-year-old Dhaval), Vidhi Shah (as Payal), Navya Ansari (as the 8-year-old Payal), Vijay Rajoria (as Visheshwar Prasad), Saumya B. Thakkar (as Saruben), Nidhi Upadhyay (as Dambliben), Mitali Goel (as Hemaben), Ekta Bachwani (as Jamnaben), Surbhi Bhati (as Aminaben), Creena Shah (as Muktaben), Sunita D. Borkar (as Nandiben), Swati Joshi (as Batulben), Tarika Tripathi (as Sarojaben), Krutisha Chovatiya (as Kamlaben), Mona Mokha (as Mitaben), Aayushi Dholakia (as Mitu), Preetika Chauhan (as Nupur), Anju Thakur (as Pushpalata), Azhar Zalil (as the 18-year-old Jamaal), Jignesh Modi (as Maganbhai), Peehu Rathod (as the 4-year-old Rani), Sachin Sharma (as Heera), Ajay Patel (as phupha ji), Vishwa Bhanu (as Armaan’s relative), Lipi Trivedi (as police inspector Bhoomi Trivedi), and the others are passable.
Siddharth-Garima’s direction is not up to the mark. Not only is their script devoid of emotions but even their narration lacks sensitivity. In trying to drive home a point, they seem to have sacrificed sensitivity which was what was required the most. Shreyas Puranik’s music is alright; a couple of songs are fairly well-tuned but none of them is popular. Siddharth-Garima’s lyrics are good. Samir and Arsh Tanna’s choreography is quite appealing. Background music (Shreyas Puranik, Divya Kumar and Vikaas Vishwakarma) ought to have been better. Anirban Chatterjee’s cinematography is fair. Sunil Jain’s production designing, and Bablu Gupta’s art direction are ordinary. Satyanarayan Sharma’s editing is loose.
On the whole, Dukaan is a non-starter. It will go largely unnoticed in spite of its noble intentions as it lacks commercial ingredients and sensitivty.
Released on 5-4-’24 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru UFO Cine Media Network. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.