| Rudraksh Adventures Pvt. Ltd.’s Shudra – The Rising (UA), as the title suggests, is about the downtrodden Shudra caste which revolts against the upper caste people for the atrocities perpetrated upon them.
Thakur (Shaji Chaudhry) sets his eyes on Sandhli (Kiran Sharad), a Shudra, who is pregnant. In spite of appeals by her husband, Charna (Pravin Baby), the stooges of Thakur take Sandhli by force so that she can give Thakur sexual favours. They beat up Charna so brutally that he ultimately dies. Badri (Shridhar Dubey) and Bheru (Mahesh Balraj) had suffered similarly at the hands of the upper caste Brahmins and Kshatriyas when they had been treated inhumanly. Badri had lost his father (Sunder) because the upper caste people did not let him take water for him to drink, from the pond in which their kids were swimming. Bheru’s little son, Channa (Radha Srivastav), had been killed because he had very innocently recited a holy line, inviting the wrath of the caste-conscious Pandit (Satyam Chauhan). Ultimately, one day, Badri, Bheru, Bala (Aaref Rajput) and Madhav (Gauri Shankar), four Shudras, decide to revolt. They kill Raja Thakur (Anurag Shukla), the son of Thakur. This angers Thakur so much that he sets the entire habitat of the Shudras on fire, killing almost all of them. However, some of the Shudras had given Thakur’s men, who had come to torch their colony, a very tough fight, killing all of them including Kartar Singh (Shabaz Baweja), the right-hand man of Thakur. The film’s story and screenplay, both penned by Sanjiv Jaiswal, are well-written but they give the viewer the impression that he is watching a documentary on the Shudras. To assume that today’s general audience would frequent cinemas to watch such a serious drama is a fallacy. There is absolutely no entertainment in the film which reeks of poverty, exploitation and revolt. In that sense, the film turns out to be a non-commercial fare. Further, it follows a very predictable path and, therefore, does not have the element of surprise. Dialogues (Sanjiv Jaiswal) are realistic, like the drama itself. Kiran Sharad acts ably as Sandhli. Pravin Baby does a very fine job in the role of Charna. Shridhar Dubey is excellent as Badri. Mahesh Balraj also shines in the role of Bheru. As his wife, Priya Annatram is effective. Aaref Rajput performs well as Bala, brother of Sandhli. Gauri Shankar is nice as Madhav. Shaji Chaudhry does an average job as Thakur. Shabaz Baweja is okay as Kartar Singh. Satyam Chauhan (as Pandit), Ankita (as Sandhli’s sister, Arohi), Habib Azmi (as Baba, father-in-law of Sandhli) and Radha Srivastav (as child Channa) provide very good support. Sunder (as Badri’s old father), Sabita Singh (as the fat lady, Jugni) and the rest do as desired. Sanjiv Jaiswal’s direction is appropriate. He has handled the subject of his maiden venture with the sensitivity it required. Jaan Nissar Lone’s music and the meaningful lyrics of Tanveer Ghazi and Shiv Sagar live up to the mood of the drama. Jaan Nissar Lone’s background score is alright. Pratik Deora captures the drama effectively through the camera lenses. Anwar’s art direction is good. Editing (Krishan Shukla) is okay. On the whole, Shudra – The Rising may be a well-made and well-enacted film but its commercial prospects are almost nil. Released on 19-10-’12 at Metro Big (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Rudraksh Adventures. Publicity: good. Opening: very poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was frighteningly weak everywhere. |
