Anup Jalota, Pisceann Pictures and AJ Media Corporation’s Kaanchli – Life In A Slough (A) is the story of a woman who breaks free from her husband when she realises that he is not going to save her from lecherous men.
Kishnu (Nareshpal Singh Chouhan) is married to the very beautiful Kajri (Shikha Malhotra). The lecherous village Thakur (Lalit Parimoo) wants Kajri to sleep with him but she refuses to oblige. Thakur’s pimp, Bhoja (Sanjay Mishra), tries his best to lure Kajri to surrender before Thakur but to no avail. By the by, Bhoja also lusts for Kajri who tries her best to dodge him by involving her husband each time he tries to get close to her. Finally, Kajri walks out on her husband.
Vijaydan Detha’s story likens a woman walking out on her husband to a snake shedding its skin and slithering into the wilderness. His story is too class-appealing for the common man to fathom. Dedipya Joshi’s adaptation of Detha’s story for the screen is as class-appealing as the original story. The screenplay, penned by Dedipya Joshi and Kailash Detha, is boring and repetitive. The drama hardly moves forward, giving the audience the feeling that the story was meant for a short film. Dialogues, many of which are in Rajasthani, are below the mark.
Shikha Malhotra is so-so as Kajri. Sanjay Mishra does a fine job as Bhoja. Nareshpal Singh Chouhan is alright as Kishnu. Lalit Parimoo lends ordinary support as Thakur. Others lend routine support.
Dedipya Joshi’s direction is dull. He seems to be clueless about what constitutes a universally appealing script and narration. Music (Nishant Kamal Vyas and Shivang Upadhyay) and lyrics (Kusum Joshi, Kailash Detha and Ansh Vyas) are functional. Kisaloy Roy’s background music is average. Jogendra Panda’s camerawork is routine. Parmanand Verma’s art direction hardly deserves separate mention. Aseem Sinha’s editing could’ve been tighter.
On the whole, Kaanchli – Life In A Slough is a dull fare and will face rejection at the turnstiles.
Released on 7-2-’20 at Movie Star Goregaon (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Carnival Media Network. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over.