Chhatriwali
Cast: Rakul Preet Singh, Sumeet Vyas, Satish Kaushik
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Platform: Zee5
Story
Chhatriwali is the story of a family living in Karnal. It revolves around Sanya Dhingra (Rakul Preet Singh), a chemistry teacher who takes tuitions to support her family and is looking for a full-time job. Sanya meets Ratan Lamba (Satish Kaushik) and seeing his knowledge of chemistry, he offers Sanya to become the head of quality inspection in his condom company.
Initially, Sanya hesitates a lot about the job. But when she understands the importance of her job, then she accepts her role and her work. But unfortunately, due to this job, Sanya has to face a lot of problems in her personal life. Can Sanya fight these difficulties and convince her family to continue her job?
Review
When it comes to women-oriented topics, our society does not like to talk openly. Irrespective of the city, the mentality is still the same as that of the village that women’s health is not a priority at home. And, this is probably because women also find themselves vulnerable on such occasions. Why she is sitting away from the stove during those four days of the month, she does not openly tell her own children. When children are becoming teenagers, the physical changes in them arouse curiosity in them. They want to know what it is that they are feeling. Even teachers who teach biology get away with a lesson on reproductive organs. The specialty of the film ‘Chhatriwali’ is that it does not just talk about the need to use condoms, but catches the problem from the root and stays on it till the end.
It is challenging for a director to present the subject of any film in the way he or she intends to. Tejas Prabha Vijay Devskar, the director of Chhatriwali, has been successful in this task. The interesting opening of the film instantly makes you a part of Chhatriwali’s world. Along with the acting of Rakul Preet Singh, Satish Kaushik, and Sumeet Vyas, the credit for the success of this film goes to its story and screenplay written by Sanchit Gupta and Priyadarshi Srivastava.
In a way, the film ‘Chhatriwali’ is such a lesson for children struggling with the lack of sex education in the country, which is mandatory to be taught in every school, but few people want to teach it. The film begins on the lines of the very recent film ‘Janhit Mein Jaari’. Initially, it seems that this is just another film based on the same story, but the film’s writing duo Sanchit Gupta and Priyadarshi Srivastava soon kick into second gear. Incorporating the idioms prevalent in North India into their dialogues, the writer duo soon sets the course for Sanya, the lead actress of the story.
Director Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar has made a good team in this regard. He also develops the story very neatly with the help of his writers. He opens each page of the enigmatic subject very comfortably and once the viewer starts hooking up to the story, he takes it to a place where everything seems to be relatable. In such films, songs and music do not become of special importance and here also the issue comes in this department only.
Many Bollywood films try to focus on a particular issue, but in the attempt, most of them fail badly. Luckily, Chhatriwali is different. It continues to explain its point in a very simple way with humor without becoming a didactic film. It does not try to preach but still manages to throw light on topics like conservatism, equality, and the right to education. Alongside this, the film also maintains its grip with the help of situational humour.
Verdict
A sensitive subject has been presented smoothly in Chhatriwali. It is one of the films that adolescent children should watch and if possible the state governments should take the initiative to show this film free of cost in all junior high schools. Overall, K Chhatriwali entertains as well as gives a positive message without getting didactic.