Movie: Chhapaak
Cast: Deepika Padukone and Vikrant Massey
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Duration: Two hours three minutes
Critic's Rating: 3 out of 5
Story:
Malti (Deepika Padukone), an acid attack survivor files a PIL against the sale of acid. She is also fighting for justice after being attacked by a man when she was in her teens. Malti joins Amol's NGO which fights against acid violence.
Review:
Deepika Padukone will step into the shoes of an acid attack survivor.
When this was first announced, I was waiting with bated breath to see how will she be looking and then came the first look. I was shaken, my first reaction was, 'Wow'! Then what intrigued me was the title 'Chhapaak'. I googled the meaning and it meant 'splash'. It hit me so hard when I concluded what it meant to have your face destroyed with just one splash.
Chhapaak shows Malti seeking justice not just for herself but other acid attack survivors, whose faces were destroyed just because they said 'no' or dared to dream big. The film starts with a spirited woman Malti applying for jobs but is not successful in getting one. She readily works with an NGO run by Amol (Vikrant Massey) fighting against acid attack violence. We are suddenly taken to the moment when Malti was attacked and how much time she took to fight and put the attacker behind the bars. For people who thought they changed the attacker from Muslim to Hindu, it was the former only. Not that religion was important here, because a fellow human's life got destroyed for refusing advances by a man. However, it's a four-year struggle and Malti witnesses a ray of hope.
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The film has many instances that are gut-wrenching and you will also feel the pain and almost scream at the top of your voice. Meghna Gulzar showed those scenes with subtlety and she knew where to keep the background score and where it can be avoided.
The scenes between Deepika and Vikrant are indeed breezy and the chemistry has come naturally. Moreover, Vikrant has done an amazing job and complemented Deepika well. His role as Amol was shown as an angry young man, who is constantly being told by Malti that victims or survivors can be happy and there's nothing wrong in it. Vikrant is not someone who makes his ego acidic. He embraces the ideologies of the people around him. Talking about the lead star Deepika, the actor has taken a huge risk by producing the film and starring in it too. She is the soul of the film and its spine too. It was definitely worth a wait to see Deepika on the big screen after two long years.
Coming to the editing, the film jumps from present to past to present and I just wished if the past was shown at once. The good thing about the film was it stuck to its genre of drama and yet gave a thrilling experience with high emotional value. Chhapaak is not easy to watch and can shock you, make you cry and disturb you too.
Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is a character in itself. The title track along with its picturisation is heartbreaking which makes the film more painful.
Though you feel that the film is marching towards a happy ending, no you will have a jaw-dropping moment in the climax. This film shouldn't have a happy ending because acid attacks continue in this country and the fight wouldn't stop until they don't.
Verdict: Watch it for the beautiful and gut-wrenching combination of Deepika and Meghna.
