A group of dacoits to unravel the realities of patriarchy and casteism in ‘Sonchiriya’

February 28: “Sonchiriya” becoming a recent talk of town, had a special screening of the film at MAMI Wednesday night, which was attended by its cast, Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey, Director Abhishek Chaubey along with Producer Ronnie Screwvala.

 

Actress Bhumi Pednekar who plays the role of Indumati Tomar, an absconding woman, a young rape survivor, said she was left shattered by the commentary filmmaker Abhishek Chaubey has done in the film, from patriarchy to casteism, and feels it's an extremely topical project.

 

Abishek Chaubey, who has previously helmed critically acclaimed films such as ‘Udta Punjab’, ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘Dedh Ishqiya’, chronicles the story of dacoits during the time of emergency.

 

‘Sonchiriya’ uses the backdrop of Chambal valley and makes a strong commentary on the inherent casteism and the strong patriarchy which runs deep. It is said to be an unofficial spin-off of 1996’s ‘Bandit Queen’ since it takes a key character from that film, Man Singh played by Manoj Bajpayee, and tells the story of his gang, comprising the likes of Vakil Singh played by Ranvir Shorey and Lakhna portrayed by Sushant Singh Rajput. Although undergoing an existential crisis fuelled by the remorse of killing innocent lives in the past, they believe they are dacoits by birth and must serve their dharma. The rest of the film revolves around the hell ride of all the three characters to discover their dharma which involves rescuing Indumati, and hiding from a police officer of another caste, Virender Singh Gujjar played by Ashutosh Rana, who has a personal agenda to hunt them down.

 

“I started questioning my life. I said, ‘I am this city girl. I am opinionated and have a lot of ego. I have power and I am strong.’ But there’s a huge section of society that still doesn’t have the power to say ‘no’. The kind of things that happen to my character was so heartbreaking for me”, said Bhumi about her process of immense introspection.

“The narrative that Abhishek sir has used, he has spoken about just the caste bias we have in our country. We obviously don't realise it but is really deep”, Bhumi lauded Abhishek for weaving the caste divide in the film powerfully.

 

Abhishek, who has been working on ‘Sonchiriya’ for nearly three years, was glad to see an almost packed theatre. To top the excitement, the film got a standing ovation after the screening.

 

Produced by RSVP movies, Directed by Abhishek Chaubey and co-written by Sudip Sharma, ‘Sonchiriya’ releases on March 1.