Powerful potential

I actually bought this DVD. Now that's saying a lot as to how much I wanted to watch it eh? Provoked is based on the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, whose autobiographical book Circle of Light forms the basis of this movie. However, its textbook delivery style resulted in a film that's quite plain, despite its powerful potential in examining domestic violence against women.

Rai plays the protagonist Kiranjit, a Punjabi woman instructed by culture and social norms to be the dutiful wife to Deepak Ahluwalia (Naveen Andrews), who whisks her off to London. Kiranjit doesn't know what she's in for as it's an arranged marriage, and soon enough the true colours of her spouse start to show – the drinking, womanizing, and verbal, physical, emotional abuses. For 10 years she tolerates and suffers, until one night she snaps and gives her husband his just desserts. The next thing you see is her being strip searched and sent off to prison.

The viewers are then presented with two parallel worlds. Her world, developing inside prison and that of her kids and family, taking place outside the walls. One portrayal I really enjoyed was that of Nandita Das as the overenthusiastic activist who takes it upon herself to free Kiranjit. Kiranjit learns to fend for herself, making new friends and enemies. The courtroom drama unfolds alongside this and proves to be pivotal, given that it's a landmark case which debated upon the fine definition of provocation.

The sad part for me was the fact that this got delivered quite blandly, no doubt because attention was drawn toward the very British courtroom with its wigs and polite legal language. It didn't succeed as much as I would wish it to, even though the ultimate story came out towards the end. Maybe it's over expectation on my part but it could have definitely been put across better. I don't doubt the efficiency of the actors in the least – I think they did the best they possibly could, considering the script they had been presented with. Now, that is what needed work. This column featured another movie on women's rights etc a couple of weeks ago and that succeeds where Provoked fails, simply due to a bad scriptwriter.

Aishwarya Rai's performance is probably the best thing in the movie – I never thought much of her as an actress, but I must say that she has grown in my esteem. Her eyes prove to be tremendous vehicles for her thoughts and that is what is absolutely necessary for a movie of this nature. As an abused woman, you can't help but feel sorry for her, and very much root for her to get herself out of her plight, using whatever means possible. Nothing too breakthrough, but she's as effective as can be.

Unfortunately, bad acting plagued most of the supporting cast. Naveen Andrews as the husband Deepak only managed to look snarling, but is never menacing enough, and the rest seemed to have been sleepwalking, in part being let down by the lack of meat in these roles, being in true one dimensional fashion. Only Miranda Richardson's fellow jailbird and cellmate Veronica Scott offered some balance in the acting department opposite Rai.

Veteran director Jag Muhdhra seemed to have a bad outing trying to polish the film into the gem it should be, and certain scenes were badly edited that they seemed to be pasted side by side without much thought to gel them together smoothly. It seemed to have dwelled too much in the beginning, and felt hurried toward the end. It also lacked details of the rationale, and failed to pound deeper into the heart of the subject.

Rather, what we got was a brief introduction and explanation of the topic, followed by a very quick, superficial resolution, leaving us wanting more. A. R. Rahman's score seemed to have disappeared into the background at times, though when it's on, you can always ensure a treat for the ears.

What it did succeed on doing though was to encourage me to purchase the book, and maybe that was the ultimate goal of the filmmakers. But one's never to know! An important subject was handled not so intelligently, but watch it, don't buy it!

Watch it if you liked – Gandhi
Movie Hall of Fame – No
Tagline – In prison she found freedom

Powerful potential - Film Review