Durgamati
Movie Review: Durgamati is Relevant but the storytelling lacks the spirit it
needed
Durgamati Movie Review
Durgamati
Movie Review
My
biggest takeaway from Durgamati was Kakorrhaphiophobia, which means fear of
failure. I had never heard the word
before. In the film, it’s used by a
psychiatrist who solemnly declares that this might be the issue with Chanchal, an IAS officer who seems to be possessed by
the ghost of a long-dead queen. Chanchal
is attacking people around her – including
the psychiatrist, who she raises off the ground by holding his throat. She is also speaking in Arabic, a language
that Chanchal doesn’t know, and being
yanked by an unseen force in all directions.
A few minutes after the first diagnosis,
the psychiatrist says that Chanchal should be moved out of the old
haveli that she is stationed in, because
he says, this place is no good for schizophrenics.
The
good doctor seems confused and clueless, which is just about right for this
film. Durgamati is a remake of the 2018
Telugu film Bhaagamathie, in which the
beauteous Anushka Shetty chewed up the scenery as the IAS officer. I can understand why Bhumi Pednekar wanted to
do the role. The film offers a female
actor the chance to take center-stage and revel in the extremes of the
character. Chanchal is an upstanding
officer who gets a love track, a romantic song and a wardrobe of lovely
colorful saris, but she is also an
avenging angel in the form of Durgamati, who sits on a throne and wields a
sword.
Durgamati
can flip a red sari around her with the same swift moves that Akshay Kumar did
in Laxmii. I think it’s meant to be menacing.
FYI, Akshay’s company Cape of Good Films is one of the producers on Durgamati. Which had me thinking, like maybe Akshay and
Bhumi exchanged notes on this sari-flipping routine. Bhumi delivers with full sincerity, banging
her head on walls, glaring and screaming, punishing herself with aplomb. But this is a logic-free story, which runs
for a hundred and fifty-five minutes and no one could've made it palatable. Director Ashok, who also directed the Telugu
film, creates an almost frame-by-frame replica of that film. Once again, the camera lunges, sways and
heaves in all directions. Every tilted
angle, ominous soundtrack and horror film cliché is utilized to create a creepy
atmosphere. Doors creak open and shut,
rain and thunder arrive when necessary, the wind blows exactly at the right
time. But Durgamati isn’t just a horror
film.
It’s also a thriller featuring an
interrogation led by a CBI officer Satakshi Ganguly, played by Mahie Gill. Satakshi talks tough and peppers her orders
with Bengali. She often barks at her juniors: 'I don’t like negativity'. The comedy inserted into the film isn’t very
funny, but this definitely is. Ashok
doesn’t trust his audience to understand the many many twists, so he has characters explaining what we are
seeing. The actors aren’t going for subtlety either. Arshad Warsi as the minister Ishwar Prasad is
gleefully hammy. Karan Kapadia plays
Chanchal’s love interest Shakti. Admittedly
he doesn’t have much to work with, but his blank expression doesn't do anything
to lift the contrived narrative. There’s
also Jisshu Sengupta, who like he did in Sadak 2, tries to rescue a painfully
flat character with conviction. Interestingly,
Ashok’s name appears thrice in the movie, twice in the opening credits, once at
the end. Which seems one too many, given
that there's so little difference between the Hindi version and the Telugu
version. Both are an endurance test. You can see Durgamati on Amazon Prime Video.
Durgamati
Movie Star Cast
- Bhumi Pednekar
- Mahe Gill
- Arshad Warsi
- Karan Kapadia
- Jisshu Sengupta
- Ansuman Bhagat
- Paras Gola
- Tanya Abrol
- Dhanraj
- Amit Behi
Durgamati
Movie Release date 11 December 2020 on Amazon Prime Video
Durgamati
Movie Director Ashok G.