Shaadisthan review: Kirti Kulhari film turns into a condescending sermon

She tries all her best to convince Arshi’s mother but Arshi’s mother can’t go against society and her husband. To know this you have to watch the full film on Hostar. Two different worlds come together, break apart and finally seamlessly merge. Sounds poetic, and possibly that was the intention of Shaadisthan, starring Kirti Kulhari, Nivedita Bhattacharya and Kay Kay Menon.

And, the social message, they tried to show is nothing new – same old ‘log kya kehenge’ stuff. From then on, Sasha performs messiah to Arshi and her mom, performed by Nivedita Bhattacharya. She has the sensitivity of a battering ram and is keen to let Arshi’s mom know that she has the privilege to marry whoever she desires and that she revels in her freedom.

Kay Kay Menon makes a special appearance somewhere in between the story. Menon, incidentally, had a stellar role in “Gulaal”, the film that had marked “Shaadisthan” director Raj Singh Chaudhary’s outing as a lead actor all those years ago. Shaadistan tells the story of a young shaadistan reviews girl who is obliged to fulfil her parents’ wish, while she wants to live life on her own terms. She meets a free-spirited singer Sasha and her band on her way to Rajasthan and they help her gain confidence. The film also stars Kay Kay Menon and Niveditha Bhattacharya.

The owner of the Dhaba answers the call on Arshi’s mother’s phone and wakes her up. Cholu who had called her tells her that Papaji is trying to connect them for a long time and tells her to send him their location immediately. She runs towards the bus and finds everyone in deep sleep.

Later on the wedding eve, Papaji faces humiliation from his sister and brother-in-law because he got just half a million rupees for the wedding, while they were expecting at least 2-3 times bigger amount. They remind him that because of their efforts they are able to marry their daughter in a reputed family. He is deeply hurt by this humiliation and forced to rethink his understanding of the societal structure and his daughter’s future.

I am a non commercial cinema follower and I truly loved this movie. A typical msg that log kya kahenge but filmed and scripted beautifully with awesome finishing touch. Another hunduphobic propaganda where muslims are super liberal and hindus are conservative and super intolerants.

Medha Shankar as the cute and confused and scared daughter is a promising discovery. Rajan Modi as the father is just about okay and even in terms of her role and its dimension; he does not have much of a scope in the film. Young Arshi’ suffocating world is in stark contrast to that of Sasha , the only girl in the band. Sasha is a free-spirited person, and fiercely independent about her choices in life — at least that’s what we get to know because she puts it in as many words, in a narrative that hardly develops its characters.

Of the supporting actors, Satish Kaushik is endearing as the physically unfit, lower-caste colleague to Anil Kapoor’s inspector Surekha Singh. The film revolves around a family who harbours a traditional mindset and wants to get their 18-year-old daughter, Arshi engaged against her wishes. But Arshi runs away from the house and they miss their flight to come to Mumbai because of it. They have to accommodate Sasha and her band in their bus who also on their way to Mumbai. In an interview with Firstpost, Kirti said that the society we live in works in a certain way and that all the people have been subjected to one or the other sort of conditioning.