Chhapaak benefited from an
exciting promotion campaign before it was released or premiered, with Deepika
Padukone in the lead role and pictures and clips of the trailer, from which the
audience could easily understand that the movie is about a disfigured young
woman. The excitement reached the boiling point when Deepika Padukone appeared
in an interview and we saw the pictures of the real victim whom the movie tells
her story. I asked myself like many others: How will the beautiful Deepika
Padukone play the role of a young woman, disfigured with acid?
The movie has earned
significant revenues, although; not that big compared to other competing movies
released in the same period.
Chhapaak, produced in 2020, is
a quiet film based on a true story of an Indian young woman who was a victim of
frequent common crime in India; she was attacked by throwing acid in her face.
The facts of this nice story
happen quietly away of noise and exaggerated melancholy. Perhaps, the director
Meghna Gulzar wanted her film to be like this, but if it had been directed by
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Karan Johar or Farah Khan, the concept of the story
would have been presented differently because every director has his vision,
ideas, and perspective of the work.
Meghna Gulzar co-authored the
script with Atika Chauhan. she wanted the movie to be less dazzling and quietly
spotting light on one of the most dangerous problems that threaten Indian women
in their community – the frequent common and surprise attacks by throwing acid
on girls faces, especially the suburban young women from poor families.
In this movie, we see the
struggle of the victims with the treatment and judicial procedures. It also
raises the legal loopholes and human rights shortcomings in Indian law when
dealing with this type of case, as well as the fight of the heroine of the
movie, civil society associations, and human rights activists to change the
situation for the benefit of the victims of acid attacks.
Deepika Padukone is a talented
actress who doesn’t need the beauty and charm of her body to succeed in any
role, so selecting her for the lead role was the ideal choice. In Chhapaak, she
could speak with her eyes, and she was very distinguished and successful in the
scenes where expressing emotions with the eyes was necessary. Mostly, a tight
disfigured face with various burns doesn’t reveal many emotions, reactions, or
features, except with the eyes.
The other actresses have also
played the roles of victims successfully. The make-up and its effects on their
faces were perfect (like the make-up of the lead actress), giving the
impression of being a real disfigured face. This is an evident fact that
Bollywood has reached a high technical advance on this side with its long years
of experience in filmmaking.
In this movie, short melodies
were used as a background for the events – also combined with the score, but it
included no musicals or shows as we usually see in the traditional way the
Indian movies are made. This is another good choice that goes in the line with
the narrative of the film and the seriousness cause it raises because it is a
big issue (Even bigger than Deepika’s film which she coproduced with Fox Star
Studios and other companies).
Despite the amendments of some
laws and the tightening of penalties, India always registers more crimes of
throwing acid in women’s faces. This is what was shown in Chhapaak, which is
considered an effective step made by its makers in the way of raising and
sustaining this cause positively amongst a large controversial society – the
Indian society.
Jameleddine Bouziane - Blogger, writer and Social Activist
“Addustor” Newspaper (Iraq) – Issue number 5004 – the
cinematographic section: 179/ Thursday, July 1st, 2021
Translation by: Sami Habbati (Algerian journalist and writer)
