Directed by Leena Yadav and produced by Ajay Devgan, Parched stars Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla, Mahesh Balraj, Adil Hussain, Lehar Khan, Chandan Anand and Sayani Gupta in lead roles. It depicts a gloomy picture of rural India.
The film revolve around 4 women living in a village of Rajasthan (or Gujarat may be), a village without a single TV, where a few people just started using cellphones, where under-age forced marriages are common and where men treat women as sex toys.
Plot: Rani (Tannishtha), a widow gets her son Gulab (Riddhi Sen) married to 15 year old Janki (Lehar Khan). Gulab is an arrogant son of Rani who hates Janki because of her short hair. Lajjo (Radhika Apte) is Rani's friend, but her alcoholic husband, Manoj (Mahesh Balraj), calls her a Baanjh because she is unable to conceive. Rani and Lajjo are friends with Bijli (Surveen Chawla) - an erotic dancer and a sex worker. Bijli has a caring co-worker (Chandan Anand). Then there is Kishan (Sumeet Vyas) who is married to a north eastern girl. Both of them work for the betterment of women in the village and the local men are jealous of them. The twists in the story come when Rani's son is arrested for being unable to pay money to pimps for fulfilling his carnal desires, when Lajjo discovers that she is not a Baanjh but it is her husband who is infertile, when Bijli figures out that her Boss has replaced her with a younger girl and that her friend doesn't love her but only wants to be her pimp. This leads to a journey of freedom and finding solace in each other together.
What we did like about the movie:
1. Acting: The leading ladies Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla and Lehar Khan have given their best performances. Lehar Khan plays her character effortlessly, she plays that typical 'Bechaari ladki' forced to marry against her wishes. Surveen Chawla as a sex worker must have done some research on the life of sex workers because she is the best of all the actresses in this movie. Tannishtha is adorable, esp with her mobile phone conversation scenes with a 42 year old Shahrukh Khan who remains a mystery till the end. Radhika Apte plays her a "Mooh Fuht" & "Bindaas chhori" and she does it brilliantly.
2. Baisa: The song 'Baisa' was marvelous. The way it has been shot is an absolute work of brilliance. That scene is actually a turning point because Rani's here is where Gulab finds out about Janki's haircut and starts hating her.
Baisa - Video Song - Parched
3. Happy ending: We all love happy endings :)
4. Chandan Anand's character was very intelligently written. Just when we all think that he is madly in love with Bijli and wants to run away to marry her, we figure out that it is not the case and he is just interested to be her new Pimp and make more money. We feel sorry for Bijli after this scene. Poor she!
What we didn't like about the movie:
1. The unnecessary Bar Song: The song was utter rubbish and we wished that this dance show song wasn't there. It was just not important and even if the director felt that it was important, toh yaar koi achha gaana daal dete.
2. The One Night Stand scene between Radhika Apte and Adil Hussain wasn't convincing esp. the location that it was shot at. Getting Lajjo laid by her friend Rajesh would have been much easier for Bijli than getting her to a cave for that Kamasutra Experience with Adil Hussain (Sridevi's husband in English Vinglish). At least Radhika would have had a handsome and a younger dude (Chandan Anand) to make out with.
Verdict: This movie is worth watching for everyone who loves this kind of cinema. This ain't meant for the masses and definitely not recommended to watch with your family. Watch it for the brilliant performances by the leading ladies.