Begum Jaan (2017)

A movie with a talented actress like Vidhya Balan & strong story about a brothel in Indo-Pak partition, could have done wonders if it was more of brothel's tough times in it. But, there is no actual partition till now, so whom are they fighting & why. Plus, it's really not understood why are govt officials fighting them to that level? The story which is Pathetic, could have been a strong point like how a brothel could stand undivided despite of cast or religion in hard times. Vidhya Balan, the lead lady is projected more like a self obsessed, boasting, mean, stupid lady, who doesn't understand anything serious & always sulking. If this wasn't enough, the movie is full of foul language, like if there's a brothel there has to be foul language & girls fighting like wild animals with the temperament & no sense at all. Surely no work is accomplished inside brothel without the girls screaming or abusing each other, even if it's as simple as eating. This is definitely nothing what feminism stands for. Direction is stupid, people conversing normally standing meters away from each other. The role of the guy - 'master' is irrelevant and adds nothing to the story. Dialogues - Boring & cold, stretching the movie like anything. Bollywood had movies on this subject like 'Mandi' with awesome performances but this movie is no way near them.

A strongly written and well-thought script that shows partition vows with a very different and unique angle. Barring the irrelevant noisiness of some characters, it's a well directed and acted movie. Vidya Balan along with other characters like Gauhar Khan, Chunky Pandey, Sumit Nijhawan and Ila Arun were brilliant.Storyline Rating: 4Acting Rating: 3 Vidya Balan: 3 Gauhar Khan: 3 Chunky Pandey: 4 Sumit Nijhawan: 4 Ila Arun: 3 Naseeruddin Shah: 3 Pallavi Sharda: 2 Ashish Vidyarthi: 3 Vivek Mushran: 2 Rajit Kapoor: 3Direction Rating: 3Music Rating: 3Cinematography: 3Editing: 3

I went to watch this movie for two reasons. First was the script and second, our very talented actress Vidya Balan. Vidya was fab as always in her acting, the disappointing part was the idea of the story wasn't executed properly, I would say a lack from director's side. When I watched the trailer and read what this movie it's gonna be about, I was so excited and I thought "WOW" this is gonna be MIND BLOWING. But.. there were many scenes in this movie where I was like "why is this happening? This thing shouldn't be given this much weight as it is been given..", like those overstretched half faces scenes, When Gulabo and Rubina got into a fight and Gulabo starts to laugh all of a sudden (that was a useless scene), and that overstretched scene where Sujit was caught by Kabir and his goon gang, and Master taking revenge on Begum Jaan by fooling Gulabo only to sell her to some other guy (means seriously?? Was this important at all in a movie of such great concept, I mean Come on, you could have added much better things).Chunkey Pandey's Short appearance was really impressive. I wasn't even able to recognize him.Vidya was fabulous as always. And there were so many hard hitting dialogues in this movie that are going to be remembered for a long time like "Baap, Bhai, beta, Shauhar - Begum Jaan ki Chaukhat pr..." and best was "Mahina Hame Ginna aata hai sahib." and there were much more...Gauhar Khan also acted so well in this movie. Her scene with Sujit on that stone place was the best.One thing which in my opinion was the worst that could happen to this movie was the sudden change of hearts of few people in the climax like Ilias shot himself dead, Harshavardhan became a drunk and that policeman quit his police uniform and was looking at the Brothel in regret. They all were so adamant on dismantling that Brothel before, so why were they all so devastated after that happened what they wanted, I mean a little distress was obvious, but this sudden heart of change!! that didn't go well with the story line what they were trying to build.There was a scene where Laadli undresses in front of the Policeman and his reaction felt way too exaggerating when he starts to Puke after seeing her naked.Also, I couldn't understand why Salim was keeping so many guns and ammo?? Why did he need all that?The story was lacking in conveying the emotional trauma the prostitutes were going through while all this was happening. As far as I can remember, there was only one scene where they were all talking about going homeless, and that scene too failed to connect with the audience emotionally. The main idea of the movie was to convey the struggle, the emotional trauma they went through that one month, how insecure they were about going homeless, what they would do, this was their home, their country, their everything... But this was not made the focus of the movie, instead, the director focused on some rubbish chit chats throughout the movie.Overall, I'd say, this movie should be watched if you really want to see some fresh stuff from our film industry, and watching Vidya Balan act, is always a sight for sore eyes... Just loved her performance in this movie. There are a few areas in which this movie do fall Short of our expectations but still, it's worth watching once... Go Watch It... It's not that bad

There are very few movies in Indian Cinema which uphold the very essence of cinema as a medium of expression. As it is said picture can say a thousand words, then "Begum Jaan" tells you about woman, freedom, history, humanity home and many heart touching issues of a non speaking society. Taking a backdrop of post independence event on partition, Begum Jaan has connected the present day woman and scenario of woman of that era. Director Srijit Mukherji bags full points for keeping an eye over the details in shorts and frames. Movie has a great grip as far as performances, screenplay, dialogues and direction is concerned. As we all know the credibility of Vidya Balan as a performer, she is awesomely outstanding as Begum Jaan. Supported by experiences like Ila Arun, Rajit Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Rajesh Sharma and all army of wonderful actors.... Special mention for Gauahar Khan and Chunky Pandey, their performances has a very different mark in the movie. Its a masterpiece for a sensible cinema lover. Audiences who are their for entertainment please don't critic this movie. Its simply a 10/10. Its a must watch...