Review : Pyaari – Tarawali The True Story : An ode to all the women in Indian society!

An Inspiring film depicting the journey of a girl that is an ode to all the women in Indian society. Pyaari – Tarawali The True Story rightly portrays the emotions and experiences that a girl goes through, and this is still pertinent in the interiors of India. Pyaari, as a child has been bought up by her parents, with her mother narrating a childhood story that one day a Knight in Shining Armor would come and marry this girl who would then rule as a Queen.

But alas childhood stories are just fiction. The reality depicted in this film is the story of the ill-fated girl who desires true love, but, has no trust on the darkness of relationships, as she suffered marriage breakups not once but twice.

The film is an intense love story that narrates the journey of Pyaari (superbly portrayed by Dolly Tomar) who seeks ideal care and love of a husband. It also delves into an enigma of womanhood, and a woman’s desire of true love in her life.

Faced with the daily ridiculing of other women folk in the village who always cursed this girl of spreading bad omen, Pyaari has no other option but to give acceptance to her third marriage to a 38 year old man ‘Laxman Chai wala’ (Rajneesh Dubey) who curses his luck of still being a bachelor. The desperate Laxman, too, is sick of being teased by people around him of being unlucky to find a girl yet.

Laxman who had been going through dull life yet has a belief of getting a good wife treats Pyaari with love and affection in the beginning. But with the passage of time and after delivering a baby girl, Pyaari finds herself confined to the cage of four walls of her house, her daughter, daily household chores, responsibilities and serving her husband. Pyaari realizes that she has lost her freedom, yet she gathers guts to get loose from this bonding to find an ideal life that she always dreamed of since her childhood.

A new life brings love in Pyaari and Laxman’s lives, however good things also come with lots of responsibilities and hardships. On their daughter’s first birthday, the happy family life and relationship of Laxman and Pyaari takes a twist.

These incidents actually occurred in Tarawali that is a village near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh – the heart of India. The film is based on true story and incidents that occured about a decade ago.

Pyaari gathers determination to fight against all odds and seek the life of happiness she always dreamed of. But it is the still prevalent patriarchal system of our society that is responsible for all hurdles in her path. However Pyaari faces them with grit and determination of an iron lady.

Dolly Tomar and Rajneesh Dubey have come up with powerful performances and the cinematography rightly captures the essence of the life in villages. It has a simple story telling narrative and this heart-touching film is an ode to all the women in our court.

****

Keerti Kadam