SAANKAL

Producers: Dedipya Joshii and Aanand Rathore
Director: Dedipya Joshii
Star Cast: Tanima Bhattacharya, Milind Gunaji, Chetan Sharma, Jagat Singh and Samarth Shandilya
Genre: Social
Rating: **

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Farcical! 
Kesar (Chetan Sharma) the protagonist murders his father because he is enraged by the violation of his wife Abeera (Tanima Bhattacharya) by him. He abandons Abeera and their daughter and runs off to seek help from a photographer (Milind Gunaji) who goads him to write his own story.  Abeera is married off to another child whose father and uncles use her as their sex slave, when he returns years later and refusing to be rescued, she exhorts him to save their daughter and commits suicide.

PLUS POINTS:
Saankal sets out to bring to light the still followed malpractice of elder women forcefully being married off to younger boys in the state of Rajasthan and exploited by the blood relations of the child bridegrooms. Music by Nishal Kamal Vyas and Shivang Upadhyay is exemplary. Tanuima Bhattacharya is excellent.

MINUS POINTS:
Tradition, rituals, taboos, social obligations are just mere words which are bandied about in this farcical drama that sutures a love story into the narrative, dipping to murder and inevitable tragedy. Milind Gunaji has been wasted.

VERDICT:
With no known face adorning it, the film which was made over two years ago may find it an uphill task to get a smooth release.