00:00In the post-MeToo era, it's great that Kiara Adwani has come with a movie
00:04that talks about consent and what constitutes sexual assault and our propensity to victim blame.
00:15We are talking about her new film on Netflix called Guilty.
00:19It's 119 minutes long, it's very short and succinct and compared to Bollywood movie standards
00:25and is directed by Ruchi Naren. It's set in a swanky college in Delhi and it's about how the
00:31college heartthrob Vijay is accused of rape by a woman who's lesser privileged and perhaps not as
00:39erudite and as cerebral as her other classmates. It's a portrait where the girlfriend of the
00:45accused supports him wholly and the entire movie plays out from her perspective. So there is Kiara
00:52who plays Nanki Datta. It's not often that you see in a Bollywood film where the actress is
00:57clearly troubled, the heroine is troubled and the movie is set from her gaze. There are several
01:03things that are very interesting about this film. What I loved about this film is also the novel
01:08concept of what constitutes consent. Very often in Bollywood films, stalking is looked at as
01:15romantic. A no means a yes when a lover is stalking like perhaps his interest, rumoured
01:21love interest. So there are very problematic narratives in Bollywood. So to see a movie
01:27by Ruchi Naren, you know tackling this very, very murky subject of consent is quite interesting,
01:33especially in the Me Too era. Just when we are rejoicing the Harvey Weinstein verdict,
01:38it's important that Hindi films are also giving their perspective on sexual assault and victim
01:45blaming. Regarding the performances, I thought Kiara Adwani did a fantastic job. She plays a
01:50wild child of sorts. She's the kind who can quote Virginia Woolf or Kafka. It is a bit pretentious,
01:57but then in a Delhi University campus, it's often seen that the kids are very cerebral. They know,
02:02they read quite a bit and they inhabit a different space. They're quite intellectual as well.
02:07Perhaps pseudo-intellectual. In fact, the pseudo-intellectualism comes to the fore
02:12when a woman accuses the most popular boy from the college who looks very suave of sexual assault.
02:20Nobody believes her. And that kind of narrative where we're so quick to blame the victim
02:24and slut shame her is effectively showed in this movie. Another thing that I liked are the
02:29performances. Kiara Adwani is perfectly cast. She'll remind you of this girl interrupted.
02:34She has this gone girl vibe about her. We're always second guessing her moves and she's also
02:39got this history of mental illness. So the kind of like, you know, we always doubt her narration.
02:44We also doubt whether she's in the right or wrong. It's almost like Kiara was telling me
02:49yesterday that it's a why done it and not a who done it as such. So why did he do it or if he did
02:56it, you know, is there any way the conflict in her mind, whether her boyfriend could have actually
03:01committed such a horrid crime is beautifully showcased. In fact, it's a very bleak subject,
03:06but the movie moves at a good pace. The one thing that did not work for the movie is a bit of it
03:12enters the pretentious territory. There are many places where there's a legal counsel that's hired
03:17by the boyfriend, Vijay Pratap's family. He has a lot of clout. How his family tries to buy off
03:23the rape survivor, it gets a bit too convoluted rather than keeping it strict. As he said, she
03:28said who's right, who's wrong story. It goes into that murky territory of what power can do to you.
03:34It's also very, very pessimistic. The way it kind of is underwhelming to watch it unfurl on the
03:39screen. Another thing that I thought did not work for the movie is the hurried ending. The climax,
03:45you know, the climax was so disappointing. And there was so much crammed into that those last
03:5010 minutes that it kind of defeated the entire purpose of the film. The movie was going really
03:54good for the first, you know, 100 minutes. In the last few minutes, it descends into this
04:00overdramatic territory. And Kiara Advani is given a monologue and a lot is explained about her past.
04:07It kind of makes the subject, the principal subject of rape, it kind of dilutes what we saw
04:13so far. So that I thought was a bit disappointing. But however, it is great to see actors taking on
04:20such interesting subjects. It may not come together as a whole. But it's good to see actors
04:26like Kiara Advani, whom we saw her in Kabir Singh. I've gone with three out of five. For
04:31my full review, go to gulfnews.com. We have also put out a cover story on Kiara Advani tomorrow,
04:37do pick up tabloid.
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