Style

The Duo of Mahesh Manjrekar and Sanjay Dutt team up yet again to give a movie that is filled with violence and has a heavy undercurrent of social trauma. Does Pitaah deplore child abuse or the feudal and caste system that thrives in our country's rural areas? That's the mystery that plagues Pitaah. Rudra (Sanjay Dutt) and Paro (Nandita Das) are a happy couple who live somewhere in UP. They have three children- two sons and a nine-year old daughter Durga (Tanvi Hegde). Rudra works on the local Thakur's farm where one can say that he has accepted the social order that puts him at the bottom of the heap. The Thakur (Om Puri) is a stereotyped tyrant who runs the lands with a near dictatorial zeal. His sons are a bunch of drunken beings who in a state of stupor rape Durga and leave her to die. She survives and is rushed to the hospital by the family. However the local inspector Ram Narain (Jackie Shroff) arrests the two, incidentally Ram is also in a perpetually inebriated state, on the evidence of a bracelet that is found. Rudra up to this point seems to senselessly believe that the law will prevail, unfortunately the legal system totally fails him and he decides to take matters into his own hands. On one of the days of the court hearings he kills the culprits responsible for his daughters rape. Thereby becoming a fugitive himself. Reality bites Rudra and Paro when they realize that there is probably no escape from the wrath of the Thakur so the family contemplates suicide. This is when Narain bursts in to arrest Rudra. On the assurance from the cop that his family would be safe, Rudra submits to arrest. But the Thakur's mind still seethes and he aches for revenge with the object of his revenge being Rudra's family. Rudra begs to be freed to save his family. The corrupt inspector does an about turn on his value systems and frees Rudra. The movie then shows revenge and the anger of a Pitaah wronged. Pitaah is typical Mahesh Manjrekar fare. He showcases the injustices committed by the upper classes on ordinary people so well that even the audience feels like joining in the circus. Performances? Nandita Das and the kids are excellent! Sanjay looks droopier than ever before but connects with the audience in a more positive way than in his previous efforts. Jackie and Om Puri do leave an impact but after seeing the transformation from good cop to bad cop, you know that this could never really happen and that dulls the performances of these two great actors. Overall, if you went to watch Kurukshetra and enjoyed it then Pitaah shouldn't give you a headache. Otherwise it's best avoided.