Review of Bhoomi

_{Bhoomi, a film by Omung Kumar and come-back film of Sanjay Dutt is one more film on a very disturbing topic of rape. The plot of the film is sensitive – a girl, who is brought up by her father, when grows up and is about to get married, a day prior to that she is being raped by a guy who was rejected by her.  Offlate, we saw two Hindi films – Raveena Tandon’s Maatr and Sridevi’s Mom, where mothers rose heroically and at times in an unrealistic manner to take revenge against their daughters’ rapists. And in Kaabil also, same theme is used where a husband tries to take revenge for his wife’s ordeal. Here, we see Sanjay Dutt taking revenge for his daughter’s rape. The very word rape is scary, sensitive, disturbing and so whenever a film revolves around rape and revenge, it becomes difficult to review the film. But, as a piece of art, the film needs to be reviewed and on that front Bhoomi absolutely fails. It turns out to be a very tedious watch. It is sad that the victim girl is raped again and again by the society, neighbourhood.  And, if the girl chooses to go to the court then she is subjected to another series of gang rapes by the advocates, witnesses etc. through the grilling processes during court proceedings. It is an irony that the men who are the culprits move freely in the society and they don’t even shy away from threatening the girl and her family / well-wishers. The film had potential, but it is beyond my understanding why Sanjay Dutt chose this one as his come-back film. We have seen him giving powerful performances in the past be it Agnipath or Vastava or Zinda… But here, a mediocre Sanjay is trapped in a mediocre film.}

_{The film begins with a girl being kidnapped and her juttis falling on the street. Then the frame moves back a month earlier where the titular character Bhoomi (Aditi) is shown performing in a marriage along with her fiancée Neeraj (Sidhant Gupta). The very first song ‘Jugni, will you marry me’ does not connect with the hearts. In another frame, Arun Sachdeva (Sanjay Dutt) and his brother (or friend, not clear) Shekhar Suman are shown to be drinking at home. Their conversation was intended to generate humour but unfortunately it does not happen. Bhoomi gets angry when she enters home and sees her dad and uncle drinking. She is then pampered by Arun and he persuades her to have food. These scenes could have been more powerful where the strong bond between father-daughter was to be established. Arun runs  a footwear shop. Bhoomi is single-handed brought up by Arun, she stutters. Arun is very excited (though his expressions tell a different story altogether) for Bhoomi’s marriage. Vishal enters into the scene when Arun goes to his shop to distribute Bhoomi’s wedding card. Here audience got to see a very soft-spoken guy Vishal who loves Bhoomi. But later this very guy, when rejected in love by Bhoomi, becomes obsessed and joins hands with his cousin brothers (friends) for committing the crime. Dhauli (Sharad Kelkar) loves to play a game Hide and Cheekh (Shout) wherein men run behind girls and catch them to spend the nights. Oh, absolutely a b-grade film. To top it all, Sunny Leone appears in mud-clad-body in an item number. One keeps wondering that what happened to Omung Kumar, who gave us Mary Kom and Sarabjeet. Omung has not done justice to Bhoomi.}

The name Bhoomi might have been chosen metaphorically to show the patience of earth, but in many scenes, the characters have become mere spectators. Editing also seems weird. 

_{What happens to Bhoomi? What happens to her marriage with Neeraj (Sidhant Gupta)?  How does she handle the turmoil of her life? How are the characters of Dhauli, Vishal, Jithu (Riddhi Sen) weaved in the story ?}

_{Certain questions which are there in my mind: Why Sanjay Dutt’s character had to be a drunkard?  How did Aditi’s stuttering add to the script?  Why Sanjay kept the same emotion on his face and maintained dopey monotone? What happened to Shekhar Suman? He has given a very dispassionate performance. Even, where the audience is supposed to laugh, his dialogues and mannerisms don’t generate any humour. And post –interval, his character vanishes for a pretty long time, whereas that was a crucial time, when he was supposed to be shown to be with Bhoomi and Arun; is it editing problem or the screenplay did not have it? Why the hell Arun had to eat lice while making Bhoomi’s hair? Initial proceedings in the court were focusing more on the love angle of Neeraj and Bhoomi rather than focusing on rape, why so ? Why did the villain characters lost their power every now and then?}

_{The film does highlight that minors can commit rape but not punished since he is not 18. It also shows a different kind of response towards the tragedy. There are some moments between daughter-father with which one can connect. But that is it!!!}

_{Bhoomi turns out to be a tedious watch. Mediocre actings trapped in mediocre script. The film does not pick up at all, be it in terms of story, screenplay, dialogues, acting, performances. Such a sensitive topic handled in an absolutely insensitive manner. Skip the film !!!}

_{Rating : 2/5 (Average)}

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^{Cast: Sanjay Dutt (Arun Sachdeva), Aditi Rao Hydari (Bhoomi), Sharad Kelkar (Dhauli), Sidhant Gupta (Neeraj), Shekhar Suman, Puru Chibber (Vishal), Riddhi Sen (Jithu), Sunny Leone (Special Appearance)}

^{Direction: Omung Kumar}

^{Produced by: Bhushan Kumar, Sandeep Singh, Omung Kumar}

^{Screenplay by: Raaj Shaandilyaa}

^{Story by: Sandeep Singh}

^{Cinematography: Artur Zurawski}

^{Music by: Sachin-Jigar (Songs), Ismail Darbar (Background Score)}

^{Edited by: Jayesh Shikarkhane}

^{Production Company: T-Series, Legend Studios}

^{Release Date: 22nd September, 2017}

^{Duration: 135 minutes}

^{Language: Hindi}

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