Film: Shaadisthan
Director: Raj Singh Chaudhary
Cast: Kirti Kulhari, Medha Shankar, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Rajan Modi, Kay KayMenon
Mona
A girl living in Mumbai wants to celebrate her 18th birthday in Bali, partying with friends. Alas, to conform to societal norms, she is herded about a thousand kilometres to Ajmer to be promised in marriage. That is Arshi (played by Medha Shankar). Her mother Kamla Sharma (Nivedita Bhattacharya) is the epitome of the women who conform, who make homes and take care of everyone.
In comes another female character - Sasha (KirtiKulhari), the emancipated being, the lead singer of a music band, living life on her own terms. Now somehow through this road journey in a tour bus, Arshi wants to take a leap from her mother’s position to Sasha’s. Would she? To know that, you have to watch this painfully slow so-called musical with a ‘social’ message!
This Raj Singh Chaudhary’s directorial debut, Shaadisthan, currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, is one of the strange cases where one can’t just blame the lame script. Most actors, with the exception of Nivedita, play their part in making it tedious to varied degrees. Now let’s get into whole ‘social’ message thing. Hindi film industry has seen Do Bigha Zamin, Achhut Kannya and, lately, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, films that are able to merge entertainment with a cause. Sadly, this writer-director misses the mark.
Add to it the poor music, costumes and pace. While Rajan Modi as father; Apurv Dogra, Ajay Jayanthi, Shenpenn Khymsar – the band members, give flashes of semblance to real life, much is lost. A folk song at Udaipur, a Sufi number at Ajmer Sharif Dargah to a fusion set at ‘Cholu ki shaadi’ come as a pleasant distraction, but they don’t really create the magic needed to salvage the film.
So, this one hour and 30 minutes film is quite a tedious affair. While we are all for the message – there are many Kamalas who don’t even probably get two days in their lives for their own selves, there are many Sashas living life on their own terms, and probably as many Arshis being sacrificed at the altar of societal norms - films can sure bring that about beautifully, just that Shaadisthan fails at it. Miserably!
