'Bheed' review: A hard-hitting, emotionally-charged reality of India's COVID-19 lockdown
What's the story
Anubhav Sinha's films are often hard-hitting and a mirror reflection of certain things that are prevalent in society. He has a knack for making cinemas that will punch you in the gut. His latest offering, Bheed, is a reminder of the COVID-19 lockdown, possibly the world's most stringent measure taken to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Read our review of Bheed.
Based on true events
It'll remind you of India's toughest time in recent history
Sinha is known to make social dramas that leave an impact on the audience. After Article 15, Mulk, Thappad, and Anek, Bheed attempts to do the same. It will remind you of the trying times we all, especially the migrants, faced when the lockdown was imposed across India, and states secured their boundaries by not allowing people to return to their homes.
Acting
Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Kapur deliver exceptional acts
In Bheed, it's Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Kapur who take away the cake. While Rao is convincing as a policeman from a lower caste who's hiding behind a phony name given by his father, Kapur's bigotry as watchman "Trivedi Babu" is worth appreciating. He prefers to keep children hungry but refuses to take food from Muslims. Both seasoned actor shave delivered their best performances.
Detailing
Sinha captures the right essence
Sinha has added minute details in the film that people, back then, believed were true. Be it untrue WhatsApp forwards or treating COVID-19 as regular flu. He has also picked the Tablighi Jamaat episode, further showing the prevalent casteism, the scarcity of food, water, and shelter for the migrants, and how young girls were forced to use newspapers during menstruation.
Capturing reality
Several heart-wrenching moments, but in bits and pieces
It begins with a scene of sleeping migrant workers being run over by a train. Bheed has multiple scenes that'll hit you in the gut. People coming out of a cement-mixing vehicle, cops "bathing" suspected patients with sanitizers, and other similar scenes are all hard reminders of the pandemic. But, these scenes appear only in bits and pieces and not throughout the film.
What didn't work
A bumpy screenplay in some place
There are some scenes where the film's narration comes off as bumpy. After the interval, Bheed seems to lose its grip in a few places. Also, Sinha's entire film has been shown in black and white. He tried to draw a parallel between India's Partition and the lockdown with the color grid. But was it important? Maybe, not.
Verdict
Watch it, for it's a history chapter we shouldn't forget
Also featuring Bhumi Pednekar, Dia Mirza, Ashutosh Rana, and Aditya Shrivastava, Bheed should be watched to understand and remember the pain that India's maximum population felt. Although Sinha's bold attempt tries to tell too many narratives, some of which met with loose ends, it deserves 3 out of 5 stars for ideation, narration, direction, and of course, the acting.