Stream or skip: Rakul Preet Singh's social-drama 'Chhatriwali' on ZEE5
What's the story
Rakul Preet Singh's latest film Chhatriwali landed on ZEE5 on Friday (January 20). Directed by Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar, the film co-stars Sumeet Vyas, Satish Kaushik, and Rajesh Tailang and aims to deliver a strong lesson on the importance of male contraceptives. It struggles and pauses for breath several times but eventually passes with grace marks due to its important message about sexual health.
Plot
What is the film all about?
The film follows Sanya Dhingra, a young woman based in Karnal, who takes Chemistry tuitions. However, her earnings are measly, and when offered a quality control head job at a condom plant, she takes up the offer. Her initial reluctance gradually turns into a matter of pride, and she makes it a personal mission to educate people about reproductive health and safe sex.
Messaging
Criticizes people who consider contraceptives 'against our culture'
For all its impatience to turn into a typical commercial Bollywood film, Chhatriwali still remains watchable (thank you, second half) when Sanya encounters (and wins over) challenge after challenge—society, her neighbors, her in-laws—everyone who labels contraceptives "against culture." It's also pertinent that the story is set in a small town, where these conversations would rather belong to the dumpster rather than the dinner table.
Female autonomy
A female-led film is always a refreshing change
Chhatriwali isn't the first or the last Hindi film to speak of the taboo around sex, but if it can turn around even one person's life, what's the harm? It is also refreshing to see a woman at the forefront of the story taking agency into her own hands while patriarchal men lurk in the background and get startled by her autonomy and sovereignty.
Women's role
Dissects women's role vis-a-vis having kids
Another topic that Chhatriwali speaks of is women's role and responsibility in a marriage that often exists only to please strangers and society. The decision (or the lack thereof) to have babies is made for women by men, their bodies being reduced to reproductive machines. It initially feels like Chhatriwali wishes to scream FEMINISM from the rooftops, but thankfully, gradually humanizes its characters.
Sexual health in schools
Offers accurate insight into how reproduction is taught in schools
Another reason why the film must essentially be watched by teenagers is its depiction of the oft-dreaded reproduction chapter in school. It should be taught to students in a way that helps them, but it is reduced to an embarrassing checklist that teachers simply want to hurry with. Unsurprisingly, these topics are brushed under the carpet, both in classrooms and outside of it.
What snaps connect?
What stops it from becoming a perfect watch?
The film takes time to come to the point, and the first 30 minutes fall flat with no character developments or a well-fleshed-out story. It also struggles between imparting a social message and becoming a light-hearted film, losing itself in the middle. The bane of all Hindi films, a rushed romance track gains precedence and deviates the film (and us) from the core story.
Stream or skip?
Eventually, 'Chhatriwali' is strictly a one-time-watch
The cause and effect in Chhatriwali is indigestible; each time an intense scene teases that it will raise the stakes, an easy solution immediately rears its face. Its tensions are too cosmetic, and its resolutions too convenient. However, if you can get past the initial few WhatsApp forwards masquerading as jokes, Chhatriwali can be watched once for the important questions it leaves us with.