Cast – Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shekhar Suman, Sharad Kelkar
- Directed by – Omung Kumar
- Produced by – Bhushan Kumar, Sandeep Singh, Omung Kumar
- Story by – Sandeep Singh
- Screenplay by – Raaj Shaandilyaa
- Cinematography – Artur Zurawski
- Edited by – Jayesh Shikarkhane
- Background Score – Ismail Darbar
- Production House – T-Series, Legend Studios
- Running time – 2 hours 15 minutes
- Censor Rating – U/A
The rape and revenge story has been repeated over and over again by Bollywood. After Matr and Mom, Bhoomi is the third film featuring the gory tale of a young woman’s rape and the retribution sought out by her parent. Since the plot is not a new one we expected Sanjay Dutt’s comeback film to be an evocative flick showcasing the subtleties of a father-daughter relationship, the pains of a violated woman, or at least a new and novel take on revenge. Sadly, Bhoomi fails us on all these counts. Despite some really good highlights, the movie fails to impress.
Plot –
Same old, same old. Spunky small town (Agra) girl Bhoomi (Aditi Rao Hydari) has been raised by Arun (Sanjay Dutt), a widower. The father and daughter are exceptionally close and Arun’s friend (Shekhar Suman) also lavishes Bhoomi with filial love. Also in the neighbourhood is a young man Vishal (Puru Chibbar) who is in love with Bhoomi and is smarting under the rejection. With the help of his cousin Dhauli (Sharad Kelkar) and a friend Gulab, Vishal abducts Bhoomi a day before the wedding and they molest the girl. Her wedding is called off and as she approaches the courts for justice. A bad abduction and another assault later, Bhoomi is till unsuccessful in receiving a fair trial. Arun and Bhoomi try to move on but social pressure keeps her wounds alive. Finally father and daughter take law into their own hands and punish the rapists.
Review –
If you have watched the trailer of Bhoomi, the plot comes across quite clearly. Director Omung Kumar starts of on a rather thrilling note depicting the abduction of Bhoomi. The rest of the first half is then retold as a back story. Problem with this is that our expectations by now are very high. The first half of the film is well paced though very predictable. We keep waiting for that one twist, the one tear jerking touch that will set Bhoomi apart, that will remind us that this movie comes from the same director who gave us Mary Kom (2014) and Sarbjit (2016).
Hydari is stunning and has delivered an incredible performance as a confident girl who stutters, scolds her father at times, and tries to recover from what can only be described as a nightmare of epic proportions. Moving on to Dutt, the only thing that makes us glad about this performance is the fact that he chose a role befitting his age. This, however, does not improve on the clichéd set of expressions that we have now come to expect of him. The music is quite enjoyable but even this does not redeem Bhoomi. The second half goes from bad to unbearable. The scenes of graphic violence manage to break the monotony but the best thing about the latter half of this flick will be your tub of popcorn.
We have been following a number of Sachin-Jigar releases over the past few weeks but this is probably the best of the duo’s recent albums. The much touted Trippy-Trippy (disappointingly) is not the best number. ‘Lag Ja Gale’ is among the best and ‘Will You Marry Me?’ is a fantastic foot tapping number.
What’s Good, What’s Bad?
Aditi Rao Hyadri is the best thing about Bhoomi. This girl can act; we only hope she makes better choices in the years to come. Now despite various news reports about costume issues, costume designer Chandrakant Sonawane has done an exceptional job. The choreography is another highlight – something that keeps the pace of Bhoomi from crashing altogether.
The direction is confused and so are we when Dutt starts off trying to scare the villains but soon scales down to Bollywood style bloodshed. Editing is sloppy as well.
Our Verdict
Stay home this weekend, go out shopping, plan to attend some garbha and dhandiya programmes, attend some jagrata or maata ki chauki in your locality, and if nothing else works catch some old flick on the telly. Bhoomi is not a film worth spending a weekend on.
Rating – **
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