Vidya Balan’s ‘Begum’ no ‘Jaan’ Anymore?

Vidya Balan’s Begum Jaan fails to impress the audience at the box office to deliver a historic story, which was set during the partition of India and Pakistan.

Vidya Balan’s much awaited Begum Jaan film is set during the partition of India and Pakistan. The actor who carved a niche for herself in many women-centric films like Kahaani, Dirty Picture, has perhaps failed in this one to live up to the tag.

The film is a perfect example of all talk, no action going by the reactions from the audience.

Also Read: My Heart Breaks Many Times, Says Begum Jaan Vidya Balan

Vidya, who plays the role of Begum, a brothel owner, takes on a fight with a local king for they ask her to leave her house, which is on the border of India and Pakistan.  The film showcases how law-enforcing agencies find it difficult to dislodge Begum from the line and that leads to a war, which is layered, unequal and self-explanatory.

Another star attraction of the film is  Chunkey Pandey, who plays the role of a cold-blooded contract killer. His essay as the ruthless contract killer will remain in your memory for some time.

The film also stars Gauhar Khan who plays the madam’s helper and is in love with the in-house entertainer Sujit played by Pitobash Tiwary; Pallavi Sharda’s Gulabo lusts for the saintly teacher played by Vivek Mushran and who also has a thing for Begum Jaan.  Mishti is the young rape victim whom Begum Jaan shelters.

Begum Jaan is Srijit Mukherji’s remake of his own 2015 Bengali film Rajkahini (Tale of The Raj) with Rituparna Sengupta in the title role. The Hindi version stars Vidya Balan.

The film lacks a hard-hitting message and leaves audience uncared. The reaction definitely tells Vidya Balan failed to keep up her women-lead tag by overdoing her role.

A report in the Hindu rightly said, “Each scene feels consciously staged than unprompted and the flow from one sequence to the next is perennially jerky leading to way too much chaos on screen.”

Film critics had a field day reviewing this one and finally, Begum is no ‘jaan’ anymore.