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By Taran Adarsh, April 30, 2005 - 17:24 IST
Years ago, the talked-about Smita Patil starrer CHAKRA attempted to explore the life of those living in slums. REVATI, with Kashmira Shah in the title role, explores a similar theme. It peeps into the lives of those living in slums of Mumbai and the hardships faced by a woman named Revati, a rag picker.
Although the material to make the film is indeed interesting and it does show promise as it unfolds, the narrative gets very formulaic in the latter reels. Drugs, prostitution, murder, courtroom drama… finally, it ends up as a love story!
Nothing wrong with depicting the various stages that Revati encounters in her life, but writer-director Faroogh A. Siddiqui ought to make his mind whether to make art house cinema [like CHAKRA] or a commercial film, with unwanted songs, romance, drama… and of course, skin show.
REVATI tells the story of a poor rag picker girl, who has been brought up in the slums. She gets highly fascinated when she encounters a rich person [Kiran Kumar] and the modern amenities he possesses: A posh bathroom with ample water to bathe and nice clothes to wear.
Revati was obsessed with having a clean bath. She had to use a public tap where urchins would try to peep at her naked body. Her only clothing was a wrap-around cloth.
Revati decides to leave home in search of her own destiny. Every step she takes towards making her dream world a reality, she encounters an exploiter and becomes a prey. But she refuses to compromise.
Revati is heart-broken when she's accused of having an illicit relationship with the rich man, later she's accused of his murder as well, worse she's pushed into drug trafficking and finally, is accused of prostitution.
A lone woman's fight in the tough world have been witnessed innumerable times earlier. From MOTHER INDIA to PUTLIBAI to KHOON BHARI MAANG to DAMINI, Hindi cinema has portrayed woman in various roles.
As mentioned above, the concept of REVATI is interesting, but the execution isn't. The first half has a few appealing moments, but the screenplay goes topsy-turvy in the post-interval portions. The second half has been stretched unnecessarily and the entire murder-courtroom exercise is so long drawn and tedious that whatever little impact the first half had created, evaporates in the other half.
Faroogh A. Siddiqui's direction is plain ordinary. The execution should've had a hammer-strong impact with a theme like this. Music [Jatin-Lalit, Nazakat-Shujat] is forced in the goings-on. Barring the bathroom song, which is quite provocative and might appeal to the hoi polloi, the remaining songs act as speed breakers in the narrative.
Kashmira Shah makes a sincere effort and portrays her part well. Kiran Kumar has a brief role and he handles it like a true veteran. Ayub Khan is alright. Javed Khan, as Revati's drunkard father, is passable. Prashant is fair. Alok Nath is loud in the courtroom sequence. The film has a number of new faces, but the ones who stand out are Revati's mother and her lover.
On the whole, REVATI might appeal to the hardcore masses looking for titillation.
 
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