Parched is a film that focuses on the lives of four women living in an arid region of North West India. Battered but rebellious, each of these women displays deep characterization. The film had a special premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The trailer released in December last year was a happier one with scenes of the better times in the lives of these women. The new trailer, however, shows a darker, more violent phase.
Living in Ujhaas, a village in Rajasthan, these four women show signs of being the village rebels. Caught in a tight squeeze defined by tradition and taboo, they use their private space to talk about love, sex, and secret desires. Physical violence by their men is a constant factor in their lives and they yearn for freedom.
Tannishtha Chatterjee, widowed at a young age is perpetually dressed in black and is presumably the older out of the four. Radhika Apte’s character, whose husband beats her up every night, is the chirpy one. Surveen Chawla is a prostitute who is battered by her clients and is constantly ostracized for being a sex worker. She is the bold one who isn’t ashamed of her profession or her sexual needs. Lehar Khan’s character is a 15-year-old who chops off her luscious locks; she has been married off at a young age and slowly realizes the restrictions inflicted on her.
The women have had it with the abuse and oppression and embark on a journey of self-discovery riding in a colourful motored rickshaw. The two-and-a-half minute trailer gives us glimpses of the barren desert that’s their home, which also has a colourful side to it during festivals and fairs. The music that matches the tempo of the visuals, is a treat. The film looks promising as it seems to suggest that the women break the shackles of patriarchal restrictions. It has also been praised since its TIFF premiere.
Ironically, the film also courted controversy last month when clips of Radhika Apte’s topless scenes from the film were published online. Prominent media outlets covered the leak in a typically sexist manner, promoting it as ‘Radhika Apte Hot Video’ and ‘Radhika Apte Sex Scene’. Adil Hussain, who also features in the video, took the media to task over its patriarchal mindset. “The most interesting aspect is that the leaked video is titled as Radhika Apte sex scene and not as Adil Hussain sex scene. That’s because a man doing it is just another matter whereas when a woman does it, it does matter. It is only then that it becomes a sex scene. It also shows the patriarchal society that we live in. In the West, such scenes are normally shown in their films,” Adil had said.
Read: Intimate Scenes From Parched Leaked In A Sexist Manner
The film is directed by Leena Yadav, who had previously directed Shabd (2005) and Teen Patti (2010) starring Ben Kingsley, and she is also one of the producers. The film which is bankrolled by Ajay Devgn’s production house is slated for a 23 September release in India.
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Hindi