Film Review: Undertrial

Film: Undertrial

Director: Aziz Khan

Producer: Nazim Rizvi

Cast: Rajpal Yadav, Monica Castelino, Prem Chopra, Kader Khan

Rating: 2/5

Imagine a father indicted of raping his daughters, not one or two, but three of them. A mother battling in the court to relieve her daughters from the plight and to ensure her husband gets a rigorous punishment so that no father ever attempts to do such a heinous crime.

It's a very scary thought, but nonetheless it's a true incident. Undertrial is the story of Sagar Hussain (Rajpal Yadav) who has been accused of raping his three daughter's innumerable times in the last eight years. Like any other accused Hussain too claims in court that he is innocent, but who will believe him? To make matters worse, he doesn't even have enough money to hire a lawyer. Will he be able to gather enough evidence to prove his innocence? Is he really innocent?

The movie starts off on an intense note, but drifts from the plot through the entire first half. It is only in the second half during the court room drama, that the plot gains momentum and comes to the point and solves the case.

The first half of the movie has its share of light and entertaining moments. But when the film revolves around Sagar Hussain, what's the point in wasting more than 90 minutes in unnecessarily establishing characters of the other criminals in the jail? The plot keeps deviating time and again and to add to that Ashfaq Makrai's editing also leaves loose ends. A crisper and shorter film would definitely have benefited the filmmaker. Unnecessary songs (Anu Malik and Shamir Tandon) in the film further slacken the pace.

Performances by all the actors are exemplary. Rajpal Yadav has very few dialogues, but his body language, facial and eye expressions are truly commendable. Monica Castelino as Yadav's wife fits perfectly into the character and delivers a marvelous performance. Credit for their performances should also be given to Khalid Amrohi's and Adesh K. Arjun's dialogues. The films bold subject has been substantiated with equally proficient dialogues. Kader Khan and Prem Chopra as the lawyers also act well. P