Full marks for intent but needs more energy
A mixed bag of what works and what doesn’t, the eater means good It brings a shocking truth to the screen but does not resort to any sensationalism. It builds its case slowly and steadily without getting ahead of itself.
Centering on the inmates of an asylum who are brutalized by those tasked with protecting them, the eater Abjures comprehensive methods to get his point across. With so much going for it, why doesn’t the film pack a heavy punch?
It’s certainly not for want of effort on the part of lead actress Bhumi Pednekar. He plays a caring but soft-spoken Patna journalist committed to the ethics of his profession. But something is missing the eater That no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t do the paperwork.
Directed by Pulkit and co-written with Jyotsana Nath, the eater Too humble for a hard-hitting story inspired by reality. The film says the right things. Part, just the misguided part, is the point of it. However, it doesn’t break any new ground or deliver its incredibly urgent message with the necessary force.
The appalling condition of a shelter for girls in Bihar’s Munawarpur — a fictional town that stands in for Muzaffarpur, which was rocked a few years ago by revelations of sexual abuse at a home run by an NGO — should have left us squirming in discomfort. It just happens. Nor does the dark truth that it ‘reveals’ send us reeling
the eater For the most part it lacks real excitement and energy as its minimalistic directorial style is not adequately backed up with touches that could be considered cinematically significant. Its heart is in the right place. Its tools of expression are certainly not to the desired extent.
It treads with great caution – an admirable trait when dealing with a sensitive issue – and makes it a point not to be sharp and shouty. While the strategy is understandable, the film allows itself to be dominated by listlessness.
To be fair, Pulkit and his tonally consistent screenplay deserve applause for not going graphic in depicting the horrors unfolding at the girls’ shelter. But, at the same time, it leaves one with a feeling that it could have hit harder with a stark image of the agonizing toxicity that exists there.
The film is stuck in what seems like a dirt, water view of things below. When you’re looking for a sledgehammer blow, this one delivers a pinprick. It essentially lays out the horrific events of the case before the audience through touching sequences.
the eater Shelter Home tries to keep the perverse events open but rarely manages to fully communicate the gruesome nature of the crimes committed there. The film’s opening sequence, in which a tormented villain cuts a young life short, comes close to doing just that. But that is the exception.
Produced by Gauri Khan and Gaurav Verma of Red Chillies Entertainment and streaming on Netflix, crime drama Nayak Vaishali Singh (Pednekar), a journalist married to post office employee Arvind (Suriya Sharma) for six years. Her husband fluctuates between cynicism and support for his wife’s calls.
Vaishali has broken away from a mainstream media company and runs a nondescript news channel on her own. It is aptly called Koshys News. When she stumbles upon a damning social audit report on a shelter, she takes action. He decides not to rest until the truth is revealed and the guilty are punished.
the eater Not a conventional cautionary thriller. Vaishali Singh does not have the wealth of great deeds or brave crusaders. She is an ordinary girl, just doing her job, asking questions and demanding action, in the face of dire threats to life and limb.
Accompanied by cameraman Bhaskar Sinha (Sanjay Mishra, always effortlessly on the ball) – the only colleague she has – Vaishali heads to Munawarpur with the intention of proving the findings of the audit report in her possession.
There, he and Bhaskar interact with the politically connected Banshi Sahu (Aditya Srivastava), a smart shelter home caretaker Sonu (Satyakam Anand) and a child welfare officer Mithilesh Sinha (Chittaranjan Tripathi), who first stonewall Vaishali’s solo investigation and then , as he continues his investigation, issue dire warnings.
Banshi Sahu, modeled on a real-life criminal who used a self-owned newspaper to shield himself from his political influence and the law, has three publications in his stable. He uses his NGO as a front for his nefarious activities. He has no shortage of ammunition. Vaishali is armed only with a low-end camera and loads of resolution.
It is a battle of attrition between two incompatible forces. The heroine in uniform is not the all-conquering ‘hero’. Yes, she gets help from a senior policewoman, SSP Jasmeet Gaur (Sai Tamhankar), newly posted in Munawarpur.
But the latter is acutely aware of the limits of his authority. The system gives you power and takes it away with the same hand, Jasmeet tells Vaishali. In addition to the politicization of policing, the eater Puts journalism under the scanner and takes potshots at a social media-obsessed world.
The world is full of stupid reporters, says one character. Vaishali Singh is not one. But he, too, spouts that borderline on zero. Humans have minds and if we don’t speak, we should consider ourselves animals, he says.
the eater Intention deserves full marks. Its sustained restraint works well but the mission the lone wolf journalist undertakes in the film seems a little too scattered for his – and the film’s – good.
One might have ended this review with “more power to directors like Pulkit” if the film didn’t need more energy.
