{"id":11455,"date":"2023-01-22T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T05:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/?p=11455"},"modified":"2023-01-20T14:07:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T08:37:58","slug":"review-of-chhatriwali-a-film-about-safe-sex-that-doesnt-embrace-its-message-fullychhatriwali-movie-review-rakul-preet-singh-delivers-a-perky-performance-in-a-film-hamstrung-by-a-script-that-is-afr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/2023\/01\/22\/review-of-chhatriwali-a-film-about-safe-sex-that-doesnt-embrace-its-message-fullychhatriwali-movie-review-rakul-preet-singh-delivers-a-perky-performance-in-a-film-hamstrung-by-a-script-that-is-afr\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Chhatriwali: A film about safe sex that doesn’t embrace its message fullyChhatriwali movie review: Rakul Preet Singh delivers a perky performance in a film hamstrung by a script that is afraid to fully embrace its message."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chhatriwali movie review: Rakul Preet Singh starrer Chhatriwali is a ZEE5 Original film.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After Karnal\u2019s world-famous Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian origin woman to go into space, we have Sanya Dhingra who wants to raise the status of women in this bustling Haryana town. The reference to Ms Chawla comes up a couple of times in \u2018Chhatriwali\u2019, clearly the writers of the film are proud of this real-life Karnal-ki-beti.
But Ms Dhingra (Rakul Preet Singh<\/strong><\/a>), the film\u2019s fictional chemistry whizz, is no pie-in-the-sky dreamer. All she wants is for people to practice safe sex \u2014 men to use condoms so that women are saved from unwanted pregnancies and health hazards. Going by the difficulties she faces, it\u2019s clear that an astronaut\u2019s job is easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few months back, we had Nushhratt Bharuccha doing almost the same thing in \u2018Jan Hit Mein Jaari\u2019. Many elements of \u2018Chhatriwali\u2019 remind you of the earlier film, but given that it\u2019s such an important subject, there\u2019s no harm in more films focussing on it. But the same problem that beset \u2018Jan Hit\u2019 overpowers this one too: why should any conversation around condoms and safe sex lead to tired, jaded lines about how these are \u2018ashleel\u2019 things, not only not appropriate for young boys and girls, but also in bedrooms where \u2018respectably\u2019 married couples presumably engage in mutually pleasurable copulation? Why, in the guise of being progressive, is the treatment of the film so backward? Why so coy? Is this the 60s?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what an initially reluctant Sanya (Rakul Preet Singh) has to face when it is revealed that she works as a quality control expert in a condoms factory run by a good-hearted gent (Satish Kaushik), who calls it a \u2018nek kaam\u2019 (noble work). She is roundly berated by Bhai ji (Rajesh Tailang), elder brother of her husband Rishi (Sumeet Vyas), who stands by mutely. She\u2019s yelled at by the ladies she has been trying to convert, telling them that if their men will not use those \u2018chhatris\u2019, they should not put out. A prissy chemist (Rakesh Bedi), horrified by the sudden spurt of condom sales by the husbands denied their rights, takes up cudgels against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A film which has a character use the line \u2018ladka ladki mein koi pharak nahin hota\u2019, also cravenly balances it with calling a new daughter-in-law, \u2018ghar ki izzat\u2019. Singh is perky, Vyas is reliable, but the duo as well as the other characters struggle against a script which is afraid to fully embrace its message. It\u2019s the women who are made responsible for their reproductive status, because men only want to have fun. And just because a female character (Prachee Shah) suffers from \u2018a headache and stomach ache\u2019 after using them, doesn\u2019t mean that all women will: this messaging is both irresponsible and dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanya is handed out a \u2018victory\u2019, with her husband by her side, and Bhai ji is left shame-faced, but after almost the entire film is spent in undermining her. \u2018Mera kaam galat nahin hai, aapka nazariya galat hai\u2019 (my work is not wrong, your perspective is), she says. Right at the end, of course.Too little, too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chhatriwali movie cast:<\/strong>\u00a0Rakul Preet Singh, Sumeet Vyas, Satish Kaushik, Rajesh Tailang, Dolly Ahluwalia, Rakesh Bedi, Prachee Shah
Chhatriwali movie director:<\/strong>\u00a0Tejas Deoskar
Chhatriwali movie rating:<\/strong>\u00a01.5 stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chhatriwali movie review: Rakul Preet Singh starrer Chhatriwali is a ZEE5 Original film. After Karnal\u2019s world-famous Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian origin woman to go into space, we have Sanya Dhingra who wants to raise the status of women in this bustling Haryana town. The reference to Ms Chawla comes up a couple of times …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[82,83,88,56,84],"class_list":["post-11455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment-news","tag-bollywood","tag-bollywood-actress","tag-famous","tag-fashion","tag-style"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11457,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11455\/revisions\/11457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zaanews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}