Movie Review Love Sonia

Producer- David Womark

Director- Tabrez Noorani

Star Cast- Mrunal Thakur, Riya Sisodia, Freida Pinto, Rucha Chadha, Sai Tamhankar, Aduil Hussain, Rajkummar Rao,  Anupam Ker, Manoj Bajpayee

 Genre- Drama

Rating- ***

Hard Hitting!

Jyothi Venkatesh

Love Sonia is a brutally hard-hitting story of a 17-year-old naïve girl who risks her life to rescue her sister from a vicious human trafficking network across India, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The film disturbs you because it enters the dark alleys where sex trafficking is a business and sexual exploitation and oppression a way of life.

Adil Hussain plays the burdened farmer with barren fields and two teenage daughters. The fair and frail older child, Preeti (Riya Sisodia), is sold off to the local landlord and moneylender (Anupam Kher), while the younger, stronger girl Sonia (Mrunal Thakur) is held back to help in the arid fields. Sonia, unable to bear the separation from her sister, runs away from home straight to the moneylender and right into the grimy lanes of Mumbai. Anjali (Sai Tamhankar) presents Sonia to brothel owner Faizal (Manoj Bajpayee) and to the ‘madam’ Madhuri (Richa Chadha), who induct Sonia into their fold, promising to help her find Preeti.

Kudos to Tabrez for his deft direction. You weep when you see the way in which international rings operate to transport helpless women across the world for the pleasure of men willing to pay a hefty price, locked into cargo containers, as they sail for weeks till they dock at Hong Kong or North America.

Mrunal Thakur steals the show with her memorable debut performance while Richa Chadha and Freida Pinto walk off with accolades. Manoj Bajpayee is good as the vicious brothel owner while Rajkummar Rao and Sai Tamhankar have been wasted in inconsequential roles.