Review Kasaai

Producer-Nilesh Singhi, Utkarsh Indaliya, Gajendra Shrotriya

Director- Gajendra Shankar Shrotriya

Star Cast- Mita Vashisht, Ravi Jhankal, Ashok Banthiya, Richa Sharma, Mayur More, V.K. Sharma

Genre- Social

Rating- ***

Incisive and Sparkling!

Jyothi Venkatesh

Penned by Pataakha writer Charan Singh Pathik, Kasaai is based on real violent incidents that still occur in rural India and escape the wrath of the cops who are often in collision with the evil-doers. Based on a true incident, this story was first published in an acclaimed Hindi literary magazine, and later became the part of story book collection by Pathik.

An enraged father Lakhan (Ravi Jhankal) in a fit of rage ends up killing his son Suraj (Mayur More) inadvertently after beating the headlights out of him when he discovers that he is having an affair with Misri (Richa Meena) the daughter of Bhaggi Patel (Ashok Banthia) in the village, during the all important village elections, but dirty politics leads to the cover up of the startling crime.

Set in Rajasthan, India in the backdrop of village council elections, Kasaai is a political drama that meanders around the struggle of a mother Gulabi (Mita Vashisht) to get justice for her 18 year old son who gets killed by his impulsive father in a fit of rage.

As the family tries to cover up the crime under the garb of a concocted story to balance out their fluctuating political fortunes, an unexpected turn of event brings a ray of hope for the mother as it also turns the table for the family, but to know what happens in the ripping climax you will have to see the film on ShemarooME Box Office on October 23 where it will be directly streamed

The film revolves around how the grief stricken mother takes up the cudgels on behalf of her only dead son, refuses to bow down to pressure and relentlessly fights for justice, and the whole façade begins to tumble. The hypocrisy of honor and importance of morals, which exist in the rural areas even today, 73 years after India got her Independence are explored in this film, with great precision.

While Mayur More impresses in a meaningful albeit small role, Richa Meena scores with her expressive eyes as the unfortunate village belle Mishri who is in love with Suraj and loses him in a tragic chain of events. Mita Vashisht stands out as the grief stricken mother who is unable to bear the pangs of losing her only son at the hands of her husband.

Living every pore of her body as the unfortunately mother, Mita Vashisht brings to the role years of her vast experience as an actress lending it a rare kind of dignity and scores with her heavy duty performance making you want to clap for her.

Ravi Jhankal is superb in what can be termed an out and out negative role perhaps for the first time in his chequered career and makes you hate his persona while and Ashok Banthia leaves an impact with his underplaying of the character of Bhaggi Patel who is the son of the Sarpanch of the village The highlight of the story is its leading woman protagonist who against all odds challenges the patriarchy and dares to take a stand for what is right, automatically reminding you of Rajkumar Santoshi’s film Damini.

Some real cracking performances by seasoned NSD actors in the lead backed by a strong technical team from FTII in cinematography and sound departments have done justice to the script, make Kasaai potentially a powerful piece of cinema that is deeply rooted in its soil, and yet represents a not-so-sparkling but disturbing universal theme.