Maatr Movie Review: A Feeble Attempt To Seek Justice But Raveena Tandon Shines In This Revenge Film!

Plot

Things go horribly wrong when one night, Vidya Chauhan (Raveena Tandon) and her daughter Tia (Alisha Khan) are returning home from the latter's school annual day function. To avoid the crazy traffic jam, Vidya goes off the route but ends up getting abducted by a bunch of lousy guys. Soon the mother-daughter duo find themselves waking up on the floor of a deserted farmhouse only to be gangraped by their abductors. Tia succumbs to the abuse but Vidya survives the atrocious act. She recognizes one of her wrongdoers as Apurva Malik (Madhur Mittal) who happens to be the son of a big-shot politician.

With a crumbling marriage and an insenstive husband who holds her responsible for the tragedy which resulted from a 'wrong turn', her sole support system is her close friend Ritu (Divya Jagdale). Finally on being failed by the law, Vidya decides to avenge her loss and goes on a revenge-killing spree. Will justice be finally be delivered to a grieving mother?

Direction

Ashter Sayad picks up a relevant subject in today's times when it comes to story-telling. A look at the statistics related to rape cases in India proves that the gruesome act still continues to haunt several homes.

Maatr is well-intentioned but lacks sincerity when it comes to execution. The plot consists of several loop-holes and even makes way for some melodrama at times. Few may find the blood and gory indigestible. The dialogues ain't gripping enough to leave an impact. Further, Raveena bumps off her offenders one by one in a way where logic seems to be tossed out of the window. The final act of justice seems contrived only to make you feel 'finally it's over'.

Performances

Raveena Tandon makes a smashing comeback as a rape victim and a grieving mother hell-bent on seeking revenge. Right from pain, angst, loath to sorrow, the actress displays her acting prowess by getting these emotions evoked in you. She is in a top form and even her silence speaks volume.

Madhur Mittal known for films like 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Million Dollar Arm' packs in the correct amount of evilness in this revenge saga. You end up hating his character Apoorva right from the first frame.

The rest of the cast comprising of Alisha Khan, Divya Jagdale, Rushaad Rana and Anurag Arora lend good support.

Technical Aspects

The film falters in the second half with lazy writing and illogical reasoning as the directors seems to be in a hurry to deliver justice to his protagonist and put an end to her sufferings.

The editing seems to be a bit choppy at places..However, the cinematography goes well with the narrative.

Music

The film lacks any scope for music. Zindagi Ae Zindagi by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is the only track in the film and makes up for a decent hear. Unfortunately the background score weighs down the narrative and breaks the flow in a couple of places.

Verdict

Maatr is watchable solely for Raveena Tandon's shining performance as a wronged woman who doesn't mind staining her hands with the blood of her perpetrators who inflicted her with a life-scarring incident. Maatr scores high on intention, but unfortunately falls short of being a hard-hitting film.