Chakki Movie Review: Rahul Bhat And Priya Bapat's Film Is A Story That Rings True!

Film: Chakki

Cast: Rahul Bhat, Priya Bapat

Director: Satish Munda

Runtime: 100 mins

The title is a metaphor for the vexatious experience that the central character Vijay Parashar (Rahul Bhat) undergoes when the electricity bill for the flour mill (known as 'chakki' in Hindi) he owns, returns an unheard of meter reading and an astronomical charge thereof. It's a slice-of-life, everyman story that at least some of us middle-class, low income folks must have experienced at some point or the other in our lives.

The film is set in small town India where corruption in the Electricity department is de rigueur. So, when Vijay steadfastly tries to address the issue of the faulty meter reading, he encounters an unending series of hurdles in his quest for justice.

Every step of the way Vijay encounters someone with an eye for extracting some recompense in the form of bribe - for doing what they are paid to do. And it comes to a point where he has to shell out much more than the bill received in order to undo the wrong done to him.

In the meantime, his love life with Reema (Priya Bapat) is floundering and his family is beginning to feel the financial crunch of their only breadwinner losing financial equanimity. That's when he begins to lose all hope. Will Vijay survive this morale crushing experience?

Debutant director Satish Munda manages to keep us engaged in the trials and tribulations of this young entrepreneur who is trying to keep himself financially afloat despite the bone crushing pressure from a morally corrupt system. It's an incremental scale-up of problems that come to a head when Vijay finds himself totally at sea.

Keeping the frills to a minimum, Munda's narrative exposes the rot in the system without making the proceedings too depressing. While we feel empathy for Vijay's pain we also rejoice in his support system, which encourages him to fight back.

The script may have been rather simplistic but the outcome is not. Munda, who has in the past received acclaim for his final year diploma film Dansh and documentary film Drishti, is quite assured in his takes. His cast does the rest.

Rahul Bhat does a wonderful job portraying Vijay Parashar with all the skill and experience at his disposal. Priya Bapat plays his steadfast lover with a calm and poise that is quite gravitating. Meghdeep Bose's background music, scores big in the second half, with the band Indian Ocean singing songs (written by Varun Grover and Piyush Mishra) that highlight the pitiable plight of the common man.

Chakki is a heartfelt lament for the 'aam aadmi' (common man) of India. But will the common man watch the film?