Ameena Review: On rape and its aftermath!

AMEENA

Producer-Director: Kumar Raj

Cast: Rekha Rana, Anant Mahadevan, Utkarsh Kohli and Kumar Raj

Platform of Release- Theatres (April 12)

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

The movie is based on a true story of two teenagers, Ameena, 32 years ago & Meena, a young independent girl of today. The story revolves around how life treats them with similar situations and how they deal with it differently. Protagonist Meena is a present day actress who enacts the role of an innocent teenager named Ameena in a play at Prithvi theatre called “Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai”

The play is based on a true life story of Ameena 32 years ago who is sold by her avaricious parents to a 65-year-old Arab plainly for the sake of money. In the play enacted by Meena it is seen that the young girl Ameena (Rekha Rana) is raped and she commits suicide.

After the play when Meena walks out of Prithvi theatre, her life takes a sudden turn, and Meena also becomes a victim of rape by powerful influential people & goes through the same trauma as Ameena.

In the past the juvenile rapists due to liberal weak laws had walked away free but this time the victim Meena herself is a juvenile Meena portrays the struggle of a young girl who screams and knocks at the door of humanity for justice. Her fight is for every woman who has seen some of the darkest nights and still stayed silent.

Also read: Rekha Rana all set to say goodbye to films after Ameena

Will Meena get her integrity back? Will the patriarchal society listen to her voice and wipe her tears? Will Meena commit suicide like Ameena or rise from the ashes to fight for justice & choose vengeance? The film sets out to unlock this chapter in Meena’s life

As far as the performances are concerned, Rekha Rana scores with her latent talent in not only the role of the rape victim Ameena but also actress Meena who enacts her role in the play Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai and is also subjected tom a similar treatment and resonates with every feeling and emotion of Ameena.

Ananth Mahadevan also puts in a neat and tidy performance as Aftab Hasnain, the writer of the play in the film while producer Kumar Raj puts in a special appearance as a police officer Bhupan Joshi. Utkarsh Kohli, as Ameena’s friend as well as public prosecutor Ashish Srivastav is just about passable.

Praveen Koli’s O Re Piya as well as musical group Toofan’s Tere Tere stand out among the melodious and catchy songs in the issue based vendetta film.