Dukaan review: Muddled!

DUKAAN

Writer-Director- Siddharth Singh and Garima Wahal

Cast- Monica Panwar, Sikander Kher, Monali Thakur, Himani Shivpuri , Geetika Tyagi  and Soham Majumdar

Platform of Release- Theatrical

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh 

Based on real life events, this film is essentially based on a 25-year-old carefree and brazen woman who becomes a surrogate mother but runs away even while she’s pregnant. Caught and imprisoned, she fights to have her child back after completing her sentence. What forms the crux of the complicated plot is whether she has legal rights over the child, and will they be able to reunite once again.

The film sets out to explore the commercial world of surrogacy and is set in Gujarat’s Anand. Dukaan deals with the story of a girl, who chooses an unusual path to earn money but falls in a trap when she realises love for her surrogate son.

Jasmine (Monika Panwar) is a firebrand young girl toughened by her father’s physical abuse. When she starts a family with her husband Sumer (Sikandar Kher), an unexpected turn of events makes her resort to surrogacy. However, she forms a bond with the unborn baby. Jasmine runs away when she’s hurt by the biological mother, Diya’s (Monali Thakur) dismissal of her maternal desire.

As far as the performances are concerned, all I can say is that Jasmine is an interesting character and remains intrinsically audacious even when she matures emotionally. What is appreciable about Monica Pawar is the fact she pulls this off perfectly and does complete justice to her portrayal and captivates in almost every scene.

Also read: Director Ali Abbas Zafar: “There are stunts in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan where the spend on one day was Rs 3-4 crores”

Monali Thakur and Soham Majumdar, as the distraught parents for whom surrogacy is the last hope, ought to be applauded for having delivered memorable performances. Sikandar Kher is good in a short role as a loving and unconventional husband. Sunny Deol’s cameo looks forced but stirs a nostalgia since he utters his popular dialogue ‘Yeh Haath Agar Uth Gaya To.

The movie sets out to explore the themes of love, sacrifice, and intricate relationships. What is admirable about the way the directors have set out to treat their subject is the fact that besides portraying how surrogate mothers set out to monetise their wombs, it also touches upon how biological parents quite often exploit these moms-to-be.

While Anirban Chatterjee’s cinematography creates an extraordinarily stunning and colourful ambiance, situational music by Siddharth-Garima, Shreyas Puranik, and Divya Kumar bring gravitas to the lucid narrative and the exquisite story. If you ask me, I’d frankly advise you to watch Mimi or for that matter Chori Chori Chupke Chupke as they are still far better bets.