Siskiyaan Review

A rainy night. One room setting. A husband-wife couple. Arrival of a stranger. And the drama begins.

No doubt that the basic pretext of the movie 'Siskiyaan' is same as recently 'Dansh' [both were in turn inspired by 'Death and The Maiden], but it is Ashwini Chudhary's direction that still manages to make for a gripping 100 minutes. Yes, the subject is of a kind that may appear too grim for many to digest [especially the family audiences], but those who watch the movie would be thoroughly engaged for most part of the movie.

Not many movies in the past have been shot on a single set. Last memorable film on these lines was Ram Gopal Verma's 'Kaun' that again revolved around three characters [Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpai, Sushant Singh]. On these grounds, 'Siskiyaan' is a brave attempt by producer Guddu Dhanoa who has directed safe action movies in the past like Elaan, Ziddi, Salakhen, Bichoo, Jaal amongst others.

Movie begins on an interesting note with a haunting track 'Kya Hua' [Bhupinder Singh] accompanying the camera that follows the central character of the movie Ayesha Sheikh [Neha Dhupia] everywhere in her outhouse on a dark rainy night. Viewer is hooked to the proceedings on the very onset with news channels declaring her husband Javed [Sachin Khedekar], a newspaper editor, as the Chairman of a committee set to investigate Gujrat riots. Her angst at this news followed by her mysterious conduct throughout build on a good base before Javed arrives back home after being dropped by a stranger Dr. Vishwas [Sonu Sood].

Doctor soon returns back to handover some Government papers that Javed had accidentally forgotten in his car. While Ayesha stays in her room, both men relax in the living room over an extended round of drinks. Soon Ayesha suspects of something and after keeping a close watch on the Doctor from a distance realizes that he is the same person who raped her repeatedly over 3 days in a camp when she was hurt by the mob when riots broke down an year back.

She attacks the Doctor, ties him down, tortures him and demands a confession. Javed is not in agreement with these due to one basic fact - admittedly Ayesha's eyes were bandaged when she was raped so she obviously hadn't seen her tormentor. All this while even the doctor tries to prove his innocence and denies the accusation out rightly. But Ayesha is quite sure about him being the culprit due to his oft-repeated phrases, his laughs and above all his body odour that she hadn't been able to forget for all these months.

The torture continues. On the tip of the gun, Ayesha wants to have an honest [and not a forced] confession to be recorded on a video camera while Javed continues to wonder whom to believe. The confession comes but is it the real confession? Or is it a confessing from someone who wants to save his life? Is Ayesha's judgment going to cost a man his life? And how about Javed, a man responsible for heading a committee that is out to provide justice to thousands of riot victims? Will he first be able to get his wife some justice at least?

A subject like Siskiyaan is undoubtedly an extremely difficult subject to be executed. One minor hiccup and there is every chance of a viewer loosing an interest in the movie. Also a movie revolving around three characters in single night requires a lot of detailing around minor aspects. To top it all, a sensitive issue like rape needs to be handled with utmost care without turning it into mockery or a subject for titillation. With respect to all this, director Ashwini Chaudhary [who had earlier come up with a sensitive 'Dhoop'] deserves full credit.

The prime potential issue with such a subject? Entertainment value! Not all segments of audience would really fathom their chances to watch a movie that primarily holds itself on 10