Antardwand (2008) Online

Antardwand: A war within

After every darkest night, you witness the brightest day. Antardwand is definitely not the simile for the Bollywood rampant churning of movies. Once in every while you see a movie which will be with you for a longer time. Such is Antardwand, a movie made on shoe-string budget by Ranchi's director Sushil Rajpal.

Based upon real events around Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern UP, this story is about the taboo, well accepted by certain castes & society. Movie explores the lives affected by this raunchy social ill- practice called 'Groom abduction' or 'Pakrauah/Jabariya shaadi'. By demanding more Dowry and harassing bride side can have side effects for the groom side too. In this competitive "Moonch ki Shaan ki Ladaai", the victim is oneself. The story brilliancy was to capture the effect on each side of this forced marriage. The loose end was very well justified, giving you a piece of food for your thought. The camera and the cut were well executed. Maybe a little higher budget would have given a better glow to the frames. The Rustic shots and the location were carefully chosen. The screenplay was loud and very close to the core, as it should be if you are shooting a real film. And so were the casts, close to the core, chosen especially from the state itself to give the real flavor conviction. Antardwand does not seek to entertain or titillate the audience like "Peepli Live!"; it is a drama that will leave you stunned.

It cannot be more authentic than this that the language, the locations and everything else looked real. Even a feudal lord was shown helpless with all the Pehlwaans and police on his side. The human character was haloing over each character. Right from being an IAS aspirant to a helpless man who has no clue and control, the protagonist was shown lost in this social taboo, a taboo which a bollywood hero even cannot solve.

Raj Singh Chaudhary has evolved himself heavily from Gullal, yet another remarkable performance. The expression full eyes with a clue of bewilderness were very powerful, and so was his helplessness. The characters were strengthen by all the remaining, esp. by Swati Sen. This debutant from Bihar itself, has made a landmark with the expressions. And Sushil made no mistakes in capturing that. Right from 'the first touch of the bride' to 'Martial rape'to 'the rising of a lady'. She showed the maturity and a promise which can be relative of Smita patil.

And so was Vinay Pathak, the scene where he is a strong, no nonsense male chauvinist yet a father, holding a telephone and advising his son was rare. Perfection, he did match. The scripts were so real you could feel that a father is talking to you, when you are in a trouble, Friendly yet affirmative with a reference to your mother. Ditto for Akhilendra Mishra, a brilliant portray of an egoist father, who has accepted his mistakes but cannot really show. Jaya Bhattacharya and Neelima were sexually suppressed characters in the male dominated feudal society. Songs from Amitabh Verma's pen were tight as scripts and did not break the flow of the movie. He did a marvelous job for writing the dialogues and screenplay as authentic as possible. No leaf was turned out by his writing.

A movie to cherish the cinema art, after a very long time since Benegal and Nihalani.

A story based in a land where anything goes - law is farcical, egos larger than life-size and respect supreme. "Antardwand" has a realistic take on the practise of groom abduction. Parallel cinema has never been so good.

Vinay Pathak and Akhilendra Mishra are the only recognisable faces whilst rest of the star cast comprises of practically new faces. Akhilendra Mishra reprises the usual character he normally does but for those who are expecting a funny bone from Vinay Pathak, be warned. He is serious as any patriarch can be, proving he is damn good at what he envelopes. Raj Singh Chaudhary as Raghu Veer and Swati Sen as Janki deliver great performances. Himanshi as Sia represents urban bred girlfriend whose segment is narrated in flashbacks.

The entire team of "Antardwand" deserve to be applauded for a brave attempt.

PS: Not for weak hearted, Strong gut warranted. And yes - not only you will forget all the matrimonial jokes but feel guilty as well.

Anthardwand tells the story of a young man who is abducted as the groom to a rich man's daughter. While this may seem like it turns everything about the marriage system in India on its head, what really transpires is just the opposite.

Set in Bihar, the movie traces a side of India's flawed marriage system that is usually not looked at. It raises questions that are uncomfortable and with no easy answers.

The direction is top class with no wasted scenes. Every scene in the movie is carefully weighed and placed like a chess piece on a board. The acting is capable, but the story is so good that you don't need amazing acting to bring the story to life.

A must watch.

I did not hear about this movie, just found out in the list of YRF movies on Youtube and saw good rating on IMDb so decided to watch.

From the beginning the movie is just too good. Just 1 hour47 min movie , doesn't drag or doesn't bore you. Not long list of songs except a couple which forwards the story. Except couple of supporting actors, all actors justifies their role and have done very good work.

Only thing that I didn't like about the movie was ending because I was dying to see the things that happens after the end(at least very much curious as to what has happened to the girl who has gone through this in real life).

Since the movie is based on true incidents it would shake you from within to see the such dark place do exist in the Indian map till date.

Sure watch for those who like movies based on real incidents.

It is a very realistic approach in movie making by the director. It's a shame that such a beautiful piece of cinema does not gets the deserved credit. This movie is a honest and crude presentation of a very serious issue of Bihar in the past.A very authentic movie capturing every minute detail about the issue in a very true manner.

All the characters in the movie have performed brilliant and a special mention to the dialogs which are fabulous. Vinay shows a full command over his role of a dictating father.

A must watch for all who like meaningful cinema. Hats off to the director to have the courage of making film on a less known issue knowing the fact that the movie may not give him a commercial success.

Stumbled upon this movie while browsing Amazon Prime. It is shocking to see tradition of "groom kidnapping" quite prevalent in Bihar & UP. All the characters played their part well ; especially the lead actors - Raj Singh Chaudhary and Swati Sen ; ably supported by Akhilendra Mishra. Vinay Pathak also played well despite a small but critical role. The story; supposed to be based on a real event is quite gripping. However;i felt that the movie ended abruptly leaving the viewer guessing about Janki's future. Also; Raghuveer's Delhi girlfriend readily aborts the baby & gets engaged to someone else.

The dialect , locale in the movie is authentic. For a first time director; Sushil Rajpal deserves credit in directing a well made movie with a gripping story line. Its a pity that such movies are not well publicized. suhas katti

How would you feel if one day you wake up from a daze to be told that the decked up girl you have never even heard of before ,but sitting on the bed in front of you, is your newly married wife ...........

............and on refusal to sleep with her , are taunted about your ' impotency ',and are drugged and forced to rape her practically at gunpoint.......

And how would you feel if your father is confronted during his morning tea ,by a procession bringing along with it ,a girl 3 months pregnant , whom he has never seen before ,and is told that unborn child in the girls womb is his grandchild........

Thats exactly the situation a handsome and bright young man ( a would be IAS officer )finds himself in this movie which is situated in .........where else.........bihar.......

It is about the custom of Pakdau Shadi , in which if your daughter is not good enough to get a suitable groom , the groom is kidnapped and beaten and forced to marry her in a hooch-drunk stupor.......

And if you feel that its all a nightmare ,you can pinch yourself and find yourself in reality.....

Its a movie that certainly should have been made ,given the awesome reality of the topic........

And happily ,the director has done justice to the topic ,as he has made a movie on a real topic look very very real......

The ending is insipid though , and is the only ' Bollywood ' touch in the film.

That should not take the credit away from the performances of Akhilendra Mishra ( father of the girl and kidnapper ) , and Swati Sen ( the bride ) ,who put heart and soul in making the film eminently watchable.......

The director keeps the film's twists and turns churning with skill ,and fails only at the end ,as if he does not know how such a sordid tale can be completed.......

Its not regular Bollywood fare however ,and is only for the art-movie lovers

And for them , its a must see...........