Chhorri: Horror With A Social Message
Yogendra is freelance writer
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By Yogendra
First publised on 2021-11-30 05:50:10
About the Author
Yogendra is freelance writer
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Chhorri is a film with a social message that adopts the horror genre to drive home the message. It is adapted from the Marathi film Lapachhapi. The film tells the story of a young couple - the wife is eight months pregnant - who are forced to flee their home in the town as the husband is unable to repay his business loan and the goons are after him. They find refuge in the village of their driver. But is the ârefugeâ actually safe or is it more dangerous than the goons? Why do the sugarcane fields surrounding the house seem threatening? Is it something paranormal or is it social evil raising its head? Or is it a combination of both?
Sakshi (Nushrrat Bharuchha) initially finds the village setting amiable and when she sees small boys running around, she wants to befriend them as she runs an NGO for orphans back in the town. But the driverâs wife, Bhano Devi (Mita Vashisth) tells her to stay away from them as they are dead and it is their atma that is roaming about. Bhano Devi also feeds cooked up stories about her family and how her daughter-in-law killed her husband.
But slowly, Sakshi discover the truth and finds many layers to what is going on around her in the village. Social evils abound and a tantric is called in. Bhanno Devi isolates Sakshi in a room and tells her that if the atma's shadow does not fall on her for three days, her child will be saved and the village will be free of the curse. But Sakshi breaks free and finds out the real truth. The climax shatters Sakshi as she finds that no one is to be trusted.
Nushrrat Bharuchha does a god job of a trapped woman who wants to save her child and expose the people who are behind the elaborate conspiracy to kill girls in the womb. Mita Vashisth as Bhanno Devi is excellent and her change of demeanor from a caring elder to a devilish accomplice in social crimes is a masterclass in acting. But the film suffers from repetition of scenes and it is too lengthy. Some scenes are genuinely scary and will please those who like horror films. It would have made a better impact if the editing was done with an aim t make it shorter and crispier.
