Panchlait

STORY: A rural community residing in one of the remotest villages in India, sans electricity, pledge to purchase ‘panchlait’ (Petromax) to redeem their pride and honour that was crushed by people from other communities living in the village.

REVIEW: A rustic rebel Godhan (Amitosh Nagpal) comes back to the hamlet where his late mother lived, to claim the property his deceased grandmother left behind. Besides that, Godhan also has secret plans of wooing his childhood sweetheart Munri (Anuradha Mukherjee) and marrying her.

An altercation over power and property with the village 'sarpanch' paves the path for a series of distasteful events in Godhan’s life. But, the braveheart that he is, Godhan refuses to bow down to the village superiors and challenges them.

A brewing romance between the central characters—Godhan and Munri — used as a backdrop to outline the rigid protocols a panchayat usually follows, prolongs the script to painful lengths. The storyline, which is an adaptation of Phanishwar Nath Renu’s renowned short story Panchlight, loses its charm as the plot swings back and forth to show the different facets of Godhan’s plight.

If the first part is a feeble attempt to reconstruct the 1950s and 60s era of Indian cinema by throwing in a few scenes from the legend Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awara’ and ruining them, the second part is laden with celestial references and even deities are humanised; the ‘hook’ element of ‘Panchlait’ goes for a toss. Director Prem Prakash Modi beats around the bush for a good one-and-a-half hours before the film begins to make some sense and justify its title.

That Anuradha and Amitosh are trained actors and have done their homework well is evident on screen. But, sadly, there isn’t much in the script for them to explore in terms of cinematic experience.

‘Panchlait’ has its cinematography, acting and even costumes in place (given the era and rural setting) but the script is its own enemy.