Chhatriwali: Advocates a healthy conversation on sex-education

Director: Tejas Prabhaa, Vijay Deoskar
Writer: Sanchit Gupta, Priyadarshee Srivastava
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala, RSVP
Cinematography: Siddharth Vasani
Cast: Rakul Preet Singh, Satish Kaushik, Sumeet Vyas, Rakesh Bedi, Uday Vir Singh Yadav, Tejas Prabhaa Vijay Deoskar, Mohsin Khan, Dolly Ahluwalia, Sumit Soni, Pawan Prem, Vikram Sharma, Punit Tiwari, Shubham Pandey
Music: Mangesh Dhakde
Female characters apart from Sanya (played by Rakul Preet Singh) should have been given more depth.For instance, Prachi Shah as Nisha could have been more audible and visible or young Mini ( played by Riva Arora) should have been given fair space to carve out her niche.

Tanisha Saxena

Rajan Kalra (played by Rajesh Tailang) is teaching the reproduction chapter of biology to the class. Before Kalra begins, he sends the girls to another section. Drawing the male reproductive system on board he tells the boys to copy the same. “Nahi bhi rahoge to chalega, sirf do marks ka ayega lekin digestive system ache se karna poore 10 number ka aayega,” roars Kalra.

We all understand the importance of sex education but seldom talk about it. In fact, everyone tries to brush it away, in one way or another. Chhatriwali, created by Tejas Deoskar is a film set in Haryana that deals with the importance of sex education. We all have memories of our school days when chapter 9 of biology was taught in class. That day many of us skipped school, those who attended were too shy to ask the doubts or some even giggled.

The film opens with Sanya (played by Rakul Preet Singh), a teacher of chemistry who is giving tuition to a bunch of kids. She is finding it difficult to make ends meet and is looking for a job. While her world revolves around litmus tests, she ends up being a quality control head of a condom factory, which is owned by Ratan Lamba (played by Satish Kaushik). In Sanya’s ordinary life comes an extraordinary person, Rishi ( played by Sumeet Vyas), who runs a Pooja store catering to the needs of devotees. The two go together like “Kapoor and machis.”  It is from the ‘family ko sab pata chal gaya Sanya ki naukri Ke baare main’ note that the film picks up the pace.

RSVP pictures, who have produced out-of-the-box and path-breaking films like Kedarnath, Wonder Woman and A Thursday, have attempted to take the audiences into a sensitive zone which is not yet tapped in Hindi films as outspokenly as it should. Chhatriwali brings her own female gaze into the narrative and sincerely tries to put forward the necessity of sex education. The film fiercely talks about dismantling stigmas around sexual health and addressing people irrespective of gender.

Even a sensitive theme like ownership of one’s own body, among some other relevant issues that unfold in the second half, has been effectively portrayed with well-written dialogues and scenes.

Rakul Preet Singh is natural at her act, whether she is courageously advocating for sexual health and convincing women to urge their partners for male contraceptives or a romantic, bubbly wife at home– she is utterly believable, humorous and bang on.

What makes her even more raw, real and relatable is the fact that she too has flaws. In essence, the film is a bildungsroman in the sense that we see her evolve psychologically and morally from feeling ashamed of being a condom tester to giving sex education to students. And in between, there’s not a moment she loses grip. Her performance is lived-in and at par with some of her finer works in the past. Sumeet Vyas in the role of Sanya’s husband displays his acting chops amazingly without taking attention away from the central conflict of the movie. Sumeet has some dialogues which will make you ROFL.

Some of the dialogues include, “Raincoat pehen ke baarish mein bheegne ka kya maza” and “Khush toh aaj bahut hogi tum. 20-20 khelne wala aadmi, test match khel gaya.” He lends excellent support to Rakul’s character, hand-holding her through her emotional crises. Satish kaushik’s sense of humour adds flavour to the film and it’s absolutely safe to say that “hum audiences ko Lamba ji ki yahi baat bahut pasand aayi”. On the other hand, Rajesh Tailang stands out through his slow-burning simplicities. He is most welcoming when shows his vulnerabilities as a concerned father, and culpable husband and above all when he shrugged his patriarchal attitude.

Having said that, female characters apart from Sanya should have been given more depth. For instance, Prachi Shah as Nisha could have been more audible and visible or young Mini ( played by Riva Arora) should have been given fair space to carve out her niche.

By not taking the path most travelled, that is the slapstick way, Chhatriwali uses humour in measures. There’s nothing overdone. Even in scenes where a serious topic is being handled, the impact is strong. Siddharth Vasani’s cinematography is applaudable as some scenes stand out. It is not the rustics of Haryana but the symbolism pinned with visuals.

For instance, in a rainy scene where Sanya is shattered and the school kids bring their umbrellas ( Chhatri) and the drone shot looks beautiful. It symbolises solidarity and protection. The scene also cleverly blends the title and the reference to condoms ( protection for safe sex).

The music by Mangesh Dhakde goes well.Chhatriwali title track ( by Sunidhi Chauhan), Main Teri Hi Rahoon ( by Shirley Setia), Toot hi Gaya ( by Himanshi Kapoor) lend a beautiful touch to the music album while peppy numbers like Special Edition Kudi ( by Sunidhi Chauhan) add some much-needed gusto and jazz up.