Movie: Chhorii
Rating: 2.75/5
Cast: Nushrratt Bharuccha, Mita Vasisht, Saurabh Goyal
Director: Vishal Furia
Streaming On: Amazon Prime
Release Date: 26th November, 2021
Story: Sakshi (Nushrratt Bharuccha) is pregnant and nearing her delivery. Her husband Hemant (Saurabh Goyal) is being chased by moneylenders so the couple decides to move away from the city and stay in a remote village for some days until they are prepared to come back to the city. They move to that village and stay in their driver’s house there. The village is very remote and isolated and has only five families in total. Within a couple of days, Sakshi starts experiencing mysterious things and seeing mysterious people in and around the house. Who are those people, what were those incidents and how did they escape from it forms the rest of the story.
Performances: There are limited characters in the film and there are only two members who are present for the majority of the runtime. One among them is obviously Nushrratt Bharuccha. She gets a challenging role to play and she did justice to it. Her character selection has always been commendable and she ensures that she is proving herself with every role. The other star performer of the film is definitely Mita Vasisht. She plays the role of a very orthodox villager. She is scary and hard to read and her expressions are terrifying. Her dialect is excellent. Apart from these two, Saurabh Goyal is the other one with notable screen space. He did his part well. Apart from a couple of other characters and a few kids, there is nobody else with major screen time.
Analysis: Chhorii is based on the Marathi film Lapachhapi. The film succeeds in setting up the right mood very early in the narration. Within a few minutes, the film shifts to the village setup where all the actual drama has to take place. The first half of the film has enough in it to hold our attention. There are some genuine jump-scares and a tension-filled mood in the air. The visuals, background score and sound design had an important role to play in successfully building the mood and creating the scares and tension. The latter half is where the film lost it’s grip. Once certain plot points are revealed, it is quite easy to guess or expect how the film would go and what would happen. Certain scenes feel repetitive in the later half and the slow pace only dampened things further. Both halves had their share of intense moments but the overall wholesome output should have been more engaging and slightly well paced for a better experience.
Plus Points:
Theme and intent
Technical values
Performances
Minus Points:
Slow narration
Lack of interesting or engaging scenes in the latter half
Predictability after a point
Verdict: Chhorii has a strong core theme and tries to convey something very relevant and important. It has it’s moments and is supported by strong performances and technical values but is a bit too slow-paced and has a shortage of interesting moments in the latter half. It is worth giving a try if you haven’t watched the original but better to keep expectations in check and be prepared for the slow pace.
