Bhakshak REVIEW: Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra, Aditya Srivastava starrer is all about stellar performances but the story leaves no impact 

Film:
Bhakshak Movie Review

Director: Pulkit

Writers: Pulkit and Jyotsana Nath

Star cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra, Aditya Srivastava, Sai Tamhankar

Runtime: 2 hours 15 mins

Platform: Netflix

Bhakshak Review

Bhumi Pednekar starring Bhakshak movie is based on true events. It is about a reporter who fights against the powerful to seek justice for girls who are facing physical assault and sexual abuse. After watching the movie, it offers nothing new. Time and again, Bollywood has shown us movies on physical assault and sexual abuse of girls and there’s a police force or a reporter who hunts for the truth, giving justice to them. A similar thing was seen in Bhakshak which is a typical social satire movie.

Kudos to director Pulkit for actually bringing such a crucial topic into the limelight. The topic of how young girls are physically abused under the pretext of children’s welfare. Yes, unfortunately, such heinous crimes are been committed in our country. And Pulkit narrates the story with utmost honesty but with a similar narrative that other movies have shown us before. Sadly, for such movies, certain things do get repetitive and hence, the audience sees the same pattern in execution. Bhakshak is a heartwrenching movie; however, it will not cause a stir in your head.

Story

A female reporter named Vaishali Singh ( Bhumi Pednekar) runs the Koshish News channel on her own along with one colleague Bhaskar (Sanjay Mishra). They struggle to find relevant or breaking news and get people’s attention and recognition. However, one day, Vaishali’s source hands her over a social audit report regarding Children’s Welfare. Initially, she doesn’t take much interest but eventually treats it like gold. She finds herself in grave danger after taking locking horns with powerful and dangerous people. Despite fighting with all odds, she tries to seek justice for the girls in the child welfare centre.

Highlights of Bhakshak

Performances: Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay and Aditya are the only people who have made Bhakshak a watchable movie. Bhumi’s character Vaishali’s strong yet vulnerable side touches your heart instantly. You understand her pain and her compassion. If Vaishali is a no-nonsense person, Bhaskar is mellow and gullible. Sanjay’s character Bhaskar is a light-hearted man but has sensitive emotions. The little humourous side to his character is heartwarming. Talking about the antagonist, Aditya Sinha’s character Bansi Sahu was written nicely and his performance will make you loathe him for sure.

Drawbacks of Bhakshak

Screenplay: Bhakshak has a monotone throughout the movie without high or low points. Your emotions don’t flow correctly as the tone is monotonous. 

Predictability: There’s not much scope when it comes to movies on social causes. You know what is coming next so the the thriller or suspense part automatically cancels out. The entire script is in your head and sometimes that takes away the rush of watching the movie.

Emotional quotient: As mentioned above how things get repetitive for movies like these. Well, there was a scene where Vaishali had to convince the victim to give a statement on the powerful. The scene gets a little dramatic but you know what is going to happen next. You know that her speech will motivate the victim and everything will be okay. It is given. 

Moreover, at the end of the movie, Vaishali gives a long speech that seems a bit too much. As a reporter, it felt like she was expressing her opinion and being over-emotional. Well, usually you have to report the news without being too emotional or biased. One should give their personal opinion but it seemed otherwise in the movie. It was dramatic and unnecessary too.

Climax: First, it takes too long to come to the point despite having the predictability factor. 2 hours into the movie and climax just began which is wrapped up in 15 minutes. After investing your 2 hours in the story, you honestly don’t feel connected in the climax. It was done quickly.

Star performance

Bhumi Pednekar plays the role of a reporter with finesse. From being a feisty journalist to being a vulnerable and scared woman, she plays her part with honesty and conviction. Her Bihari accent can be a little problematic but her strong performance overshadows her flaws.

Sanjay Mishra as her sidekick is superb. His one-liners and unintentional comic timing are bang-on. His performance feels quite underrated.

Aditya Srivastava as Bansi Sahu is cunning and abusive; however, he gives his best to the character. If he can make you love him as Abhijeet in CID, he can make you hate him as Bansi. That’s a great character switch and he has done it amazingly.

Supporting cast

Chittaranjan Tripathy as Mithilesh Sinha, Durgesh Kumar as Guptaji, Satyakam Anand as Sonu and Gulista Alija as Baby Rani have limited screen time but have contributed notably to the story. They have done well with their characters.

Surya Sharma is also seen for a limited time as Vaishali’s husband Arvind Singh. He also delivers a fair role. Sai Tamhankar plays SSP Jasmeet Gaur but her character doesn’t seem important to the story. First, she comes much later in the second half as a strong inspector but the character’s presence doesn’t make any relevance to the story. She was shown as a powerful lady cop and yet the character looked non-powerful.

Conclusion

Overall, Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra, and Aditya Srivastava shine as they deliver strong performances in Bhakshak. However, the movie doesn’t have any highs or lows as it runs on the same tone. It is not as engaging as one expects it to be but Bhakshak can merely be a one-time watch.

Watch Bhakshak trailer after the review

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