Quickly
Socially
Trending
Crypto
Durgamati, the Hindi remake of the Telugu hit Bhaagamathie, is now streaming on Amazon Prime. The original film was a supernatural thriller with Anushka Shetty playing the lead. In the remake, whose co-producer is Akshay Kumar, it is Bhumi Pednekar in the lead role. G Ashok, who helmed the original, is also directing the remake, with Arshad Warsi, Mahie Gill, Jisshu Sengupta and Karan Kapadia also in the cast. Durgamati Movie Review: Bhumi Pednekar Can’t Pull Off an Anushka Shetty in This Dumb Horror-Thriller With a Sneaky Political Twist.
Durgamati is about a haunted palace where Chanchal IAS (Bhumi Pednekar) is taken for questioning by a CBI team, who wants to use her to reveal information that nails a presumably honest Minister Ishwar Prasad (Arshad Warsi) to an idol-smuggling racket. Chanchal was in prison for killing her fiance (Karan Kapadia), who was a social activist, while his brother Abhay (Jisshu Sengupta) in the interrogation team.
At the palace, Chanchal experiences spooky happenings and later she behaves as if she is possessed by the ghost of a queen called Durgamati. Is she really possessed or just pulling a fast one? Is Ishwar Prasad a rare politician who lives up to his godly name, or is he a devil in disguise? Durgamati answers these questions in its twisty two-and-a-half hour runtime.
So how is Durgamati as the movie? Well, the film is nearly a faithful remake of Bhaagamathie, with almost the same character names and twists. That also means, the remake retains all the flaws of the original, which wholly depended on twists to deviate from how stupid the whole premise is. Bhaagamathie also relied on Anushka Shetty's larger-than-life screen presence, something Bhumi Pednekar, who is inconsistent here, couldn't pull off. The film gets a bit better in the third act, where Arshad Warsi gets to explore his performance as a villain. But then too many twists, most of them illogical, dumbs down the film further.
In this feature, we look at seven such silly ideas that Durgamati, and in a way Bhaagamathie, offered that makes little to no sense.
Why Doesn't Chanchal Think of Nothing Spooky Happening To Her?
Chanchal claims that she has orchestrated most of the spooky happenings in the palace to trick the CBI team. But there are scene in the film where she herself experiences some paranormal happenings. Sure, she is very courageous, but even the gutsiest would feel perplexed at some of the supernatural phenomena.
Why Would the CBI Team Keep Her Unguarded in A Palace?
For some stupid reason, the CBI team choose to keep her in a desolate palace instead of some guest-house. A palace that could have possible escape routes to outside and even has weapons in it. Why would the team chose to keep a murder convict in such a place, that too unguarded? Sure, there are cameras installed. But they have a lady constable in the team, as well as lady officers. Why not use them to keep an eye on her? After all the palace had so many rooms. Bhumi Pednekar: Durgamati Has Given Me the Opportunity to Give the Performance of a Lifetime.
How Does Chanchal Pull Off Those Stunts If She Isn't Possessed?
We are told that Chanchal has some exemplary skills that allowed her to pull off the whole supernatural hoax. But all we see are some threads attached to chairs and objects, which aren't enough to explain how she pulls off some very extraordinary feats, like pulling herself into another room. Or those pyro effects. Chanchal could never pull off those single-handedly, and going by the final twist, if it was the spirit that did so, I return to my earlier question!
Why The Whole 'The Usual Suspects' Thing Never Makes Sense!
Chanchal's whole plan was very convoluted and depended on too many chances. Like, how was she sure that they would take her to Durgamati's palace for her plan to work? But let's go to another twist that may sound brilliant at first, but when you think deep, makes no sense. In an idea clearly inspired by The Usual Suspects, the CBI officer Tatakshi (Mahie Gill) realises that the Durgamati story that a possessed Chanchal told them was made up using the names she found at the palace. But this shouldn't have been a big deal at all, since they are at Durgamati's palace and therefore Chanchal taking those names shouldn't really have rung any bells.
How Was Panna Village Massacre Kept Away From Media?
Ishwar Prasad carries out mass massacre in the Panna village, and despite this being a recent event, it doesn't becomes much of a talking point in the film, until the third act. What does that say about the condition of media in this country? No different from what we have now?
Why Does Ishwar Prasad Trust Chanchal So Much?
For someone who is smart and cunning, Ishwar surely made some very dumb decisions. Like, why would he trust Chanchal so much that he expected her to help him out? He made her betray eight villages, betrayed her own trust, made her kill her fiance, watch him kill innocent people and then put her in jail? Is he that idiotic enough to think that she would agree to help him out for the promise of some money?
When Did Chanchal Convince Abhay To be In Her Team?
After he shoots down Ishwar Prasad after latter attempts to kill Chanchal and goes to check if she is okay, there is a brief flashback where Chanchal seems have already gotten Ishwar into confidence. But when did this happen? Going by their clothes, it looks like the time when Chanchal was trying to scare the shite out of him. So why waste the whole time in carrying out the whole hoax when she could have done something lesser to get his attention?
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 11, 2020 07:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Google Trends
