Antardwand Movie Review: 'Antardwand' DVD Review

A film that revolves round the North Indian practice of 'groom kidnapping', Antardwand (which means inner conflict) is as hard hitting as they come. Though the film suffers from a slow pace, the movie still makes up for it because of its actors, who perform masterfully and lend a touch of authenticity and realism to the flick.

Raghuveer (Raj Singh Chaudhary) is an IAS aspirant from Delhi University who comes back to his hometown to announce his intentions to get married after his live in girlfriend Siya (Himanshi) announces that she is pregnant with his child. Though Raghu informs his domineering father Madhukar Shahi (Vinay Pathak) that he wishes to marry Siya, the latter dismisses the request and declares that he has given his word to another family for their daughter's hand in marriage to Raghu.

A dejected Raghu decides to leave his house to go back to Delhi but is waylaid on the way by goons employed by local strongman Mahendra Babu (Akhilendra Mishra), who has plans to forcibly marry off Raghu to his daughter Janaki (Swati Sen). Mahendra rules his household with an iron fist and despite the misgivings of the rest of the family members, the preparations for marriage are started and a starved, sleep deprived and forcibly intoxicated Raghu is married to the reluctant Janaki.

Raghu is understandably shattered when he wakes up the next day and tries his best to escape from the household, but his captors sabotage his attempt and lock him in a room with Janaki till the marriage is consummated. On the other hand, Janaki is uncomfortable with the idea of being married off to a stranger under duress but tries her best to win his heart. Though Raghu's attitude towards Janaki softens a bit when he realises that she is as much a victim as he is, the young man is still disturbed by the turn of events and after being insulted by his captors, who accuse him of being impotent, an inebriated Raghu rapes Janaki, only to be filled with remorse the next day.

Finally making up his mind to escape the situation, Raghu pretends to have accepted the situation and finally manages to flee the clutches of Janaki's family. When Radhu's family too refuses to accept a pregnant Janaki, Mahendra decides to get the child aborted and find another husband for the unfortunate Janaki. However, the demure and submissive Janaki finally rebels and walks out of the house, promising to not let anyone kill the child in her womb.

For urban viewers, Antardwand might surely come as a shock as the concept of groom kidnapping is not a very familiar concept in cities. Like mentioned earlier, the pace of the movie is quite slow and might make one lose interest at times, but the story overall is quite hard hitting and so are the performances. Akhilendra Mishra and Vinay Pathak as the family patriarchs deliver powerful performances as does Raj Singh Chaudhary, an innocent victim, who gets trapped in a situation which baffles him no end. Swati Sen as Janaki too manages to impress with her demure role, who finally gets transformed into a feisty woman, who dares to challenge the patriarch for the sake of her unborn child.

All in all, the film is watchable mostly for the performances and the social issues explored in the flick.