Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Drama
Year: 2022
Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Director: Gautham Ramachandran
Cast: Sai Pallavi, Kaali Venkat, R.S.Shivaji
Kid rating: PG-17
Gargi (Sai Pallavi) is a school teacher from a lower middle class family, and soon to be married. One day her old father (K.S. Shivaji), a security guard at an apartment building, is arrested for sexually assaulting a minor in a gang-rape case. Gargi is horrified at the injustice of it all, but in spite of society’s condemnation, fights hard to get her father a fair trial.
This film is novel in that it is from Gargi’s point of view, that of a daughter who is convinced of her father’s innocence. We get to see how her father has always been her protector, in one case, actually fending off attacks from a abusive teacher. When we do see him for the first time, he is a frail old despondent looking man, in a shabby, rumpled security guard uniform. He has a bandage on his head, and Gargi, at the sight of her father in such a helpless, vulnerable state, is in tears.
No lawyer is ready to take the case except Indrans (Kaali Venkat), a part-time assistant lawyer, who’s never fought a case in court. Suffering through insults and the threat of violence (a stone through her home’s window) for daring to defend a child rapist, Gargi, with Indrans, leaves no stone unturned to get at all the evidence.
The traumatized victim is not shown much, but her father gets to have his say. He even comes to Gargi’s home with a knife when her father is granted bail, but repents when he sees Gargi’s younger sister, a girl a little younger than his own daughter.
The film does not take sides, but it does dwell upon society’s mores and personal prejudices and subjective perception. How does one decide if a person is capable of a crime? Does having a daughter prevent one from being a rapist? Do age, gender, class matter?
Gargi is well-crafted for the most part. It does not sensationalize or overwhelm; indeed there are stretches of silence which build atmosphere. Sai Pallavi is marvelous as Gargi – she shoulders most of the film.
On the negative side, the screenplay is a little flaccid, the acting uneven (Kaali Venkat) and the editing weak. Still, Gargi is a remarkable film. Recommended.
Kidwise: Depictions of the rape although nothing salacious is shown. Talk about rape, women and boundaries, molestation.
