‘Maatr’ and ‘MOM’ had its heroines Raveena and Sridevi, respectively, wreaking vengeance on their daughter’s rapists, and fairly intelligently at that. Now it’s the turn of Sanjay Dutt – returning to screen from a long-enforced sabbatical, as the angry, anguished father, a widower, to take it on himself, to avenge the rape of his darling daughter Bhoomi (Aditi Rao Hydari).
This film is an old fashioned, heavily dramatic, testosterone fuelled rape and revenge drama meant to make a real life convicted criminal (who has more than done his time of course) look like an avenging angel dispensing vigilante justice in the face of judicial impassivity. That irony should not be lost on an audience that is increasingly being spoon-fed with films portraying notoriety as being morally acceptable as a way of life.
Arun (Sanjay Dutt), a widower based in Agra, single-handedly raised his daughter Bhoomi (Aditi Rao Hydari) who is now engaged to be married to Neeraj (Sidhant Gupta). But Vishal (Puru Chibber), cousin to an evil thug Dhauli (Sharad Kelkar) asks her out a few days before the wedding and Bhoomi reprimands him for it. The slap-in-face does not go down well and Dhauli takes it upon himself to avenge it.
Everything is typically predictable given the worn out millionth re-tread of a plot that has been done to death in Bollywood cinema. The implications of this trivial work of fiction being inspired by the ‘Nirbhaya’ incident is not to be ignored. Even so, Omung Kumar is probably trying his hand at a so-called regular potboiler for the first time after having tried his limited skillsets on Biopics. And this is definitely his most ill-conceived attempt at filmmaking.
Other than Aditi Rao Hydari, who puts on a spirited performance and some scene chewing villainy from Sharad Kelkar there’s nothing here to whet your appetite. Sanjay Dutt appears slow and lethargic and seems to be sleep-walking through a role that would have given any other actor worth his skills, some reason to cheer. There’s really no purchase here!
Film: Bhoomi
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sunny Leone, Sharad Kelkar, Rahul Verma Rajput, Shekar Suman, Riddhi Sen, Sidhant Gupta, Puru Chibber, Veer Aryan
Director: Omung Kumar
