Genre: Drama
Release Date: 29th July, 2011
Cast: Om Puri, Monish Bahll, Manoj Pahwa, Govind Namdev,Anooradha Patel, Uvika Choudhary, Sarrtaj, Alok Nath and Shammi Aunty (In a friendly appearance)
Director: Ajai Sinha
In the village Sajod, Veer’s father Daulat Singh, a staunch supporter of this pratha, is unmoved by his son’s death. Surili’s father Sukhiram, however, is broken by his daughter’s demise.
Torn between his love for his estranged son and his strong belief in the pratha, Omkar promises Madhur that he would put an end to these ruthless killings. Ria and Kush also get pulled into the vortex of these inhuman customs.
Will Sukhiram be weakened and reveal all to the Human Rights Commission?
How do the patriarchs of the pratha respond to these happenings?
Are we courageous enough to face the truth?
These are the questions that the film attempts to raise.
Om Puri is the president of the Khap Panchayat and orders the honour killing of girls and guys who marry within the same clan. His son, Mohnish, doesn’t approve of the father’s doings. Fate plays a cruel game when Om Puri’s own grand-daughter gets married to a guy within her clan. What happens then? Read the review of Khap to find out more.
Business rating: 0.5/5 star
Cast: Om Puri, Uvika Choudhary, Sarrtaj, Govind Namdeo, Manoj Pahwa, Mohnish Bahl, Anooradha Patel.
What’s Good: Performances of Mohnish Bahl, Anooradha Patel and some others.
What’s Bad: The dull and drab drama; the music; the lack of entertainment value.
Verdict: Khap will bomb at the box-office in spite of its noble intentions.
Loo break: Several
Watch or not?: Watch it if you like meaningful cinema or issue-based cinema.
User rating:
Ananda Film & Telecommunications Pvt. Ltd.’s Khap is a story about the Khap Panchayat and honour killings. Sajod in Haryana is still governed by the rules made by the Khap and one such rule is that people belonging to the same clan (gotra) cannot marry one another. If they do, an unofficial and illegal death sentence is passed by the Khap and executed in the most gruesome manner, all in the name of protecting the honour of the families concerned.
Omkar Chaudhary (Om Puri) is the president of the Khap and leads Sajod village in condemning same-clan marriages, executing the couple without concern for law. His son, Madhur (Mohnish Bahl), had, years ago, left his house with wife Komal (Anooradha Patel) and their little daughter, Ria, because his ideology did not match with that of his father and the Khap. He was against honour killings. Daulat Singh (Govind Namdeo) and Sukhiram (Manoj Pahwa) are prominent villagers supporting the Khap and, therefore, the practice of honour killings.
One day, Sukhiram’s daughter, Sureeli (Nivedita Tiwari), elopes with Veer (Akash Dahiya) and gets married to him. As they both belong to the same clan, they are killed mercilessly. As luck would have it, Madhur’s own daughter, Ria (Uvika Choudhary) and, therefore, Khap panchayat president Omkar Chaudhary’s grand-daughter comes to Sajod and gets married to her boyfriend, Kush (Sarrtaj). Soon after the wedding, it emerges that Ria and Kush are from the same clan. Does Omkar Chaudhary now pass the same verdict of death for the newly-weds, as he has done in earlier cases? Or is Ria lucky to escape with hubby Kush? What stand do Daulat Singh and Sukhiram take vis-à -vis the marriage of Ria and Kush? And what about Madhur who had, incidentally, come to Sajod to investigate the matter of honour killings, as a member of the Human Rights Commission.
Khap Review – Script Analysis
Ajai Sinha’s story is issue-based but to think that it would lend itself to an entertaining film would be a major fallacy. Even the screenplay, penned by Vinod Ranganath, Vijay Verma, Ajai Sinha and Ashok Lal, is so dull and drab that the drama simply fails to interest or engross the viewers. The latter part of the film becomes very predictable and even the twists and turns can easily be guessed. The pace of the narration is painfully slow, adding to the boredom. What’s more, the writers have very conveniently kept characters out of a scene according to whether they would make or mar the scene. For instance, Ria’s mother is conspicuous by her absence when the villagers have come to catch her and Kush on learning that they have married one another in spite of belonging to a common clan. Dialogues (Vijay Verma and Ishan Trivedi) needed to be far more weighty and impactful.
Even the climax does not give the high which an audience of this kind of a film would expect. Probably, what spoils even the little fun this drama could generate is the predictability of the script.
Khap Review – Star Performances
Om Puri does a fair job. Uvika Choudhary is okay but her English pronunciations are embarrassingly poor. Sarrtaj makes an ordinary debut as the romantic hero. Govind Namdeo is good and pretty effective. Manoj Pahwa does an average job in some scenes and is good in others. Mohnish Bahl does a lovely job as the obedient son who dares to defy his own father on matters of principle. As his wife, Anooradha Patel acts with effortless ease and leaves a mark. Nivedita Tiwari, Akash Dahiya, Jyoti Chouhan (as Nupur) and Ashok Kumar Beniwal (as Madhur’s boss) lend fair support. Ravi Jhankal (as police inspector Bhairon Singh) and Raj Arjun (as Chandar) are impressive. Gaurav Bajpai (as Rohit), Luvleen Walia (in the role of Avni), Rituraj Singh Rathore (as Shankar, guard of Daulat Singh), Shankar Yadav (as Omkar Chaudhary’s guard), Alok Nath and Shammi Aunty do as directed. Vishwa Mohan Badola is far from natural in the role of Omkar Chaudhary’s cook. Ishan Dey, Rohit Sharma, Shyam and Sahitya Gupta are ordinary as Kush’s friends.
Click next for more on the direction & box-office verdict
