Freaky Chakra (film)
Encyclopedia
Freaky Chakra is a 2003
Bollywood
comedy
drama film
directed by V. K. Prakash
and Ziba Bhagwagar. The movie stars Deepti Naval
and Sachin Khedekar
. The film was India
's official entry for Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
, and received recognition by the International Federation of Film Critics at the at 2003 Mumbai International Film Festival
.
over a 21-day shoot schedule, and actress Deepti Naval stated that the film had been cut for the Indian film market to remove shots where her character took the lead in lovemaking. The film was India
's official entry for Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
, and was released on February 7, 2003. The film was the only Hindi
project for which Ouseppachan
has composed music.
) tells the story and introduces the story characters one-by-one in a narrative style.
Ms. Thomas (Deepti Naval
) used to be a doctor and now works as a mortician. After her medical skills failed to save her husband, she decided to live alone and keep to herself. However various events continue to keep her at odds with reality: she receives phone calls from a crank caller (Sachin Khedekar
) who speaks to her in a raunchy manner; mischievous children repeatedly run away after ringing her doorbell; she is unable to bathe because her water does not operate; and her apartment manager is so tired of her complaints that he blocks his ears with cotton. In her routine, she begins to look forward to each distraction. When an uninvited guest (Sunil Raoh) takes up residence in her home, the two eventually have a romantic affair, changing her life and her outlook.
's Freaky Chakra, Juhi Chawla
's Chandrika in Nagesh Kukunoor
's 3 Deewarein
, and Shabana Azmi
's Radha in Deepa Mehta
's Fire as examples of a changing trend in Indian cinema, they wrote that "Bollywood
is now bent on giving the fairer sex a fair deal in sex."
Outlook India panned the film, offering that "Prakash's experiment with story-telling might sound promising on paper but fails to deliver on celluloid." They felt this was due to Ranvir Shorey's character of The Writer becoming an intrusive and "annoying obstruction" that hampered the film's action. They also felt that the characters were not fully fleshed out, writing they "don't get a life beyond their sentence-long descriptions", and that the relationships of the various characters are not allowed to grow, leaving the viewer with questions. They concluded that "Freaky Chakra is brash without any real sense of irreverence. It's meant to be fun, but doesn't even manage to elicit a smile. A joke of a film, and a bad joke at that."
Rediff wrote of the film, "You simply wonder why the film was made", noting that the storyline wasn't suitable for a Deepti Naval film, and that as the musical was "a fusion of classical and Western tunes," it would not appeal, offering only that the Hindi
song Yeh dil ne kuch kaha hai was "beautifully rendered." They further felt the storyline and screenplay were too unconventional to attract a wide audience, and noted that the narrative of Ranvir Shorey
as The Writer "tends to grate on your nerves at times." They granted that the Deepti Naval's character was "the most interesting" and that she "deserves credit" for her ability to have her acting speak louder than scripted words. They also noted that Sunil Raoh did a "decent job" and that Sachin Khedekar gave "a brilliant performance." But while acknowledging these points, they concluded "For all the performances, the characters are shallow and unexplained."
Conversely Planet Bollywood generally praised Freaky Chakra, offering that the first part of the film was "superb" and making note of Ranvir Shorey
’s narration, writing "The deliberate pacing, excellent repetition of background music, and the continuous visual references to wheels and charkas (the most observant viewers will notice Ms. Thomas drawing one with her fingers and a glass of water) in the first few segments is brilliantly handled." They offered that the rest of the film was nearly as good, with Sunil's character "instantly likeable" and the development of his relationship with Deepti Naval
's character of Ms. Thomas "flows naturally." They also praised the transition of her transformation into an upbeat personality, and wrote it was "brilliantly contrasted with the degeneration of the pervert and the writer." The only flaw they found was in the film's ending, writing "The drawback is the incredibly abrupt and unfulfilling ending of the film. The very poorly devised ending essentially slaps the film on its own face, and trivializes the plot up until that point."
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by V. K. Prakash
V. K. Prakash
V.K Prakash is a renowned advertisement film director who has also directed movies in Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. He is mainly active in Malayalam film industry. He is the director of Bollywood film called Freaky Chakra in 2003 starring Ranvir Shorey and Deepti Naval. Currently based in Bangalore,...
and Ziba Bhagwagar. The movie stars Deepti Naval
Deepti Naval
Deepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress. She has acted in over 75 Hindi films, and most often worked in arthouse and independent films, known as parallel cinema in India.-Early life:Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India...
and Sachin Khedekar
Sachin Khedekar
Sachin Khedekar is an Indian actor and director, best known for his roles in Astitva, Imtihaan, and as Netaji in Shyam Benegal's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero...
. The film was India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's official entry for Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, devoted to Asian cinema, specifically the cinematic works of East and Southeast Asia, as well as those by Asian-Canadian and Asian-American filmmakers....
, and received recognition by the International Federation of Film Critics at the at 2003 Mumbai International Film Festival
Mumbai International Film Festival
Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films , is a festival organised in the city of Mumbai by the 'Film Division', Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It has been organised since 1990, and focuses on documentary, short and animation...
.
Production
Principle took place in BangaloreBangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
over a 21-day shoot schedule, and actress Deepti Naval stated that the film had been cut for the Indian film market to remove shots where her character took the lead in lovemaking. The film was India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's official entry for Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, devoted to Asian cinema, specifically the cinematic works of East and Southeast Asia, as well as those by Asian-Canadian and Asian-American filmmakers....
, and was released on February 7, 2003. The film was the only Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
project for which Ouseppachan
Ouseppachan
Ousephachan is a National Award, Filmfare Award and Kerala State Film Award-winning Indian music director who sets scores for Malayalam films. He is one of the most sought-after musicians in the Malayalam film industry.-Biography:...
has composed music.
Plot
Writer (Ranvir ShoreyRanvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
) tells the story and introduces the story characters one-by-one in a narrative style.
Ms. Thomas (Deepti Naval
Deepti Naval
Deepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress. She has acted in over 75 Hindi films, and most often worked in arthouse and independent films, known as parallel cinema in India.-Early life:Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India...
) used to be a doctor and now works as a mortician. After her medical skills failed to save her husband, she decided to live alone and keep to herself. However various events continue to keep her at odds with reality: she receives phone calls from a crank caller (Sachin Khedekar
Sachin Khedekar
Sachin Khedekar is an Indian actor and director, best known for his roles in Astitva, Imtihaan, and as Netaji in Shyam Benegal's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero...
) who speaks to her in a raunchy manner; mischievous children repeatedly run away after ringing her doorbell; she is unable to bathe because her water does not operate; and her apartment manager is so tired of her complaints that he blocks his ears with cotton. In her routine, she begins to look forward to each distraction. When an uninvited guest (Sunil Raoh) takes up residence in her home, the two eventually have a romantic affair, changing her life and her outlook.
Cast
- Deepti NavalDeepti NavalDeepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress. She has acted in over 75 Hindi films, and most often worked in arthouse and independent films, known as parallel cinema in India.-Early life:Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India...
as Ms. Thomas - Ranvir ShoreyRanvir ShoreyRanvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
as The writer - Sachin KhedekarSachin KhedekarSachin Khedekar is an Indian actor and director, best known for his roles in Astitva, Imtihaan, and as Netaji in Shyam Benegal's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero...
as The caller - Pranam Janney as Mocking guy
- Sunil Raoh as Unannounced Guest
- Rajeev Ravindranathan as Ticket clerk
Critical reception
Because of its dealing with relationships between four persons, Times of India referred to the film as "rectangular love story", as opposed to "the cliched regular or triangular romantic stories that Bollywood generally churns out." The film created a stir after its release due to its dealing with one of the long time taboo subjects, age disparity in relationships with a woman on the older side. After its release, Times of India made note of a growing trend to depict such relationships more openly: Using the characters of Deepti Naval's Ms. Thomas in PrakashV. K. Prakash
V.K Prakash is a renowned advertisement film director who has also directed movies in Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. He is mainly active in Malayalam film industry. He is the director of Bollywood film called Freaky Chakra in 2003 starring Ranvir Shorey and Deepti Naval. Currently based in Bangalore,...
's Freaky Chakra, Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla is an Indian actress, film producer and television presenter.After being crowned as the winner of the Miss India beauty contest in 1984, Chawla pursued an acting career...
's Chandrika in Nagesh Kukunoor
Nagesh Kukunoor
Nagesh Kukunoor is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter. He is known for movies such as Hyderabad Blues , Rockford , 3 Deewarein and Iqbal .-Early life:...
's 3 Deewarein
3 Deewarein
3 Deewarein is a 2003 Hindi film written, directed and co-starred by Nagesh Kukunoor. Jackie Shroff, Juhi Chawla, Naseeruddin Shah and Gulshan Grover form the rest of the cast. The film narrates the story of three prisoners and a documentary filmmaker who, while filming their reformation story in...
, and Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
's Radha in Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta, LLD is a Genie Award-winning Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire , Earth , and Water , among which Earth was submitted by Indian government for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film...
's Fire as examples of a changing trend in Indian cinema, they wrote that "Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
is now bent on giving the fairer sex a fair deal in sex."
Outlook India panned the film, offering that "Prakash's experiment with story-telling might sound promising on paper but fails to deliver on celluloid." They felt this was due to Ranvir Shorey's character of The Writer becoming an intrusive and "annoying obstruction" that hampered the film's action. They also felt that the characters were not fully fleshed out, writing they "don't get a life beyond their sentence-long descriptions", and that the relationships of the various characters are not allowed to grow, leaving the viewer with questions. They concluded that "Freaky Chakra is brash without any real sense of irreverence. It's meant to be fun, but doesn't even manage to elicit a smile. A joke of a film, and a bad joke at that."
Rediff wrote of the film, "You simply wonder why the film was made", noting that the storyline wasn't suitable for a Deepti Naval film, and that as the musical was "a fusion of classical and Western tunes," it would not appeal, offering only that the Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
song Yeh dil ne kuch kaha hai was "beautifully rendered." They further felt the storyline and screenplay were too unconventional to attract a wide audience, and noted that the narrative of Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
as The Writer "tends to grate on your nerves at times." They granted that the Deepti Naval's character was "the most interesting" and that she "deserves credit" for her ability to have her acting speak louder than scripted words. They also noted that Sunil Raoh did a "decent job" and that Sachin Khedekar gave "a brilliant performance." But while acknowledging these points, they concluded "For all the performances, the characters are shallow and unexplained."
Conversely Planet Bollywood generally praised Freaky Chakra, offering that the first part of the film was "superb" and making note of Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey
Ranvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
’s narration, writing "The deliberate pacing, excellent repetition of background music, and the continuous visual references to wheels and charkas (the most observant viewers will notice Ms. Thomas drawing one with her fingers and a glass of water) in the first few segments is brilliantly handled." They offered that the rest of the film was nearly as good, with Sunil's character "instantly likeable" and the development of his relationship with Deepti Naval
Deepti Naval
Deepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress. She has acted in over 75 Hindi films, and most often worked in arthouse and independent films, known as parallel cinema in India.-Early life:Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India...
's character of Ms. Thomas "flows naturally." They also praised the transition of her transformation into an upbeat personality, and wrote it was "brilliantly contrasted with the degeneration of the pervert and the writer." The only flaw they found was in the film's ending, writing "The drawback is the incredibly abrupt and unfulfilling ending of the film. The very poorly devised ending essentially slaps the film on its own face, and trivializes the plot up until that point."
Awards and nominations
- 2003, Won FIPRESCIFIPRESCIThe International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
Prize "For the extraordinarily light treatment of very serious emotions, inhibitions and aspirations through the rich and innovative use of film language" at Mumbai International Film FestivalMumbai International Film FestivalMumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films , is a festival organised in the city of Mumbai by the 'Film Division', Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It has been organised since 1990, and focuses on documentary, short and animation...