Pratha

This movie is worth seeing. It comes with a mission, which is that religious superstition needs to be overcome by enlightenment through education. It makes its point on a grotesque exceptional story, rather than using an everyday life example. I had some difficulty understanding that Leela was cast into a an incarnation of a local Goddess rather than a Devadasi, which might be a more common problem also worth exemplifying the same point.

The story would have still been credible overall, was it not for the crazy naivete of its main protagonists: when Leela's sister helps her escape (and pays for it with her life), Deepak spends a romantic night with Leela instead of using the night for a thorough escape. Upon her pleas to save her, he says "don't worry, now I am here nothing will happen", but look at his action: when they are discovered at promptly at daybreak he just runs away! Leaving poor Leela behind with her tormentors! That's how much his protection was worth!

Then as the big showdown approaches they miss 2 more opportunities to escape safely instead of sacrificing themselves in staging a hyper-dramatic climax. In the end, no one was left to teach their fellow citizens the morale of this fallacy they all fell victim to, because a violent escalation was considered more important than their own lives. It is sad that even in a movie that preaches enlightenment through education, in the end violence still has the last word. As if India needed more examples for communal violence.

The cinematography is fine. But there is little refinement in the music or choreography. The absolute highlight certainly was Ashney Shroff who seemed to be born to play Leela: not only is she is a stunning beauty, but she actually looks just like those idols of Hindu Godesses that one can see in paintings or plastic figurines.