Private Review | A Potent Blend of Thriller and Politics That Demanded Refined Writing

At several points in the new film, Private, starring Indrans and Meenakshi, the Central Board of Film Certification has done the additional job of censoring and has muted words like Rama Rajyam, RSS, etc. I think one of the reasons why the makers of this movie didn’t go for any media chaos, showing these unreasonable demands of muting from the board, is that, in a way, what the CBFC has done to the film underlines the core theme of this movie. Private is a political movie that decides to focus on the adventurous side of resistance against the right-wing tantrums. While the theme is surprisingly interesting, there are these inconsistencies and over-explanations that considerably reduce the charm of this attempt.

The movie revolves around this girl from Malappuram, Ashita Begum. Her family, especially her conservative uncle, wants to get her married to his son. But Ashita is not ready for marriage. As she feels that her family is not going to understand her take on the whole thing, she decides to flee from her house and meet her sister, who is in Karnataka. How that journey creates a significant difference in Ashita’s life is what we see in this movie.

The theme of the movie here is the resistance one must show against the right-wing ideology that wants to cancel credible voices. The film pays tribute to assassinated figures like MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare, Gauri Lankesh, and Narendra Dabholkar, who were all assassinated by right-wing sympathizers. But writer-director Deepak Deon decides to navigate the Story from the perspective of someone who is least bothered about all these things, but is someone who will stand up for her rights. We have scenes where she is not afraid to argue with the police when they try to access her phone. The intention here is to show us the journey that shapes a girl in taking a stand. But the issue is that the staging of that journey is uneven.

The character design of Ashita Begum was, in my opinion, the key element that affected the Story. We are shown that she is a very opinionated individual who would do anything to protect her dreams. The same person is asking someone to marry her at the earliest because she doesn’t want to marry her cousin. At one point, she is shown as this individual who can read between the lines and understand that the issue is politically sensitive. But the very next moment, she is being an annoying, insensitive kid. The way this character swings from being empathetic and understanding to cuteness-overloaded annoyance is perhaps restricting the movie from making the audience look at the movie’s politics. The best bits in the film come in the second half, where both protagonists are on the road and there is a sense of tension that looks genuine on screen.

Meenakshi Anoop, who plays the role of Ashita, is surprisingly smooth in delivering the cool side of that character. I think if Deepak had made her character less dramatic in certain situations, the film would have felt a lot more intense. One of the reasons why we tend to root for these characters in this tough journey is the ease with which they exchange thoughts before the journey. Indrans, these days, is known for doing these sweet and serious roles, and this movie also offers a similar character in the form of Balan Marar. The sharp mood swings of the character were portrayed very effectively by the actor on screen. Other than these two, the only noticeable name in the cast is Annu Antony, who was fine as the always in-tension Kamala.

The concept of setting up a thriller road movie to talk about the need to be politically aware is actually interesting on paper. There is even that dimension of a politically aware older generation and a politically naive younger generation joining forces to give visibility to the efforts of a politically responsive generation. If the writing and making were confident enough to skip a lot of dialogue from the movie, I think Private would have had a much better impact. Like, there was absolutely no need for a voice-over by Ashita at the end about how Balan Marar taught her many things. If Deepak Deon had kept such areas minimal, I think it would have broadened the scope of the debates that are passively mentioned in this film.