Saand Ki Aankh Movie Review: The Pistols Have Been Blown At Patriarchy And Women Empowerment With Perfection

Saand Ki Aankh, A Tushar Hiranandani directorial which is been produced by Anurag Kashyap is a biographical drama based on the lives of Indian women shooters Chandro Tomar and Prakashi Tomar who have proved the quote 'Age Is Just A Number' with their exceptional shooting skills as well as well versed rifle shooters at the age of 60+ as Senior Citizens. The inspirational life journey of Chandro Tomar and Prakashi Tomar was picturized by bringing actresses Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu on board respectively.

The actresses have done a commendable job by getting into the skin of the characters : be it having a command over the Haryanvi Accent, carrying the rural attire with ease and stealing the show with dialogues bundled with the right kind of emotions. Even if you choose sides between the two actresses, it gets difficult to choose the best one out of the two actresses. As both have performed equally well.

The film's story has Chandro Tomar (Bhumi Pednekar, Elder Co Sister) and Prakashi Tomar (Taapsee Pannu, Younger Co Sister) as the protagonists, who are co sisters of a Haryanvi Indian based family. The story is set in Johri Village of Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh They live in a very male dominated society and the era which we are talking about is 1958 wherein Indian was completely a patriarchal society. Even though Indians got freedom from the British Slavery, but the Indian women back then were still under the shackles of slavery and male dominance, both of them being the antagonists of the film. These women who are staying in the male oppressed society wherein women don't get to step outside the kitchen, end up being the first rebels of the society to break the norms and make their career through rifle shooting.

These courageous and bold women had to face lot of odds and sexist remarks from the men of the society. After gaining some success in this sport, they encourage their grand daughters to take up this sport and build a well settled life out of it. The story revolves around how the Shooter Dadis make the way through their household chores to the Sporting Event, the Dadis encouraging their grand daughters to make their career out of it and the Dadis being an inspiration for the women of their entire village.

Talking about the film's dialogues, the dialogues have been penned down really well as they are very witty, funny as well as thought provoking at the same time. The film's screenplay and direction could have been more crisp and could have been cut short. The story's setup and societal background was already established in the first half in which the audiences have a very fair idea of the male dominated society they are living in and the kind of oppression they are facing everyday. The scenes about the same could have been avoided which elongated the story in the second half. Too much of melodramatic encounters between the Granddaughters and Grandmothers could have also been avoided in the second half.

The scenes whose dialogues have been women empowerment centric have definitely undergone meticulous screenplay and direction. The film's locations have been around the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh. Among these locations, the film has been primarily shot in Baghpat. So the makers of the film have just roamed around India. There have been minimal background scores been used in the film, the ones which were used were as per the film's story requirement. The music tracks have a very festive and a rural aesthetic to them and very peppy in it's kind.

As the story went forward, it's climax and conclusion became quite predictable, as it's a biographical drama and biographical dramas are all about a person struggling between his or her triumphs and defeats. In all of this, the person tackles all the blocks in the road and emerges as victorious in the end. But the way, the director has woven the entire journey of the Tomar Sisters victories and defeats of life is praiseworthy to the larger extent. Taking all these points into consideration, I would give it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 Stars.