Bheed Review: The film is a must watch

Even as near empty theatres screen Bheed and hope they gather, Anubhav true to his reputation tells us a story of poignance

Hyderabad: Anubhav Sinha takes us back three years. He takes us on that shameful journey of lack of preparedness – no not to the pandemic but to the preparedness to deal with human beings as humans. Even as near empty theatres screen Bheed and hope they gather, Anubhav true to his reputation tells us a story of poignance.

As migrant labours embark on “their home-going”, the tragedy unfolds. For once it is not about individuals or a section but the populace at large. Yes, even in the midst of the huge tragedy – where death is galloping on a ride and the fortunate few get into buses to cross borders. We are starting at caste divides, class illusions, deeply etched communal divide, law breaking citizen, apathetic governments – all weaving up a chapter of recent history which we have the luxury to forget or be part of a polarised narrative.

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“We are a sick society. We have systematically made them poor and refused to accept them”, says cameraman Raghu (Karan Pandit) – a diagnosis that defies the synthetic yet deep political divide that mainstream – urban India still engages in.

Anubhav Sinha’s take on the initial fortnight after we clapped from our luxury flats and
safe homes is partly – yes partly about migrant labours. It is more importantly an attempt at dramatically (like with Mulk and Article 15) exposing our system and its fallout at the Covid threshold.

Migrants in the city of Delhi, like everyone else in Delhi are caught unawares on that March 22nd. However, unlike others, not even a slender thread was available to give them cause to stay back. In a ‘sink or swim’ dilemma the collective, individually embark on the infamous return to their “homes”. Unfortunately packed as their backpacks are communal and class divides, a luxury they refuse to part with even when a few steps away from desperation.

There are upper caste players who are city migrant labour: Balram Trivedi (Pankaj Kapur) and Dubey (Veerendra Saxena) in a bus load of migrant labour – who even refuse food from another stranded bus of minorities. There is also the doctor – upper cast Renu Sharma (Bhumi Pednekar) and the lower cast Suryakumar Singh (Rajkummar Rao), the two fighting hard to keep the social divide from their romance; there is the in-house simmering rivalry between Surya and his colleague Ram Singh (Aditya Srivastav) not to mention the assumed superiority of his boss Yadav Ji (Ashutosh Rana).

In this backdrop is the affluent Mom (Dia Mirza) in a battle with her husband defying the curfew to retrieve her daughter. All are caught at Tejpur, a village with a “Covid check post”. Be it in bed or as the ‘in charge’ at the outpost, Surya is fighting his own ghosts – the real.

The script is focused and engaging at all points in time. Never loosing an opportunity, it tangentially deals with larger social issues that plague our nation. Without sounding contrived, it loops in effortlessly in an ongoing debate between Vidhi Prabhakar (Kritika Kamra) and her crew members Nasir (Dhaval Rastogi) and Raghu (Karan Pandit).

With a cast embedded with the likes of Pankaj Kapur, Veerendra Saxena, Ashutosh Rana, Aditya Srivatsav, Bhumi – the performances add immense value to the film. Again, Bheed at one level belongs to Rajkummar Rao.

The film is a must see. It is a deep analysis. No, it is not a sob opera or even a crime thriller with a dance, song, and romance. This is a signature Anubhav Sinha and Rajkummar Rao (predictably brilliant) and a heavy cocktail that lovers of good cinema will miss at their own peril.