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Khazana
Treasured
USA 2014
produced by Noah Potter, Rahul Nath for Nik / Nak Productions
directed by Rahul Nath
starring Ulka Simone Mohanty, Ahmed Lucan, Shruti Tewari, Reem Kadem, Bahram Khosraviani, Rahul Nath, Sasha Timo (as Sonam Arvind Dhage), Laikh Tewari
written by Rahul Nath, Noah Potter (additional writing), music by Noah Potter
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Vaidehi (Ulka Simone Mohanty) is freshly married to Amar (Ahmed Lucan),
but it seems since the wedding Amar has changed for the worse, he has
hardly time for her, reacts irritated most of the time, and starts
arguments where there should be none. Furthermore he gives her every
reason to believe he has an affair with his business partner Neelima (Reem
Kadem). Also, Amar's mother Chand (Shruti Tewari) makes no secret of
despising Vaidehi, who has come from a poor family, and Chand thinks she
has only married Amar for the money. Then though Vaidehi learns that she's
pregnant, and she expects this will change everything for the better - but
not so, as Amar, under the influence of both Neelima and Chand, treats
Vaidehi's pregnancy as if it was her ego-trip, pretty much leaving her
alone with everything that concerns it ... and then she learns that the
unborn wouldn't survive the birth, and an abortion would be the most
sensible thing to do. As she's unable to get comfort from her husband,
Vaidehi talks to her therapist friend Rishi (Bahram Khosraviani), who
though sees what she tells him as an excuse to get it on with her - and
when she rejects him he just calls Amar and tells him she tried to cheat
on him. As a consequence, Amar beats Vaidehi black and blue in front of
his mother and sister (Sonam Arvind Dhage), upon which Vaidehi tries to be
the perfect submissive wife to Amar, out of fear that he'll hit her again
... until she listens in on a conversation between Amar and Neelima where
Amar tells her he has actually blackmailed Vaidehi's doctor, Arun (Rahul
Nath), into telling her she needs the abortion for medical reasons while
the pregnancy in fact went great as can be. This is when something snaps
in Vaidehi and she finally takes things into her own hands, first taking
care of Amar, then inviting everyone who has wronged her - mother- and
sister-in-law, Neelima, Rishi and Arun - to a very special dinner ...
This is quite a film, actually. Ok, it might start out as a
somewhat exaggerated drama about a woman abused by pretty much everybody
at every turn, but is kept believable and relatable by downplaying this on
both the directorial and the acting side of things, and then the third act
is a really welcome (if bloody violent) pay-off for everything that has
happened before, also because Vaidehi's revenge scheme is only revealed by
the by, in a(n only seemingly) casual fashion, which really only helps to
bring the ultimate punchline to even fuller effect without going explicite
or gross - and the ending will creep you out for sure, making this
one a very entertaining if often dark ride.
... and if this has at all piqued your interest, you can get the movie
from https://vimeo.com/tmareleasing
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