27 June,2015 08:31 AM IST | | Shubha Shetty Saha
'Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho' jokes about rape and rape victims, which are perhaps as insensitive and harmful as that of the regressive traditions and beliefs that it set out to make fun of
'Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho'
U/A; Comedy-satire
Director: Vinod Kapri
Cast: Annu Kapoor, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Rahul Bagga
The film jokes about rape and rape victims, which are perhaps as insensitive and harmful as that of the regressive traditions and beliefs that it set out to make fun of
Many a film has fallen prey to the good intention but awful execution trap. Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho does too.
Inspired by a true life story of a boy sentenced to jail by the high court for allegedly raping a buffalo, director Vinod Kapri attempts to take on the ridiculous belief systems of rural India and how it could adversely affect some hapless lives. But unfortunately what he ends up doling out is an insensitive, misogynist, unfunny, not-worth-taking-seriously mess.
Photos: Screening of 'Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho'
The movie opens with a cringe-worthy scene of a bra shop in a village fair, where the shopkeeper âsizes' up village belles by giving their breasts a cursory glance. And this is just the beginning.
Village pradhan (Annu Kapoor) is insecure as his young wife Maya (Hrishitaa Bhatt) is romancing Arjun (Rahul Bagga).
The pradhan and his crony (Ravi Kishan) turn to the fraud miracle man, Panditji (Sanjay Mishra) to get Arjun out
of the picture. They hatch a plan and accuse Arjun of having sexually assaulted Miss Tanakpur, the buffalo that pradhan owns. Om Puri, who plays a local corrupt cop, becomes part of the melee soon. Almost every actor is hamming his or her way through this cacophony.
The story moves at a painfully slow pace in the first half and perhaps to add to the lack of a robust screenplay, some 'humour' is added through a few puke-inducing scenes like the one where pradhan and his friends discuss
faeces, excreta and bowel movements at great length. More humour comes in the form of jokes made on rape and rape victims, which are perhaps as insensitive and harmful as that of the regressive traditions and beliefs that they ventured out to make fun of. The second half lifts a bit, only to sag back to predictable humdrum again. Avoid.
