Movie Review : Gargi (Tamil)

                                                                   Gargi (Tamil)

Gargi is a 2022 Tamil Language legal drama written by Hariharan Raju and Gautham Ramachandran, directed by Gautham Ramachandran with Sai Pallavi and Kaali Venkat in the lead roles. The film is being streamed on Sony Liv and it is available in Telugu and Hindi Languages on the platform. 

Gargi is a story of Sai Pallavi who is a school teacher in a primary school in Chennai, her father is a security guard at an apartment in the city and apart from the both of them her family comprises of her mother and a sister younger to her. The film starts with Gargi as a teacher in a school where all the teachers sitting in the staff room are turned towards the television which flashes a news showing a Nine year old girl being raped by five men in her apartment out of which four people are identified and are North Indians, while the fifth person is told to be a resident from a locality in Chennai that resembles to the very same locality where Gargi and also the victim resides. As Gargi reaches her home and as the day passes she discovers that the fifth accused in the rape case is none other than her father who is a security guard in the same apartment where the victim resides and is arrested by the police, shocked to the core Gargi like any other daughter is incapable of digesting the fact that her dear father can commit such a heinous crime and realizes that there might be some loopholes in the police investigation that led to her father being accused of the crime. Being the elder daughter she takes it on to her to fight for her father as she reaches out to a renowned lawyer Banu Prakash who's a family friend, at first he agrees to take the case ahead but later denies it after receiving pressure from the lawyers council, finally a helpless Gargi gets support from Banu Prakash's junior who self willingly takes up the case and their journey for the justice of her father Brammananda forms the crux of the story with a jaw dropping final twist in the climax that shocks you from within.

Gargi is a powerful movie with a strong women character as the main protagonist around whom the story revolves, infact there are strong women characters in film right from Gargi the central character  to the character of a women judge. The film does not go on a superpacy path even when the script offers the scope to do so and right from the beginning the film has a controlled pace that is engaging and helps to create a robust impact of the scenes as opposed to following a super quick tempo that may dilute the impact of some of the scenes. The film also has enough doses of thrilling moments that keeps you engaged during its course and the screenplay is super engaging with its slow motion scenes, actually all the slow-mo scenes come at the right point where it is important to elevate the mood of the drama, also the film has some melodramatic moments which fit well with the flow of the film except a few times where they could have been avoided. The role of media is also depicted in the film as an entity that carries out media trials in case of such sensitive issues and how the family of the accused is targeted but it also tells us how the media also has an obligation to bring out stories to cater to their news cycle. There's a flashback sequence in the movie between a school going Gargi and her pervert teacher that we see in parts through the course of the film only to understand later, that how Gargi's father protects her from him and this is what strives her to fight the case of her father's innocence in the future. Gargi is an intense drama and you can feel the tension right from the beginning from the point where all the teachers are sitting in the staff room and the title cards start rolling, till the climax which unravels a harsh twist that will keep you stunned to the core and will take some time for your mind to swallow the truth of a character shown in the film. 

Lets quickly summarize the review by analyzing the performances of the actors and other technical aspects of the film, All the characters of the film are too the point and no character in the film looks unnecessary or forced which is why every character is convincing while they add to the flow of the  drama. Starting with Sai Pallavi, we know that she is a wonderful actor and in this film too she has lived her character with utmost perfection, she is the main pillar of the film and carries almost the entire film on her shoulders with her excellent performance she deserves highest appreciation for her portrayal of Gargi. Gargi's father Brammananda played by R.S. Shivaji is perfect fit for a character that the audience can sympathize with and he has delivered a fantastic performance, Kaali Venkat as Indrans lends good support to Sai Pallavi's character as her sole companion in the fights for justice, one special appreciation for Sudha S as a lady judge for her brilliant portrayal of a women judge. Apart from these actors there are some more actors like Lawyer Bhanu Pratap played by Jayaprakash, Saravanan as Victim's father, Livingston as Brammananda's friend to name a few, all have done an amazing job. The screenplay as I mentioned previously is terrific as it does not leave any loose ends except a very few scenes which seem to be similar to the movies where the people striving for justice roam from one place to another to finds proofs for what they feel is the truth. One important aspect of Gargi is that it does not take sides and it does not preach as in case of a lot of movies with strong women characters do, except the last scene where Ahalya (Aishwarya Lekshmi) talks to Gargi's younger sister about womanhood over phone from some other place in front of a Church, it feels as if that scene wasn't planned before and was inserted at the last moment. The director Gautam Ramachandran perfectly portrays a well written story on the screen by capturing all the dimensions of the story and leaving it to the audience to understand the complexities involved in such crimes.

Gargi is powerful film that depicts the entanglements involved in a criminal act, it is a must watch movie for its superb portrayal of such crimes and strong performances by the actors.