Director: Pulkit
Writers: Jyotsana Nath, Pulkit
Stars: Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra, Aditya Srivastava
Synopsis: Revolves around the journey of an unwavering woman’s quest to seek justice and her perseverance in getting a heinous crime to light.
The role of a journalist, or their mission, has been heavily debated over the years. Should they objectively report the news or involve themselves in a story to hold the people in power accountable? In Bhakshak, Vaishali Singh (Bhumi Pednekar) wants to do the latter after she receives a tip from her source that a government-funded shelter home has been engaging in the abuse (and murder) of young girls. The police know what is happening but do not intervene, as the man who runs the home, Bansi Sahu (Aditya Srivastava), has several government officials and police officers in his pockets.
As Vaishali learns more about what’s going on, she wants to bring this story to light to expose all the figures involved, but her family thinks it’s a futile – and dangerous – effort. Her news channel barely gets any views, and Sahu immediately targets family members to shut her up. However, Vaishali never backs down despite these intimidation tactics, even when her brother-in-law gets severely injured and wants to investigate the story as deeply as she can so the truth can be uncovered to the public and the people responsible for these heinous crimes are behind bars.
This causes a division in her family, with plenty of one-dimensional dialogue scenes attempting to give emotional stakes to the proceedings. Her family is more concerned about Vaishali’s husband than her quest for the truth and would rather she procreate before it’s too late. Yeah, instead of attempting to save young girls from extreme abuse, her family’s focus is on Vaishali having kids. However, she immediately claps back with one hell of an impassioned monologue, in which she reverses the situation and asks her family, what if she was stuck in a home with no way out and was forced to sell her body to Sahu just to survive? It’s at that moment when Vaishali’s quest for objectivity leaves her mind, as it has now become a life-or-death situation for her and the girls who are still being abused by the men and women who run the shelter.
Produced by Gauri Khan and Gaurav Verma, Bhakshak asks timely questions about journalism’s purpose in society, especially in a country where corruption runs rampant. And while its flaws stick out like a sore thumb, the importance of a film like this cannot be overstated. Director Pulkit doesn’t shy away from showing harrowing moments of abuse either. While nothing explicit is shown on screen, the agonizing screams from its victims are enough to make your stomach churn.
Perhaps the antagonists are stretched out to be as one-note as possible, but Srivastava’s portrayal of Sahu is terrifying in and of itself. He posits himself as a calm and patient man who has done a lot for the community, which is what he continuously says to Vaishali, only for his darker side to reveal itself as the camera observes him in the shelter, making innocent girls beg for their lives as he beats them with a belt and rapes them. Vaishali sees right through Sahu’s calm demeanor and fake smile and will stop at nothing until his entire operation shuts down.
However, it will prove far more complex than she initially thought, especially when she learns that Mithilesh Sinha (Chittaranjan Tripathy), who works for the Child Welfare Association, is a key player in Sahu’s operation, paid off to tamper with files and bring anyone who escaped from the shelter back into Sahu’s hands. The corruption is even deeper when government officials deliberately ignore taking action at Sahu, but some things will have to change once Vaishali publicizes their involvement.
The best parts of Bhakshak are when Pulkit observes Vaishali believing in the transformative power of journalism as a vehicle for truth to be conveyed since the ones in power don’t want it to come out. In that sense, journalism is treated here as a watchdog for democracy, which many scholars believe is its primary function (Rasmus Kleis Nielsen disagrees, but that’s a story for another time). Pulkit treats it as such and gives its central figure enough time to shine so that the truth comes out naturally when all the pieces are laid out.
As such, Pednekar gives a career-defining performance after a streak of lousy turns. Her plentiful monologues as she gradually gives more proof to the public are confidently delivered, and the film’s bravura sequence in which she begs Indians to fight for what’s right and stand up against oppressors is as timely of a message as ever. This arc is the only reason Bhakshak is worth watching — showing the lengths a journalist has to go for the truth, especially in a climate where trust in the media is at an all-time low, and users turn to angrier, less truthful depictions of society.
Against all odds, Vaishali shows how transformative journalism can be, especially when used against corrupt governments who would rather fill their pockets with dirty money than bring these criminals to justice. It’s a tale as old as time but one whose message needs to be reaffirmed in an era when journalism faces more challenges than ever. Journalism is a deeply human activity in which its best pieces humanize its subjects in a way that no one else can. Vaishali not only brings out the truth of a corrupt system but also humanizes the ones who have been oppressed and abused for years when nothing has been done. As a result, the victims saved by Vaishali’s journalistic activities are the real heroes of the story, the ones we must remember when the full picture of this story is revealed.
Through this figure of a truth-seeking Vaishali, Pednekar reminds us all why journalism must – and will – survive.
