Parched is provocative with its passionate performances. It is dark and unpleasant but hard-hitting at the same time. Like an ugly truth it will even give you shivers of reality. But it is not just another narrative packed with forced feminism; it is a discomforting yet pertinent take on an existent ultraconservative rural society. Parched is what happens when three women who have already lived the unwelcoming alterations of life, through age and time, decide to break free from all shackles. The marvel of the film lies in its cast. Radhika Apte is brave and bold as Lajjo. Tannishtha Chatterjee brings in the likes of a veteran , and Surveen Chawla is stunning as ever. You would wish the journey was less full of trouble, but watch it for how it strangely represents freedom, not just for women.

It is all close to the reality of rural India, but Leena’s canvas is not a view from the inside. There is a lot of tokenism involved in portraying the culture, and that is where Parched falls short of a great film. It will definitely be a celebrated film among intellectual circles and international audience, but it is not a film that will touch the people it talks about. It has great actors in Tannishththa, Radhika, Surveen and even Summeet (of Permanent Roommates fame), but the screenplay that is written in pseudo-rural lingo keeps it from being authentic. And that is why Parched is worth the time and money. The spirit of the film is celebrating fights against an unjust system and society and emerging winners — not because they have well-intentioned men rescuing them, but because they can save themselves. Watch it for the sake of the celebratory mood or watch it for a heated debate in your bedroom. Do not miss it at all.

Leena Yadav's Parched is an irresistible beast of a film. As incendiary as it is entertaining, it goes where Indian cinema rarely does without becoming exploitative - into the erogenous fantasies of long-suppressed village women who are no longer willing to countenance their restrictive veils. The sheer verve that the writer-director packs into her compelling tale of three women and a child bride battling rural India's gender gridlock gives the film a distinctive texture and quality. Parched isn't a miserablist tale that wallows in despair. It is a tale of a rampaging, rollicking, uninhibited rebellion by women who find allies in a vibrating mobile phone and a decked-up three-wheeler getaway bike. Radhika Apte is outstanding as the bruised and battered Lajjo, a woman whose zest for life never wanes no matter what hits her. Surveen Chawla is perfectly cast as the robust dancer who refuses to sway to the tunes of her manipulative employer and her smarmy clientele. Tannishtha Chatterjee, a true-blue veteran of cinema of this kind, gets into the skin of her character as effortlessly and as effectively as ever. And, for good measure, Parched has a scene in which the women go skinny dipping in a river on a moonlit night after an encounter with the 'exalted' dream lover. That sequence sums up the spirit of Parched. Get drenched in it.

The film would have been welcome at any time because the more discussion around these themes the better; coming a week after Pink, the timing seems even more opportune. These 4 women live a parched life of despair and disuse. The men have either abandoned them, or use them as chattels, and instruments of brutal pleasure. Some of the sequences Yadav crafts are familiar but a sock-in-the-face, regardless. And some of them show welcome flashes of empowerment: women talking about their sexual desires, and being openly desirous (a hilarious scene features a cell-phone and the discovery of its pleasuring potential) is essential, even laudatory. But despite Parched’s obvious worthy intentions, its execution left me discomfited. The film shows all its punches landing where they hurt most, and after a while it all becomes too much, almost gratuitous. A little restraint, leaving some things to our imagination, would have served the film better. Because it is saying something whose importance is paramount: that unless women become a little more empathetic to their own kind, change will not come about. Rani becomes that change agent, and we cheer. Good way to wrap: you only wish the journey was not as problematic.

Leena Yadav's Parched takes you into a disturbing and thought-provoking territory. Even as it cleverly intertwines the stories of the three protagonists all of who have had a raw deal in life, it simultaneously puts the spotlight on how there is still an India where a woman is treated as a sex object; where her only role is to serve her man. The film addresses how there is nothing shameful about a woman's need for sex or ownership of her body. As the village women talk about their carnal desires, you empathise. Like last week's matinee offering Pink, you raise a toast to the director for raising some hard-hitting questions on the double standards of society. When Bijli asks, How come there are only abuses of the MC, BC variety or gaalis named only after women and none after men, you applaud. Frankly, like the film suggests, perhaps it is time to coin expletives after men too. Academy-Award winning cinematographer, Russell Carpenter has captured the arid landscape beautifully. Parched is a roadmap for our oppressed female population who have been victims of a misogynist mindset for eons. Tannishtha and Radhika are terrific, but it is Surveen who your heart bleeds for.