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LACKS ENTERTAINMENT

By Satyajit

Critic's I-view

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Bollywood's endeavors with "realism" have opened new chapters in the marquee with unexplored facades of real life incidents. The year began on a promising note with Anurag Kashyap's well-crafted 'Black Friday' followed by thought-provoking films like 'Parzania' and 'Wounded' (film based on real life dacoit Seema Parihar). The dark and violent 'Miss Anara' comes out as the latest entrant in this cadre depicting the real life "torturous" happenings in the life of Ex-Miss Jammu, year 2001, Anara Gupta. Films like 'Miss Anara' can never be a source of entertainment and their merits can't be judged on their box-office reports. Like the biopic 'Wounded', a real life sketch of dacoit Seema Prihar, the title role of "Miss Anara" is played by Anara Gupta herself.

Unlike 'Black Friday' and 'Parzania', 'Miss Anara' comes out as amateurish attempt by debutante director KK Yadav in portraying the real life incidents. Unfortunately, the news-making concept has gone awry as the film is marred by poor acting, spineless direction and average music.

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'Miss Anara' starts off with statutory warning that the film is based on partial reality while the filmmaker has taken cinematic liberties for professional reasons. The film's first half monitors around fictional love story between Anara (Anara Gupta) and Amit (Amit Rao) with poor impact. The screenplay is poorly hatched, chemistry is lifeless and the backdrop is amateurishly sketched to depict the real life romance that never existed. Both Anara Gupta and Amit Rao prove meek contenders in their respective roles and come out as the weakest links of the film. Except for reliable performers like Yashpal Sharma (Anara's lawyer), Mukesh Tiwari (corrupt police officer) and Smita Jaykar (Anara's mother), none from the young star cast shows any promise. The second half of 'Miss Anara' stresses on the means and methods of torturing her in the police cell. The second half of the film is crisper and better than the first half, but largely it works on fictional sub-plots. The controversial 'Miss Anara' is a film about real life eventful drama of former Miss Jammu and the ugly incidents she faced during her torture that shook the nation with shame and disgrace.

It was her infamous sex scandal (porn CD racket) that made headlines and made her the most "ill-famed" celebrity. The infamous beauty queen was falsely implicated for being part of a porn racket in 2004.

Anara Gupta, the lead protagonist and actress of the film was arrested and detained in October 2004 on charges of featuring in a pornographic CD. Later, Anara got a clean chit from the court on the basis of a forensic test report that justified that the person in the porn film was not Anara. The police atrocities were unearthed and resulted in the dismissal of eleven police officials for detaining and torturing her.

The story of Miss Jammu 2001 Anara Gupta rose to notoriety when she was arrested by the Jammu Police on November 3 for acting in pornographic CD. She was booked and a case was registered against her under Sections 292, 292 RPC Immoral Trafficking, cinematography and information technology acts.

Anara daughter of forest officer Gajendra Chouhan and school teacher Smita Jaykar (mother) was attracted to glitz and gloss of show-business that finally threw her into dungeons of flesh trade. The film depicts her as an attractive and a meritorious student who was encouraged by her college-mates to participate in the coveted "Miss Jammu & Kashmir" show. Anara's orthodox father shows his resentment and finally parts ways when she takes to modeling and films. The film takes a fictional turn while showing the romance of Anara Gupta with her college companion Amit (Amit Rao). The congenial romantic moments take an ugly turn when Anara along with her mother and three brothers is arrested. She is held in the police custody for about 11 days and tortured until she confesses the crime she had never committed. Later, she is presented to the media with her confession of appearing in blasphemous blue film CD. The police brutalities make Anara faint but she is reluctant to give in to the police. However, she confesses when her mother is brutalized. The reality comes out that the porn CD racket was initiated by corrupt senior police officer (KK Yadav) to entrap Anara for his physical pleasure.

In the court, Anara's detention is found illegal and the police officials are held responsible for her brutalised physical state. Later, the forensic laboratory reveals that the girl in the video was not Anara. The film takes some engrossing twists "n" turns in the court room drama where Anara's lawyer (Yashpal Sharma) argues and suceeeds in getting her justice. In terms of professional competency, Yashpal Sharma shines the brightest and shows excellence. Anara Gupta may have hit headlines for wrong reasons but she lacks the desired qualiies of a good actress.

Her plump looks are her major weaknesses followed by her faulty diction (consistent lisping on letter "s"). She shows boldness in re-enacting the police brutalities which she faced during those ugly days. The cabaret dance sequences in the second half were forced one and hardly attract any viewer. Debutante Amit Rao is no hero material by any standard and sounds too amateurish to face the camera in future. Every time he delivers an emotional dialogue, viewers break into laughter. Smita Jaykar shows competence in emotional scenes and works well with her assigned roles. Mukesh Tiwari shows his villainous side with great strength. Bharat Kapoor and Gajendra Chouhan work mechanically. Music (Dilip Tahirr and Mani Shankar) is below average and delivers only one audible melody "Aasman Se Aayi". Both Choreography by Habiba Rehman and Dilip Mistry are sub-standard. Writer and director K K Yadav should be applauded for showing his interest in depicting a real life incident but lacks directorial talent in delivering an entertaining fare.

Overall, 'Miss Anara' will struggle to find a stronghold in multiplexes and so also a limited response in single screen theatres.