The story and screenplay of this strongly citified fable on sexual liberation is credited to as many as seven writers. Too many cooks definitely don’t spoil this bubbly broth of uneven and yet endearing components from theatre, music videos, cinema, literature, soap operas, and sitcoms that merge with mirthful sighs.
Coming in the wake of the other films like Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai, Somnath Sen’s Leela, and Shashilal Nair’s Ek Chotisi Love Story about very young men being attracted to women old enough to be their moms, Freaky Chakra does suffer from a haven’t-we-seen-it-all disadvantage.
Fortunately for second-time director V.K. Prakash, his film is the most original among the films on the sexual diaspora. Its emotional graph swings from the ridiculously risible to the modestly poignant, sometimes combining both, as in the character of the pathetic Sunderam (Sachin Khedekar), the hypochondriac who keeps ringing our protagonist Mrs Janki Thomas’s (Deepti Naval) bell for imaginary illnesses, and makes anonymous obscene calls which, believe it or not, the no-nonsense widow, who has never forgiven herself for her husband’s sudden death, actually begins to enjoy!
We, too, warm up to the film’s insouciant inflections unconditionally. As the brief story progresses, the characters gather into a semi-circle, forming a symbolical Noah’s arc where animal instincts are unleashed during a flood of hyperemotions.
Indeed, director Prakash’s apartment block, where Mrs Thomas is surrounded by every hue of eccentricity (she represents the most eccentric aspect of the narrative), could be seen as a boat swimming away from the shore, caught in a hurricane of tragi-comic adventures.
While the peripheral characters, such as the building watchman who plugs his ears every time he sees the cantankerous widow marching towards him with another complaint, are funny in their abject numbness, Deepti’s Mrs. Thomas makes a tongue-in-cheek transition from frump to prom-queen without missing a beat. Though lacking Dimple Kapadia’s oomph and glamour, Deepti makes her characters bouncing sexual energy when pitched against the young man, so believable, it’s unbelievable! Here’s an actress who’s been constantly typecast as a weeping willow when there’s such a special sparkle to her personality that this film rightly taps.
Some of her scenes with the young man, such as the one where she reluctantly offers him morning tea for the first time, are beautifully landscaped.
You wish her callow catalyst, the paying guest who forces his way into her house, life, and bedroom, had half the charm of the lady he seduces. Looking like a jejune Madhavan, newcomer Suneel lacks the vital synergy of both Leela’s Amol Mhatre and Chotisi Love Story’s Aditya Seal. However, Deepti and Sachin Khedekar conceal many of the film’s weaknesses, including some terribly done over-dubs of incidental dialogue.
What could’ve been yet another self-conscious take on The Graduate (albeit more original than the others) is rescued from demasculation by the theatrical device of a sutradhar, played by the brattish Ranvir Shorey, who first creates the character and then screams indignantly when the characters acquire a life of their own.
This Brechtian distancing device, where we are constantly made aware of the fictional aspect of the story until the characters slip away into a realm far away from analysis, is both fascinating and funny, especially towards the end when our frisky sutradhar protests at the widow’s growing fondness for her guest culminating in a tastefully done love sequence whose stark sensuality may shock some, but would certainly delight fans of Naval who have been waiting to see her blossom into a sensual mode.
The dialogues by Shiven Surendranath use English and Hindi in a way that enhances the characters’ naturalism. They speak as they should. Mohanan’s camera is required to capture lingering shots of Deepti Naval kissing with her young co-star and spiralling staircases showing the characters running towards the top in search of some distant dream that they think they can reach.
Freaky Chakra is a fairly engaging film on urban dysfunctionalism, though finally, we can’t tell whether the director is mocking or celebrating romantic love.
Speaking on her audacious role in Freaky Chakra, Deepti Naval, in a throwback interview had, said, “It was quite a role. It was something I had never done before. I was skeptical when it came to me. But once I was in it, I was in it for good. It is a very unassuming kind of film. I remember how the love scene gave me the heebie jeebies. The first time it was shot, I was extremely unhappy. After shooting non-stop for 16 hours, I was told we would shoot it the same night. I was aghast. I did it somehow. But I couldn’t sleep at night because it was so shabbily done. If that was what the audience would get to see of me after so many years of acting, I would get clobbered. I pleaded with my director. We reshot in the morning, and I was much happier. I am a seriously independent woman, and I want people to know that. I played the submissive wife in Shakti because I needed the money. But I’m glad I did. Now people can see the contrast in Freaky Chakra. So many recent films about an older woman being sexually involved with a young man. Unlike other films on this theme, Freaky Chakra is not a copy of any Hollywood film. The characters go about their lives very seriously. After Jism, audiences would find it easier to accept my love scene in Freaky Chakra. Sadly, it has been cut by almost half for the Indian market. I am not happy with that. They have cut the shots where I take the initiative in the lovemaking. Why can’t we digest a woman taking the lead in a love scene? My whole challenge was to look haggard and unwanted before the young man comes into my life, and then go on to look seductive and desirable. I enjoyed Freaky Chakra. I know couples where the woman is much older. I recently heard another script which had a younger man. Women no longer look at relationships conventionally, and neither should films. We have been conditioned into thinking a woman cannot have a relationship with a younger man. (On women being objectified in our cinema) The dances and body language are so provocative. Women are heaving their breasts in men’s noses and choking them with their bosoms. And they aren’t considered vulgar. I would rather do a straight love scene than have my assets hanging over some man’s face.”
