Movie Review: Provoked

Aishwarya Rai's latest effort to move outside of strictly Bollywood fare, Provoked (directed by Jag Mundhra), is based on the non-fiction book Circle of Light by Rahila Gupta and Kiranjit Ahluwalia. The movie and book focus on Ahluwalia's life in England.

The opening of the film finds Kiranjit's house burning as she stands outside with her children; her husband has been gravely injured in the fire. The police quickly suspect arson and Kiranjit is pegged as the responsible party. Her husband dies and she is brought to trial.

The majority of the film is narrated as a series of flashbacks to Kiranjit's life with her husband, Deepak Ahluwalia (Naveen Andrews of Lost), and the trial and its aftermath. Kiranjit suffered greatly at the hands of her husband, enduring twelve years of physical and mental abuse. Due to poor representation, her mother-in-law and a police officer lying on the stand, and a legal system with archaic laws, Kiranjit is convicted of murder.

The film then moves on to her coming into her own in prison with a new group of friends as well as gaining the support of a not for profit foundation that wishes to help her. Of course, in the end, Kiranjit goes free.

Were this movie not based on a true story, the entire plot would seem far too contrived to be believable: two key witnesses lie; the lawyer doesn't have the time to devote to the case; Kiranjit just happens to end up with a cellmate, Veronica Scott (Miranda Richardson), who has been convicted of a similar crime; Veronica just happens to have a rich well-respected barrister for a brother; etcetera.

Though the film is full of solid performances by the actors, particularly Robbie Coltrane's brief appearance, it is a little too obvious. For instance, the scenes of Deepak's funeral are immediately followed by a flashback to Deepak and Kiranjit's wedding. While on the face of it the juxtaposition of these two scenes makes sense, in reality it ends up pulling the audience out of the story. As the flashback structure has already been developed, as soon as the viewer sees the funeral, the immediate thought is not to pay attention to what's currently going on, but to place a bet that the next scene will be the wedding.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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