Following the recent wave of short films addressing feminist (or maybe humanist) issues, such as the brilliant Juice (2018) starring Shefali Shah, Devi is one good piece, although it could have been even better. Set in one house during one continuous 13-minute episode, the film introduces a group of women who've been staying in this apartment, which apparently serves as a metaphor for afterlife. All of them, of varied ages and sociocultural backgrounds, are bound together by virtue of them being women, and to be precise, women who've been through abuse, mostly sexual, but not necessarily so, as it appears. The film presents their stories through all their differences in both attitude and mentality, and it does so really well, capturing their disputes and tiny conflicts so as to show how the little that unites them is far greater than what divides them.
Devi is a strong commentary on a society where female deities are worshipped but women are much less respected. The film is symbolically impactive, but the abundance of characters might have been better resolved had some of it been just a little less suggestive of what had happened and actually given more information. Here too we have a wonderful group of actresses, brilliantly led by Kajol, who is palpably vulnerable and distraught. Much of the tension is courtesy her, as she dictates the mood with her strong presence. Obviously Neena Kulkarni is next to marvel at given a showy role but a remarkably realistic performance, and Neha Dhupia acts well against her. Mukta Barve is very impressive, and all the rest of them do their bits part exceedingly well, helping create a nice prologue to the moving ending and the final, explanatory credits.
