Bheed

BHEED is a slow, intense, unrelenting, thought-provoking, and above all, a CHALLENGING film.

It sets itself apart from other COVID-19 dramas by also being an effective contained thriller set in a secluded police checkpoint near a mall.

Pankaj Kapur, Rajkumar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar give some of their best performances to date in this film.

BHEED is indeed a slow burn, and will not appeal to everyone. Do not expect a conventional, action-heavy thriller from this movie. BHEED shows the harrowing real, but unseen stories of the pandemic, the ones that many of us had turned a blind eye to.

I do have one criticism of BHEED - some of its stories (particularly the one about the divorced mother) were not developed enough to have any lasting emotional impact.

Films that make you uncomfortable, for all the right reasons, are few and far between. That hold a mirror and show you the kind of society that you are and the possibilities of what you can chose to become. That don't seem to be made with intent of commercial success, but with an intent of striking at the conscience. Such films need to be celebrated.

Bheed is one such endeavour. It is set in the initial days of the first lockdown, during March- april of 2020 and follows the action at an interstate checkpost, across which all movement, of vehicles as well as of humans has been prohibited.

It intermixes this with sometime subtle and sometimes explicit commentary on the casteist as well as communal mindset along with class- divide.

Rajkumar Rao is sensational. Almost oscar worthy. So is Pankaj Kapoor.

Anubhav Sinha gets back in form, after the ordinary Anek. This is amongst his top films, right up there with Mulk and Thappad. There are multiple scenes that show his obvious political leanings, but he does up a fabulous job with the tough subject.

Mandatory watch.

The movie's story is around some true events during the COVID lockdown. It shows the failures of the mismanagement of the Indian government.

The direction and acting of all the actors were perfect. The story raises many issues, like our society's caste system, polarization, and misinformation. The movie also shows how we are all humans. Do not fall for the negative reviews.

The story is about multiple characters who either needed to leave their homes in a big city or got stranded and needed to reach some location due to the lockdown.

On the border of a fictional town, a police officer and his subordinates are supposed to stop the crowd from entering the town.

If you like movies closer to reality and are unafraid of seeing the uncomfortable truth, please watch.

Bheed by Anubhav Sinha - first of all, watching this film in black and white was a unique experience on the big screen. Set in a fictional state and town with all vehicles number plates CP. It shows what happened during the height of pandemic at a town border, when all migrants wanted to return to their town. I feel that writers literally took all the headlines going around during the pandemic, compressed them to one place and all the problems were faced in a single day.

Every topic was covered caste, religion, politics and poverty. Due to this, the story didn't feel focused and the movie's runtime was only 1h50m. This needed a slower approach and maybe it was too soon to release this film. They could have made it 5-10 years later. It shows poor management by the current govt.

The acting was wonderful, but these were the best - Rajkumar Rao, Dia Mirza, Aditya Srivastava, Pankaj Kapoor and Aushutosh Rana.

So I saw the censor board certificate which states all the cuts done in this film, I feel, due to this, 50% impact of the film is lost.

Bheed is an insight into the lockdown and its impact. The film lays bare the real picture of our society which is divided on the lines of religion, cast and class. All is not lost though as humanity saves the day.

The film is another feather to Anubhav Sinha's cap after Mulk, Article 15, Thappad and Anek. His second innings is really impressive where he continues to make one hard hitting film after the other. He might have worked with different actors here but the impact remains the same.

An ensemble of actors comprising Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza and others perform really well and deliver a socially relevant and important film.