Devi Aur Hero

A surreal experience that hits the core of the world that we live in. The film beautifully and very starkly exposes us into the complicated nuanced layered lives of people and emotions that we feel and often want to avoid. Every film by Aditya Kriplani and the team stands as a space to embrace and talk about a more complicated understanding of feminism and situations around it. This film bases itself on our need to confront and take up the role of our responsibility to support not just for ourselves but for the people around us. How, the very loneliness of our pasts and struggles binds us together and the only way through is together. The two protagonists meet at a complicated threshold. Hero is a broken human everyday falling deeper into his despair and addiction. Devi on the other hand unaware of her condition is suffering and running away from the life she has lived. In my understanding, the feminist movement is based on the communication of the two genders understanding and communication with each other. Accepting the hurt and together empowering the feminine. And by that logic stands as a strongly feminist film. The film stands at the heart of the nuanced and difficult context, demanding from them to embrace the feminine within them. Through their characters and their stories. The film runs us through the emotions, pain, hurt and the bipolarity of the world we live in. Once again questioning the notions of the society and of your own self. It is a story of courage, support and connecting to our kernel and fundamental selves through each other. A detail oriented film, the title itself makes one wonder who is the hero, keeping it open for the audience to experience. This is an important quality that every Aditya Kriplani film stands by to initiate discussion both within the society and within oneself. The film through the the story and the direction opens one to the mental health issues, addiction and very sensitively brings up questions of ethics, longing for freedom from existing connection to our demons by wanting to build a real world connection and yet being scared of it. It is a story of fear, trust, pain and diving into our darkest caves and embracing them through strength and courage welcoming wisdom. It truly displays the 'the cage we fear the most to enter holds the gem that we seek'. A fantastic, important and a cathartic experience where I found myself also confronting some darker spaces. In the end it feels a weight is lifted and brings oneself to a space of closure.

This movie has some amazing performances. Direction keeps you engaged through out the movie. Emotion is carried so well. Some scenes reminded me of theatre and those silences in between scenes felt real. Special mention to costumes. While the hero and heroine gave extraordinary performances.. other characters like juvenile return boy.. helper in the hero house did great acting. In the end in one of the scene I got to see first time a super hero kind of woman in saree and sparrow eye makeup.. it's fantastic!

Devi Aur Hero, loved everything about the movie, not just one but for many reasons. For a perfect cast that could handle intense skill that this movie required, for picking up the topic that main stream cinema hardly dares to, for crafting it in a way that it brought out its true essence. The movie felt so real, I did have a hate spell for the obsessiveness and compulsiveness of your male character and his pain and remorse was equally felt. I could feel the story of Kaali, I was one with her throughout, her character made me believe in her.

I simply wow at the director Aditya Kriplani's capacity to handle so many themes and subjects in frame and justify each one of them. His talent for layering those and then weaving and summing them all together and then bringing them to a perfect closure is worth an applaud. Congratulations on picking up sensitive topics and bringing them to the world's platter. Topics that have been long lost in a glamour world of glitzy Bollywood. Waiting for more meaningful art from his side, he is a true hero who braved to pick this topic, all the best for your future!

"Devi aur Hero" a movie about real life issues which is often looked as a controversial topics to talk about. It has been handled very carefully and crafted beautifully without any screen violence and brutality. Excellently captures - struggles, emotional and physical turmoil, angst of two people who help each other to heal. Actors have done impeccable work and lived the characters so beautifully that it left me wanting to know more about them, DEVI and HERO. More realistic than we usually "want" to acknowledge.

Some actions as a woman you would want to take in order to take revenge. Stories that may be real in some parts of the world, truth nothing but truth.