What Is the Story About?
Siya follows a 17 year old woman from Devganj village in Uttar Pradesh, who is subjected to torture, rape and harassment by a group of powerful men. She is held in captivity for more than a week and then rescued. She decides to seek justice with the help of a family-friend-lawyer. Deeply reminiscent of the Unnao Rape Case and Hathrase Rape Case that shook India, Siya is a brave and straight-forward account on behalf of many such cases that didn’t even see the light of the day.
Performances?
Debutant Pooja Pandey is very effective as Siya. A normal girl with bigger dreams and ambitions, struck down because of circumstances and also a synonym of bravery when she decides to strike back at her perpetrators. However, she is believable. Her strength isn’t cinematic, her will-power isn’t an over-night phenomenon.
Analysis
Directed by Manish Mundra and written by Haider Rizvi, Siya is a powerful, gritty and hard-hitting crime drama based on real events. The film isn’t a biography as such, but presents some of the most gut-wrenching events that took place during the Unnao and Hathras cases that shook the nation in 2017 and 2020 respectively.
First things first, Siya is the story of a 17 year old young girl’s pursuit of justice and the cost she bears for the same. It isn’t a heroic tale where ‘rape’ is merely used as a plot device to push a saviour-angle. Siya is a reality. What happens to Siya happens to thousands of girls around us and nobody hears or talks about them once the air settles. Siya is every girl whose dreams get crushed by the powerful monsters, Siya is every girl at whom the law turns a blind-eye.
Without uttering too much about the plot, Siya would remind you of many cases that hit news headlines years ago for weeks. Two of the most gut-wrenching ones in the recent times being Unnao and Hathras. Whatever happened to the girls and their families, you could see that in Siya. The writers doesn’t hold back, but also stays real and doesn’t sensationalise an issues this sensitive and grave.
Haider Rizvi’s writing is sensitive, and also proves that one needn’t push uncomfortable and gory visuals to put across the point that a girl or a woman was harassed/accused. Her tired face and numb eyes are enough. In Haider Rizvi’s Siya, there’s no Hero.
All Siya has is her family, initially hesitant to support her fight and a lawyer friend. She is threatened, her family destroyed, parents killed and she is left with nothing. The only crime she did was to seek justice for the wrongs she was subjected to. Siya paints a real picture of the state of women in this country. The real picture of a corrupt police system, a corrupt legislative and executive system and a blind system of judiciary.
In Short, Siya should be watched. For the painstaking reality it shows, for the groundedness with which it’s executed, and for the earnest making involved. Above and all for good performances, too.
Other Artists?
Vineet Kumar Singh is the best thing about Siya. The actor is exceptional as a struggling lawyer supporting Siya and aiding her pursuit for Justice. Every scene of Pooja with Vineet Kumar stands out. The rest of the cast doesn’t have shining moments per se, but they all look and perform so naturally without an ounce of theatrics or sensationalism.
Music and Other Departments?
Rafey Mahmood and Subhransu Kumar Das’s cinematography is one of its main characters of Siya. The colour palette, the landscapes, the moments of silences are all captured with so much thought that the frames convey the mood of the film from word go. Manoj M Goswami’s sound design aids the narrative well.
Highlights?
Story
Vineet Kumar
Debutante’s Performance
Drawbacks?
Pacing
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes. Absolutely.
Siya Movie Review by Binged Bureau
The post Siya Review – A Hard Hitting Story of Resilience Inspired from Real Events appeared first on Binged.