Screengrabs from Sherni.
By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE, 19 June 2021: Director Amit Musrakar takes us into a Madhya Pradesh forest area where an upright district forest officer ( Vidhya Vincent played by Vidya Balan) battles the man-animal conflict in the context of the larger conflict between the environment and development. In 2017 Amit’s Newton dealt with an Election Officer in a battle to conduct a free and fair election in a conflict-ridden forest facing an insurgency. Sherni is a shadow of Newton in a different context.
It’s not easy for the government officer (Vidya) to deal with a situation where a Tigress is attacking or killing locals and her duty is to conserve wildlife in a dwindling forest. The locals are dependent on the forest for livelihood and area politics runs deep. A bureaucrat away from family in a remote rural outpost confronts day-to-day issues that defy solutions. Vidya is calm but resolute being wedded to her work.
Photo-Amazon Prime
The bureaucracy as one officer tells Vidya was a creation of the British colonists with officers longing for brownie points to get a good promotion. But if one is committed to work, then you become involved in confronting the system which does not seem to accept rational solutions. A Copper mine in the area, politicians raising issues, gender bias, and family issues speak for themselves.
The beauty of this movie is it does not shout. The storyline reflects the socio-economic parameters of environmental degradation and the challenges of a sincere bureaucrat to deal with it. There is setback and hope. Life goes on.
The two hours and 10 minutes movie is a mix of a feature and documentary-style beautifully done. The forest greenery is refreshing with excellent camerawork. Vidya Balan and Vijay Razz shine in the movie. Overall, the performances of others is good and fits well with the script. This is another gem from director Amit after Newton.
Cast- Vidya Balan, Vijay Razz, Mukul Chadda, Sharat Saxena, Neeraj Kabi, etc; Director Amit Masurkar; Cinematography Rakesh Haridas; Editing Dipika Kalra and Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra, and Amit Masurkar.
I give the movie 4 and a half stars out of five.
The movie is streaming free at the IFFM-2021.
