Parched
'Parched' is a story about women set in the heart of parched rural landscape of Rajasthan, India. A widow, Rani (Tannishtha), a childless woman, Lajjo (Radhika) and a sex worker Bijli (Surveen) from a village in a Rajasthan state in India are victims of age-old traditions like child marriage, physical abuse, alcoholic husbands and social apathy.
Parched movie showing us mirror, how this society is so much male dominated .The all characters live in a dusty rural village called Ujhaas in Rajasthan India. In this film, the director shows us how women face various problems in this society. “Parched” is a filmmaker’s attempt to understand how and why these women continue to live.
The women live in a tightly controlled world, hemmed in by tradition, but in their private spaces they talk about love, girls problem and their dreams for the future. Life seems like an unending cycle of hardship punctuated by small bits of happiness. But it all breaks down. On the day of her son's marriage, Rani discovers that Janaki's hair has been cut off, dishonoring her in her village. Manoj's brutality towards Lajjo grows more fierce. Bijli finds out a new girl might replace her.
It’s hard to tell such extreme stories and sometimes “Parchad” which is ultimately a provocative melodrama that falls on the side of the cartoon with its male characters. Every man is a villain, from fathers to young children mocking the idea of any success for women. Only one, Kishan, feels very human at the end of the film and he is undeveloped. Cruelty continues unabated. And yet who knows? Insulting monsters exist everywhere. Growing culture immersed in the wrong age makes that behavior acceptable, even the virtues of masculinity. Still, the question arises as to whether a good man can be found.
But that doesn't matter all that much, because the women of “Parched,” especially the three at its center, are wonderfully complex. Rani is fully aware of her dark early days as a young wife, during which she was mistreated by both her new husband and her mother-in-law, but reflexively treats Janaki with disdain and even abuse; Lajjo chafes under her husband's tyranny, but still lives for his approval; Bijli seems breezily liberated, but can't come up with a way to free herself that doesn't require a man.
In movie, In one scene rani tell her son "मर्द बनना छोड़ पहले इंसान बनना सीखले" this words is heart touching. The final scenes of the film are set against the backdrop of a festival, the day when a lord and goddess defeated evil and untruthful forces and were replaced by truth.