Phule movie review: Pratik Gandhi, Patralekhaa's Savitribai-Jyotiba Phule biopic struggles to rise over dull screenplay

Phule movie review

Cast: Pratik Gandhi, Patralekhaa, Alexx O'Nell

Director: Ananth Mahadevan

Rating: ★★★

What Jyotiba Phule and his wife, Savitribai Phule, did for the abolishment of the caste system in India in the late 1800s, apart from fighting for female literacy, cannot- and should not- be forgotten. With this being acknowledged right in the beginning, it gives the writer the liberty to talk strictly about the film at hand, and its merits/ demerits. Phule is intended to be a faithful biopic on the lives of the two reformers, directed by Ananth Mahadevan and starring Pratik Gandhi and Patralekhaa.

What is Phule about?

It begins with Savitribai's humanitarian efforts for the people suffering from the Great Plague of Pune (then Poona) and then cuts to a flashback, where Jyotiba, married to the then-child Savitribai, agrees to educate her despite resistance from his family and community.

Their relationship is one of equality right from the beginning, and Ananth gets the vibe of the biopic right.

What works and what doesn't

Phule will definitely educate many people on these unsung heroes of India, whom we don’t talk about enough. Some scenes in the film truly stand out. Like the one where Savitribai shows a man his place when he tries to intimidate her. Or the courtroom scene where Pratik successfully stands up to a group of Brahmins who object to his attempts to abolish the caste system

Where the film begins to feel weak is cramming in so much into a little more than two hours' runtime. What it leads to is thus one getting exhausted before the intermission. I don’t think the makers have left out anything, but it was never meant to be like a history chapter in class X, which faithfully covers everything. What unfolds on screen isn’t treated like a film. And by the time the ending is near, one is hoping it will at least wrap up on a poignant note, on time. But again- it stretches on. There’s no climax really.

What doesn’t help is that both the leading actors, who put in decent efforts, sometimes give in to caricaturish portrayals. The screenplay jumps from one good deed to another, but there’s no focus on making us understand these two people.

The attention to detail in the production design is commendable. Rohan-Rohan's music is average, though.

Overall, Phule is a sincere, important film, dulled by an oversimplistic screenplay and treatment.