Sonchiriya Analysis

Sonchiriya (2019)

Directed by: Abhishek Chaubey
Written by: Sudip Sharma

The film is set in 1975 at the Chambal valley, and it's a story of some dacoits. It's mostly a battle of survival - after Dadda, the head is killed the dacoit is split into two as one group wants to surrender and the other wants to let the show go on. The setting is captured without any lenses of today's morality - the dacoits agree to save Indumati because she belongs to a certain caste and they clearly wouldn't have helped her otherwise. There is a brilliant line which says that caste is used to separate men, and women are a different caste altogether - this line is written in a way that the writer's worldview comes out in a subtle way, without compromising on setting, and character. 

The trauma and guilt of crime and murder, is brilliantly captured through the titular concept 'Sonchiriya' and they say that it's a curse to them - again a layered thematic concept without compromising the setting, in fact this adds to the setting. The film isn't a counter culture film with anti-heroes, all the dacoits die by the ending, and even after admitting the girl in the hospital he is haunted by that girl, the film says that there's no redemption for such people apart from death. Both Dadda and Lathna die because they get overwhelmed by the feeling of guilt. The black comedy, and the setting slightly reminded me of Gangs of Wasseypur.