Natkhat Review: Vidya Balan uproots patriarchy with a bedtime story rooted in reality

3.5/5

Story:

Natkhat is the story about a mother educating her son on gender equality and also about the brutal side of the chauvinistic male gaze via a bedtime story. 

Review:

Nearly a year after its premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Vidya Balan's much-anticipated short film Natkhat has become available for the viewers on Voot. In limited words, the film is about a mother (Vidya) educating her young son Sonu (Sanika Patel) about gender equality in a way no one can expect. Natkhat showcases how rape culture becomes a norm and how young boys learn about it even before hitting puberty. 

The beginning of the film sets a disturbing premise, so much so, that you hope for Vidya's character to make an entry and become a saviour. Interestingly, that indeed turns out to be the case. Natkhat maintains that 'boys will be boys' and one of the examples is seen when seven-year-old Sonu, during a dinner table conversation interrupts his father and grandfather by saying you should abduct the girl. However, his grandfather justifies his shocking statement by blaming it on his testosterone. 

Shaan Vyas, the director goes deep into the roots while narrating the story. Vidya, who doesn't have a name, is defined by her roles as a family member - ma and bahu. But she is a woman who cannot handle the fact that her son is turning into a brat (Natkhat). 

She is a veil clad homemaker who hides her face in the presence of her in-laws. But behind the face is a scared woman who doesn't want her son to get into the wrong path just because 'boys will be boys'. 

Her bedtime story to her son has been beautifully personified and kudos to the writers Shaan and Annukampa Harsh for doing so. It is a normal fairytale (not really) but a happy ending comes at the cost of her son's behaviour. 

The bedtime story turns into a voiceover narrative while taking the story forward. Vidya takes on patriarchy step-by-step, beginning with the fact that the male gaze is not a normal thing to live with, for females. 

It is delightful and quite surprising to see a girl being cast as the young son going by the premise of the film. Her character (of Vidya’s son) is docile and naive but comes under peer pressure from teenage boys who plan to abduct and gang rape girls of their village just like how people tend to normalise such behaviour in their daily conversations. 

Natkhat, the word is used to describe Lord Krishna in his childhood for stealing butter and teasing gopis. The short film more or less gives a gist and justifies the title but disturbingly and more deeply. 

The film with one bedtime story shows two parallel narratives - one of Vidya's character, who is a survivor of domestic violence at the hands of her husband and on the other hand, she teaches her son to not become a male chauvinist like the other men in the family. 

In just 32 minutes, the film uproots misogyny and shows the importance of educating kids on feminism, irrespective of gender. 

Verdict:

Natkhat is ill at ease but vitally important and shouldn't be skipped by any.