Phullu movie review: Bad blood turns good

Director: Abhishek Saxena

Cast: Sharib Ali Hashmi, Jyoti Sethi, Nutan Surya, Namya Saxena and Inaamulhaq

There are several taboos in the society and one of the most unfortunate ones is the menstrual cycle of women. Director Abhishek Saxena marks his brave directorial debut with Phullu that talks about personal hygiene of women especially in villages.

Phullu (Sharib Ali Hashmi), an ideal young man makes sanitary pads with left over cloth pieces and distributes among the women in his village. He is the matter of concern for his old mother Amma (Nutan Surya) who is against his profession. His life changes upside down when he gets married to Bigni (Jyoti Sethi). The two enjoy their blissful marriage until Phullu discovers packaged sanitary napkins manufactured in the city. What happens next forms the rest of the plot.

With not many films on social messages, Phullu stands out for its unique subject and story telling. The take away from the film is its beautiful thought and heart melting execution. Kudos to director Abhishek Saxena and his entire research team for dealing with an untold subject. Days were gone when films were used to change the mindsets of people but Phullu is that one step towards it. Although, the pace of the film could have been faster, it remains successful in touching the right chords. Still the length of the film is just 96 minutes which is commendable.

Phullu has been ridden by controversies for having a plot similar to the Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor starrer Padman which is still under production. It is sad how a small film like Phullu is a victim of lobbying. Even the Censor Board gave an A-certificate to the film which is absolutely an injustice to the film like this. How can personal hygiene and menstrual cycle of women be an adult content? The news was doing the rounds that the team of the latter film has suppressed the promotions of Phullu but every film has its own fate. Releasing a film isn’t an easy task but Phullu will see a tough time facing an imbalanced distribution of screens over Bank Chor. Just because a film like Phullu doesn’t have a bigger star and a fancy production value, a film which is trying to spread social awareness cannot go unnoticed.

Over to the actors now, Sharib Ali Hashmi is so convincing in his act that not even a second you will feel disconnected to his pain. Jyoti Sethi, who marked her Bollywood debut is raw, real and true to life. Nutan Surya does a perfect job of an annoyed helpless mother. Namya Saxena is good as a journalist. Inaamulhaq, who has a special appearance in the film, is a comic relief. Be it cameos in Airlift or Jolly LLB 2, the actor never goes unnoticed but he is still to get his due as an actor in the industry.

Overall, Phullu is watchable for its exceptional subject. Don’t expect it to be a fancy commercial film but is definitely high on emotions.