Pagglait Review: Sanya Malhotra bowls over with her natural act in heart warming tale of middle class girl finding purpose of life after her husband's death

By Rajesh Ahuja

In a patriarchal society like India where the fate of the women in the family is invariably entertwined with the fate of the men in the family be it their father, their brother or their husbands, the death of a woman's husband at an early age means an end of the road for her with most of them condemned to lead the life of a widow for the rest of their lives.

It is a similar predicament that is faced in the new film Pagglait by young bride Sandhya, (Sanya Malhotra) who is confronted with the harsh reality of her husband Astik's death just five months after her marriage..

Even as the in-laws of Sandhya (Ashutosh Rana and Sheeba Chadha) , her parents and Astik's relatives  feel sad for Sandhya, she is surprisingly emotionless and stoic about the death of her husband. 

In her first scene in the film, Sandhya is seen non challantly glancing at the obituaries for Astik on Facebook, joking about the fact that all the messages are copy paste messages.

Also when her mother in law asks whether she wants tea, she expresses desire for a Pepsi. Asked by her childhood friend Nazia as to why she is behaving so strangely Sandhya says that she does not feel anything.

However, as she comes across a photograph of a girl in Astik's cupboard, she expresses a feeling of anger for her Kate husband and one gets to know that the couple hardly got to talk much when Astik was alive.

Sandhya decides to meet the mystery girl who happens to be Astik's office colleague.

As Sandhya delves deep into Astik's life she realises that he did not cheat her.

Later it turns out that Astik had willed an insurance policy worth Rs 50 lakh for her.

The revelation comes as a bolt for Astik's family who are seen to hatch plans to ensure that the money remains in the family.

However,  the development makes Sandhya  fall in love with her late husband who she realises cared for her.

The love for Astik also brings in her realisation of belongingness to his family and the desire to be a bread earner for them in Astik's absence. Therein, she  and finds a purpose to her life.

Pugglait is a heart warming story of a middle class girl discovering purpose of life after her husband's death 

A story revolving around a girl widowed at a young age, Pugglait was in the danger of being reduced to a sob affair with a lot of melodrama.

However, the director gives it a realistic feel. For example, the hordes of relatives gathered to mourn the death of a youngster in the family talking about talking about materialistic things and worldly matters is something closer to reality and something with which the viewers are likely to identify. Also, the initial feelings of Sandhya on the death of Astik's is something a lot of girls would identify with.  The story moves at a rather slow pace in the beginning but picks up pace in the later half of the film.

The emotions in the film, especially the scene where the father of Astik (Ashutosh Rana) is seen crestfallen over death of his young son and Sandhya's interaction with her mother and Astik's grandmother touch the heart of the viewers.

Sanya Malhotra is in great form as Sandhya, who i.makes a seamless transition in the film from a young widow who finds herself unable to feel sad following the death of her husband to girl who develops sense of belongingness to Astik's family.

She bowls you over with her natural act ..  Her facial expressions, her emotions and her body language perfectly mirror the state of mind of a girl, who is still to realise that her whole world has turned upside down after the death of her husband.

Her emotional outburst after she comes across the picture of another woman in her late husband's cupboard and her realisation of the love for him after she delves deep into his life, come across as natural. Her interactions with her mother, her brother in law and Astik's grandmother and with Astik's colleague leave you emotional. She is undoubtedly the highlight of the film.

Ashutosh Rana impresses you with his act as Astik's father who is crestfallen over the death of his son but who, despite his pending debts, cannot bring himself to wrongfully claiming the insurance money that Astik has left for his wife Sandhya.

Raghuvir Yadav as the elder of the family Roshan Sethi, Shruti Sharma as Sandhya's friend Nazia, Jameel khan as Astik's relative and Sayani Gupta as Astik's former colleague Ananya   lend able support. 

The music of the film is ordinary though the song Thode Kam Ajnabi leave you touched.

In short, Pagglait is a heart warming story of a young middle class girl who realises the purpose of her life after death of her husband.

My rating: 3/5: one for the story and screenplay, one for the direction and one for the perfect natural act by Sanya Malhotra