A horrifying story of child sexual abuse backed by stupendous performances
Fans of horror movies enjoy watching the genre because of the thrill that comes with watching suspenseful films featuring supernatural creatures. These predators harm the characters in the film but the actions do not resonate with the viewers as it is easy to separate fact from fiction.
However, a film that narrates the story of a real-life predator (translated to Bhakshak in Hindi) only leaves viewers in trepidation in its wake. The Netflix India original Bhakshak is one such story that leaves you horrified at the plight of innocent children at the hands of people they believed were their caretakers.
The film is a harrowing 135-minute watch depicting the real-life child sex crime case – The Muzaffarpur Shelter Case. Bhakshak stars Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra and Aditya Srivastav in the lead roles and narrates the story of Vaishali Singh, a small-time news reporter who lands a sensitive story involving a local politician’s involvement in horrendous child sexual abuse as well as murder.
Instead of backing away and overlooking the Bhakshak’s (predator’s) deed, Vaishali decides to bring the powerful man down with her sheer will and determination. The opening moments of the film are heartbreaking and a clear disclaimer would be that this film is not a pleasant watch, definitely not for victims of sexual abuse.
The pot-boiler follows the life of a small-time reporter who keeps hoping to land a big break soon. After receiving a tip from an informant, Vaishali is horrified. She learns that orphan girls were being held in a government-funded shelter home where the girls were being subject to sexual abuse at the hands of the people who run the organisation as well as the caretakers who were responsible for the protection and safety of the girls.
The film peels slowly as if it were the layers of an onion and we see the horrendous details of abuse that these blameless little girls had to experience. Bhakshak goes into immense detail to lay out how the girls were abused to instigate viewers. The film does not attempt to sugarcoat the abuse and wants the audience to rile up and fume at the audacity of the people abusing the little girls.
Bhumi Pednekar does a stupendous job as Vaishali who struggles to bring justice to more than 40 teen and pre-teen girls who were living in hell. She also perfectly portrays the other struggles an Indian woman has to experience in the present day and age despite the advancement of technology.
A scene from the film that beautifully depicts the status of women in India is when Vaishali’s husband scolds her for coming home late from work as he was left to starve for an hour because she hadn’t prepared dinner for her. Bhakshak attempts to use simple scenes like this to point out the subjugation of women in Indian society where women are treated as slaves, commodities and objects while men get to use these objects as and when they please.
Bhakshak sees Aditya Srivastav as the predator – Bansi Sahu and we see the popular actor transform into an evil child sexual predator as the film progresses. Bansi will make you squirm with disgust just as one should feel in the presence of a sexual abuser. The film is not the story of a particular crime or one case in isolation but it attempts to highlight the adverse effects of silence and compliance that have led to millions of victims of sexual abuse all over the world.
The final moments of Bhakshak see Vaishali deliver a gut-wrenching monologue, mocking the viewer for doing nothing to help victims of sexual assault around them. Being a reporter, Vaishali looks to the camera as she delivers the lines and stares through your soul, making you feel guilty for all the times you overlooked the actions of a Bhakshak.
Read More: Bhakshak Ending Explained
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Verdict - 9.5/10
9.5/10