Cheekatlo Review: Conventional

Cheekatlo is a run-of-the-mill crime procedural, notes Arjun Menon.

Women's issues have largely been a narrative setup for mainstream cinema to indulge in saviour arcs for leading men. Our Indian commercial cinema has seen many unjust and exploitative depictions of sexual offences and the way in which women's bodies are used against them, like a burden against their own agency.

Cheekatlo is among the few mainstream films from recent times that address these issues. The film frames the story of sexual abuse, centering on its leading lady, who plays a crime podcaster.

The film starts at Rajachandrapuram in 1999, about two dancers, Lachi and Rani. When Lachi gets sexually assaulted, a devastated Rani tries to report the crime to the police. But the inspector kicks her out, questioning her character and worrying that the case might be a hotbed for political issues as the local politician was last seen with the woman on the night of the assault.

The film cuts to the present, where we meet our hero, Sandhya (played with grace and restraint) by Sobhita Dhulipala.

• Also Read: Sobhita's Special Makar Sankranti Wish

What Cheekatlo is about

Sandhya is a journalist, who is fed up with her gossipy, sleazy news programme. She quits her job after calling out her boss and the media firm's culpability in doling out sensationalised, gossipy reporting imposed by TRP expectations. She is supported by her intern colleague Bobby and her boyfriend to start a true crime podcast, a long-standing dream of theirs.

There are cutaways to Sandhya's own nightmares from a bad experience she suffered as a teenager in a crowded movie theatre, and it's an important detail in Sandhya's 'stubborn', relentless pursuit of truth.

She knows what it is like to be encroached upon and violated daily, by men who see no value in the basic dignity of a woman's experience. This trauma is the beat that the film uses as a thinly drawn anchor for Sandhya's tireless commitment to truth.

Everything seems to be going well for Sandhya, who starts her podcast and is getting ready to marry her long-time boyfriend, when things take a turn for the worse. Her colleague Bobby has been found dead along with her boyfriend in their homes.

The writing lets Cheekatlo down

She discovers there was a sexual crime committed against her friend.

What would Sandhya do? Will she be able to follow the leads as the one crime reveals itself to be a rabbit hole that snowballs into a series of revelations into past crimes, featuring dozens of unsuspecting women?

Cheekatlo, which translates to darkness, is a slick investigative piece when it wants to be, but the flabby writing lets it down in places.

The tropes and staples of earlier films can be found in plenty, and the film is satisfied with making victims of serious sexual offences mere footnotes for its surface-level examination of a criminal's motives.

Cheekatlo is fairly conventional in its plotting. It does not break new ground and is satisfied with being a series of investigations tied around a relentless female lead, whose agency takes a back seat in the latter half as bigger forces get involved in the crime, spanning decades, spread across timelines and states.

The podcast is an incidental detail that makes the investigation aspect of the story feel somewhat novel, as the film eschews traditional police investigation procedures for centering the procedural aspect of the crimes through the podcast framing.

But the illusion of addressing problems inherent in patriarchy alone won't make a film worthwhile. The effort matters, and Cheekatlo manages to be an efficient vehicle for Sobhita Dhulipala to carry a film on her shoulders.

The end reveal is a bit underwhelming, as the momentum is lost to a sudden flashback reveal that is clumsily added. The nobility of the cause is somewhat short-changed by the clumsy 'twist' aspect of the reveal.

Sharan Koppisetty and his co-writer Chandra Pemmaraju are comfortable working within the sandbox of a traditional cat-and-mouse serial killer mystery. There are few instances in the second half where the screenplay snowballs into areas of predictable twists and filler scenes, involving the dynamics between the police officer investigating the case and Sandhya, and also Sandhya's conflicted relationship with her boyfriend, who feels left out after she becomes obsessed with cracking the case and delivering justice to the many nameless, helpless women.

The second hour of the film relies on superficial writing. The reveal feels hurried and undermines the attempt at addressing the central issues at hand.

Sobhita Dhulipala delivers a restrained performance in Cheekatlo

Sobhita is dialled down and restrained as the central figure, who is relentlessly marching ahead despite the many pushbacks she gets from the ones around her. The actress interprets Sandhya's terrifying childhood trauma as a simmering storm that rarely breaks out.

It's a lived-in reality that informs all her actions. The actress is asked to communicate depths of emotion with a straight face and does a good job.

The rest of the supporting cast delivers good performances that lend support to Sobhita.

Malikarjun's cinematography does not call attention to itself, and the frames never impose slickness that takes away the importance of the issues being discussed.

Cheekatlo is a run-of-the-mill crime procedural that overcomes its stale dependence on familiar tropes with its limited, yet refreshing commitment to the female lead's perspective.

It is not much, but a hopeful trend where we will get to see serious issues relating to the female experience dealt with in the necessary, empathetic lens, as opposed to being mere mouthpieces for superficial genre pleasures.

Cheekatlo streams on Amazon Prime Video.