But their grisly chief lifts up the venomous serpent with the barrel of his shotgun and places it aside, mumbling a quick prayer with folded hands, before urging his gang to continue on the very path. When a gang of dacoits approaches it, they consider the saanp to be nothing short of a shraap. The film opens to a macabre visual - a disturbingly close shot captures the rotting carcass of a cobra splayed across a path, being feasted on by a swarm of flies. Set during the Emergency, Abhishek Chaubey’s Sonchiriya delves into the burden of being a baaghi (a dacoit on the run) at a time when most rebels in the dacoit-infested ravines of Chambal were driven to their last tether. Luckily, this one offers a novel premise. Unless of course, it’s remarkable enough to break through the clutter. But in 2019, merely a tale about a bunch of bandits struggling to survive isn’t going to cut it. From distinguished biopics on those who’ve overcome abuse to be heard and revered (Bandit Queen) to those who parlayed their ability to dash into athletic achievement (Paan Singh Tomar), the list is exhaustive. After all, Hindi cinema’s eternal obsession with the inglorious rebels who wreaked havoc by marauding and looting has led to countless accounts dramatised for celluloid.
The prospect of watching yet another film about dacoits in Chambal could induce a yawn.
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