Low Point

CAST: Divya Dutta,Ashutosh Rana,Rajit Kapoor,Yashpal Sharma,Kitu Gidwani

rating: **1/2

Lucknow girl Monica Jaitley (Dutta) shakes off her small-town roots by the easiest route she has set upon,without her really wanting to: sleeping her way to the top. As a star-struck college kid,she is charmed by her mentor Raj (Kapoor). As a reporter who likes busting scandals,she is taken in by politician Chandrakant Pandit (Rana). Her rise is pock-marked by relationships that founder,and she finds herself friendless and afraid for her life.

The film has been generating buzz for its lead character because of the similarity to women who hit the headlines for various reasons. The closest story to Monica’s is that of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar,whose proximity to people in power delivered her to death’s door. Monica’s brutal end also mirrors the curious case of Madhumita Shukla. A mention of “2G”,and “a telecom minister” also crops up,leaving us to wonder how much of the Niira Radia saga is an influence on the film.

Every recent scandal involving sex,power,politics and vulnerable women seems to be here. But the film doesn’t know how to do sleaze without being sleazy. There’s a lot of groping and pawing and,oh,women-at-it-too: amongst the people who uses Monica is a female industrialist (Gidwani).

This could have been an important film,because it tells an important story of small towns,the pulls and pushes of absolute power and corruption. Monica has the intention and a couple of effective performances (it’s good to see Rana after such a long gap),but it doesn’t keep up with its execution.