Sexual harassment. How does one ascertain the guilty party? Is it always one-sided? Inkaar plans to explore the rules of this very hot and rather taboo topic. For what are the rules in office romances? Is flirting ever innocent whilst in a working environment? And then there’s always the age old question; how far is too far?
Director of last year’s inside scoop on the life of Bollywood starlet, Heroine, Manoj Tyagi (Jail 2009, Corporate, 2006), is back with another voyeuristic look inside a lucrative profession.
Official Synopsis: At one of India’s leading ad agencies, the battle for the top job between Rahul, a venerated advertising CEO, and Maya his ambitious protégé takes a dramatic turn when she files a sexual harassment complaint against him.
Now it’s the job of the committee set up by the agency to hear both sides of the story and work through the layers of lies and accusations to find out who’s really telling the truth and who’s lying. The stakes are high because only of one them will walk away with their reputation intact and get the top job. Will the committee really be able to uncover the truth? How will the agency deal with the dilemma of choosing between its two most talented people?
Cast: Arjun Ramapal, Chitrangda Singh, Gaurav Dwidevi
Comments: Not to be mistaken for the Bolly version of the Hollywood film Disclosure (1994) —- cause well, they’ve already done that (see: Aitraaz), Inkaar seeks to tread territory that perhaps gives more equal billing to the sexual antics of office mates.
Office politics and sex scandals are nothing new but the sex, lies and videotape vibe of this film has my antenna buzzing. I foresee, flashbacks and misdirections, coupled with some brazen backbiting in this tantalizing office tale, masked as harass entrapment. Instinctively, the legal suit beats as false, but perhaps, the falseness the viewer recognizes, doesn’t end there. For, issues of sexual misconduct at the workplace can be just as grey as the other indiscretions of life and my hope is, this film dangles it’s toes in the deep end a bit. ‘Cause let’s just face it, the “woman scorned” bit is entirely overdone and rather insulting.
Hot and sexy doesn’t even begin to describe the vision of Arjun Rampal in the promo posters for this film but there must be a word somewhere to sum up how great he looks. Although that may seem shallow, I do believe the physical attractiveness of the characters in this story plays a large part in its believability. And thank goodness, they at least got that half right.
Overall, this film comes across as lightweight, harmless suspense but who knows, it could turn out to be more cunning than expected.
Inkaar clocks in on January 18, 2013
[all stills courtesy of labeled sites]
with.subtitles.please. 