A complete waste of time! Frustrating. I wonder why Vidya Balan accepted this movie. And I saw it for her. It's a complete write off…on all fronts. There's no saving grace in it. Even Vidya Balan wasn't convincing in this. It looked as if she was shying away from playing the role to the T. I was missing Shabana Azmi in this role…she would have executed this with panache. This whole movie project is a write off from the word go. It has a weak script, the whole premise it's based is unconvincing at best. Some actors gave it their best shot…Chunky Pandey for one, the cop, the guy who's their man Friday. But it was a lost cause. Radio? Hell, they were using oil lamps everywhere…how the hell were they listening to a radio when it came there only by 1950? How the hell did they get so many guns? And limitless bullets. Let's keep all that aside for a while. Please tell me, why did they have to put up a fight? Why were they projected as rebel without a goal? There was no audience connect. I am surprised to see people commenting as Fantastic movie, Great movie, Great story etc. That's what motivated me to come and give the right perspective. All these fake reviews or marketing reviews are killing the authenticity of the whole effort. That's really not fair to the people looking for a recommendation.

Begum Jaan is a film by Srijit Mukherji, which is a remake of his own Bengali film Rajkahini (2015). The film delves into one of the darkest phases of the partition of our country. The film does mention the tragedies which happened on either side of the border. Radcliffe Line is to be erected as the boundary between the newly formed nations of India and Pakistan. The officials face a challenge when they find a brothel which needs to be demolished to draw this boundary. Begum Jaan takes us through the journey of those 11 women and 2 men, the inhabitants of the brothel and the fights they put up for their rights to live in their house. Rajkahini is certainly more intense in comparison to Begum Jaan, but this film can't be just ignored or written off.

The film begins with the narrative of Amitabh Bachchan. The opening scene in this Hindi version is different in comparison to that of Bengali version. When a scene from Manto's book of gang rape of a girl during partition times form the opening scene of Rajkahini, eve teasing and efforts to molest a girl in a bus in the year 2016, decades after independence, becomes the opening scene of Begum Jaan. Is this to tell the audience that years have gone by, certain things still remain the same – women becoming the victim of men's lust. Begum Jaan does focus on women's fight against many elements of our society: patriarchal system, the social stigma attached to sex workers, the hypocritical men and their double standards, the right to live, concepts of secularism etc. With the opening and closing scene of Begum Jaan, Srijit does talk about hard-hitting reality that even after decades of partition and independence, the fight against social injustice is not over. Begum Jaan does force us to question and rethink about our past as well as present. Begum Jaan (Vidya Balan) is the owner of a brothel, which has 13 inhabitants – 11 women and 2 men. Salim (Sumit Nijhawan) and Sujit (Pitobash Tripathy) are the two men in the brothel, Begum's bodyguard and caretaker respectively. Amma (Ila Arun) is the senior most person in the brothel, who keeps sharing stories of empowered females to Laadli (Gracy Goswai) who created history and left their mark in the world viz. Rani Lakshmi Bai, Meera, Raziya Sultan, Rani Padmavati etc. It does become part of plot development. Rest of the inhabitants are Rubina (Gauhar Khan),Gulabo (Pallavi Sharda),Jameela (Priyanka Setia),Amba (Ridheema Tiwary),Maina (Flora Saini),Lata (Raviza Chauahan),Rani (Poonam Rajput),Mishti aka Indrani Chakraborty (Shabnam). Master and Party worker (Vivek Mushran) is a regular visitor to the brothel and keeps showering them with gifts. These women are all victims of abuse, violence, rape and these traumas become the connecting thread amongst them. All they have is their togetherness. Freedom means nothing for Begum Jaan.

The officials chosen for execution of border construction from either side are Iliyas (Rajit Kapoor) and Harshvardhan (Ashish Vidyarthi). Through their characters, many intricate facts are conveyed, be it the relationship getting sour between childhood friends, plight / ordeal of people on either side of the border etc. There are shots where only half of their faces are shown on screen – a metaphor of aftermath of partition, how incomplete people might have felt losing their possessions, family in spite of freedom being restored.

Other characters Raja Ji (Naseerudin Shah),Inspector Shyam (Rajesh Sharma) and Kabir (Chunky Pandey) become an important part of the film.

Feisty Begum Jaan and other inhabitants of the brothel are not ready to pay heed to notices issued to her to vacate 'Kotha'. They are very loud and clear that it is their house. How they all put up brave fight forms the rest of the story. There are many dialogues in the film which hits one hard. Music is also good.

Srijit through his film Begum Jaan does talk about hard-hitting reality that even after decades of partition and independence, the fight against social injustice is not over. Rajkahini, the original version, is certainly more intense in comparison to Begum Jaan, but this film can't be just ignored or written off.

#BegumJaan is one traumatic history chapter which our text books forgot to teach us. Vidya B proves once again, without any doubt, that she's the JAAN of every film. With her around, the males do not matter. This film showcases partition like never before n how it impacted several lives. A brothel turns into a bloody battle ground n the whores turn into fearless warriors. The film clearly highlights that the position of ladies, in our society, has remained very much the same, whether in 1947 or in 2017. Rating 4/5.