The journey of a young school teacher to prove her father’s innocence with the help of a juvenile advocate who’s never even seen the interiors of a court hall. The rest of the story is about Gargi’s fight for justice and the challenges she has to face along the way.
Sai Pallavi takes you on an emotional rollercoaster letting you get a first hand experience of her helplessness due to the societal judgements and the will to muster up the courage against all odds. Undoubtedly, Sai Pallavi has delivered a masterful performance as Gargi. She breathed life into the character.
Kaali Venkat appears in a good role. He plays a lawyer who comes forward to help Gargi when everyone turns their back. His scenes are quite good and especially while in the court sessions. The rest of the cast like RS Shivaji, Jayaprakash and Aishwarya Lekshmi give their best. The child actress who plays the young Gargi makes her mark even though she appears for a very limited time.
It’s the writing – the razor-sharp dialogues – that makes Gargi such an impactful film. Gautham Ramachandran’s treatment of the subject, the visuals – both haunting and poetic – and the whole approach to the rape aspect of the story is proof of his sensibility as a filmmaker.
The first half of Gargi gets busy introducing us to the world of the central character and the problems that she goes through, leading to some interesting courtroom drama. Just when we think that the case is getting over, Gautham opens up more details and we dive deeper into the case which makes it a tough pill to swallow. The shocking climax is indeed the director’s move to save the best for last, as it comes off as something we didn’t see coming at all.
Govind Vasantha’s music suits the flavour of the film; it neither adds frills nor does it take away from the film. The cinematography by Sraiyanti and Premkrishna Akkatu is efficient. Editing by Shafique Mohamed Ali is okay but he could have trim many unnecessary scenes. The production values are also good.