Rajkumar Rao’s latest release ‘Bheed’ is a lockdown thriller about the migrant workers trying to escape to their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The film reminds us about the pain and agonies which people went through during the pandemic.
‘Bheed’ was released on 24th March 2023 in theatres and stars Rajkumar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar in lead roles. The film is directed by Anubhav Sinha.
Covid-19 pandemic first wave left people in a state of panic and they started stocking up the ration and locked themselves in their respective homes. Some did have the opportunity of staying with their families whereas some alone got stuck in different cities. But, the toughest situation was for the migrant labourers who were confused and were stranded on the roads as they wanted to get back to their respective homes. Anubhav Sinha has efficiently displayed those emotions on screen with his movie Bheed which got released on March 24 and brought back the painful memories of the pandemic.
Bheed will make you overwhelmed with the situations of the pandemic like the stranded migrants, a mother’s struggle to bring back her daughter from another city, a frontline doctor, a police, a politician, reporters reporting the sufferings. This black and white movie has it all.
A migrant worker line from the movie ‘Ghar se nikal kar gaye the, ghar se hi aa rahe hain aur ghar hi jaa rahe hain’ sums the storyline for the movie. Bheed is about the suffering of the labourers who had left their villages and moved to different cities to earn their livelihood. However the lockdown imposed by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic across the country in May 2020 led to the migration
Of 10 million workers. Bheed has Rajkumar Rao as Surya,playing a police officer who is in charge of blocking the roads to stop the labourers from leaving to curb the spread of a virus. They were made to sit and wait on the roads and fields without food and water. A mother (Dia Mirza) is desperate to cross the UP border and take her daughter back home. A young girl with her sick father on a bicycle finds ways to get back to her home.
The duty in-charge Surya (Rajkumar Rao) tries to follow the law and order to his best but at the same time divided by the casteism he faces every time. Bhumi Pednekar plays a doctor and Surya’s girlfriend. Rajkumar Rao leads the show but Anubhav Sinha has focussed not to lose the plot . There is a pivotal role by Pankaj Kapur who belongs to the Pandit community.
Bheed Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGAKZ6L9IVo
Watching Bheed will honestly make you visit the hardships of the migrant during the pandemic. Unlike the major commercial cinemas the filmmaker avoids the dramas and focuses tightly on the script. The movie is all about emotions. Bheed is about the bitter truth of social divide and class system in our Indian society.
The cinematography team has done a great job. The movie Bheed describes the shocking situations of the migrants sleeping on the railway tracks and being run over by the train, people in their bloody toenails walking barefoot, hungry kids crying, people were caught hiding in cement mixers and much more. In Bheed there is no time wasted on story build up. The dialogues from the movie ‘Hamara nyaay hamari aukaat se bohot bahar hai’ or ‘Gareeb aadmi ke liye kabhi intezaam nahi hota’ will keep you engrossed.
Anubhav keeping the smallest details in mind has shot a scene where Pankaj calls ‘nautanki’ and bashes a doctor wearing a PPE kit while treating his brother saying “’sardi khasi hai bas, Covid thodi hai.’
Rajkumar Rao has given his best as a police officer while Bhumi Pednekar does an equally good job.
Bheed will leave you with tears in your eyes and a lump in your throat. The film will make you realise about your privileged life during the pandemic.
Watch Bheed to know the hardships of the homeless people during the pandemic.