The Hundred Bucks

STORY: The story traces a typical night in the life of a prostitute, Mohini (Kavita Tripathi), in a city where the only way to stay afloat is to possess strong survival instincts – Mumbai.

REVIEW: Born to parents who shunned her out of sheer frustration for being a girl child, and then pushed into the dark alleys of the flesh trade by her former ‘saviours’, Mohini did not get a fair shot at life. Eventually, she submits to her fate and goes about her daily business of scouting for customers in the dead of night. What happens during her working hours is what ‘The Hundred Bucks’ is all about.

True, the unfortunate prevalence of forced prostitution in the country is an alarming issue and an insightful dialogue around it is always welcome in Bollywood. But, unfortunately, director Dushyant Pratap Singh’s ‘The Hundred Bucks’ only manages to scratch the surface and fails to delve deep into this sensitive topic that needs an elaborate discussion on celluloid. The film neither enlightens the audience with a profound observation on what goes around in brothels that reek of stink and sadness, neither does it direct the viewers towards an emotional human interest story.

Based on the proceedings of a single night, Rajput’s character of Mohini fails to bring to light the trials and tribulations of a woman who is bartering sex for survival. Actress Kavita Tripathi’s portrayal of the mouthy call girl is bland, predictable and often hard to sit through, considering the seriousness of the film’s plotline and her casual demeanour towards it. If that did not damage the film severely, then its parallel characters sure did – just as clueless and stuck in a never-ending loop.

The music and background score of the movie is a mixed bag of hurriedly cooked up songs and jingles that add very little value to the already struggling narrative. Also, one can look at it from any angle that they wish to, and yet, the climax wouldn’t make much sense whatsoever.

‘The Hundred Bucks’ cherry-picks an engaging theme, but does not furnish it with panache; not even close.