Plot Summary: A pregnant woman finds herself in a dangerous situation when she goes to a remote village with her husband.
There have been several stories over the years, all of them pertaining to saving the girl child in India. There have been protests, campaigns, informative ads, all of them urging people to save the girl child. Has it worked?
While the message may have changed a few people's minds, the statistics still show that foeticide and the killing of female babies still go on. After all, girls are seen as burdens on the family. When they are to be married, the in-laws will ask for dowry. Girls are seen as the reason a family makes a financial loss and no amount of comparing them to deities of wealth seems to change the minds of narrow-minded people.
Although dowries are considered illegal, it is still a practice among Indians during weddings and one that doesn't seem to be ending. Rather than do something about this so that parents of girls don't feel financial pressure, the families prefer doing away with girls rather than spending any money on them.
It will take a long time before reforms are made and a girl child will be protected and not be seen as a burden.
Chhorii is based on, well, girls. But it's also a horror movie. In the olden days whenever something would go wrong and outspoken women were called witches, in India, these women were called chudails.
CHHORII Movie Plot
A woman is running through a sugarcane field. She is pregnant and falls down. She's approached by three boys who hand her a knife. She doesn't take it but then she sees something approaching and she takes the knife and cuts open her belly.
We are then introduced to Sakshi, a pregnant woman who is working at an NGO and loves kids. Her husband is Hemant who is as doting as a husband can be. He even lets her eat street food even though he remarks it may not be safe for a pregnant woman. While Sakshi devours some snacks, Hemant notices some men in a truck watching him. He then eyes his driver Kajla who looks at him, worried.
Kajla gifts Sakshi a toy monkey. Later that night, Sakshi wakes up to find her husband missing. She goes downstairs and finds some men beating up Hemant. Apparently, Hemant is way behind on his payments for a loan he took to start his business.
Sakshi will do anything to protect her family and so agrees to her husband's plan to go hide away somewhere before the goons return to finish the job.
Kajla offers his house in the village for them to hide in. The couple packs up some bags and heads to the middle of nowhere.
When they reach the sugarcane fields, we can see that they seem to look exactly like the place in the first scene.
The couple is already in good spirits and making jokes when just a few hours ago Hemant was beaten up and Sakshi's life was threatened.
Kajla drops the couple who get somewhat lost in the maze. They come upon a scarecrow and more lame jokes are made. Hemant comes up with the brilliant idea to leave his pregnant wife in the middle of nowhere as he tries to find the house they were supposed to go hide in.
Sakshi seats herself on a rock and falls asleep. She wakes up and it is quite dark. She panics when she can't find her husband and just about makes it to the house all on her own. Hemant is already there with a woman called Devi. He claims to have been looking all over for her and tells her she shouldn't have been walking around.
Sakshi is just relieved to find a place to rest. Devi invites her in and serves food but reminds Sakshi that they must eat only after their respective husbands have finished eating.
While the men lounge outside, Sakshi finally gets to eat and learns she's getting to stay at the house where her brother in law used to stay.
Sakshi retires for the night and remarks to her husband about Devi's outdated views. Hemant reminds her that Devi and her husband Kajla were kind enough to offer their house to hide in and she needs to accept them as they are.
The next day, Sakshi finds Hemant outside, being tended by Devi. She tells Sakshi to apply her homemade ointment that will heal Hemant's wounds that he sustained from the beating by the goons.
Sakshi wants to go see the fields with Hemant and Kajla but Devi makes excuses and tells her to rest first.
Afterwards, Sakshi goes wandering about in the fields and thinks she sees someone else roaming about.
Later Hemant expresses his wish to go back to the city to seek a solution to his financial problems but that she must stay back. Sakshi isn't too keen on the idea but gives in.
The next morning, she moves about and Devi is extra nice to her and applies oil to her hair and pampers her. Sakshi remarks how she doesn't miss her mother anymore because of Devi's kindness. She happily lets Hemant go.
Later that day, Sakshi sees a mute woman wandering about and being abused by Devi. Devi explains she's her son's wife Rani who couldn't keep her child in her womb and cut it out of her herself and therefore Devi being rude to her is justified.
Sakshi isn't too happy to see Devi being unkind to Rani but doesn't say anything.
That night, she hears the bell ring and assumes it is Rani. She ventures out and sees three boys giggling and running about. Believing the boys are only playing with her, Sakshi joins in, not minding the fact that they have entered the house.
The children run away before she can find out more about them.
She mentions this to Devi later who asks her about the number of children and is then stunned. She warns her to stay away from them but doesn't tell her why so of course Sakshi doesn't heed her warning. She claims she will still keep playing with the kids. Devi gets angry with her and tells her that she is inviting trouble.
The next day Sakshi finds a recorder playing a song about hide and seek. She sees the three boys again and plays with them. Even though she was warned not to, Sakshi enters the room where Devi's sister-in-law used to live. Sakshi idles around until a hand tries to grab her but, of course, Sakshi walks away from that the very next instant.
She brings the recorder with her and when Devi sees it, snatches it from her hand and throws it into the fields. Sakshi gets angry and the two women get into a tiff.
Sakshi no longer considers Devi to be a mother figure. She goes to sleep and when she wakes up, hears Hemant's voice. She rushes out and embraces her husband who is speaking to Devi. Devi doesn't reveal to Hemant about the argument they had.
Sakshi puts her foot down and demands Hemant take her away this very instant. She's done with the life on the farm. Hemant agrees but that night as the couple creep away, Hemant is struck on the head and Sakshi is made to smell drugs.
She wakes up later, and in a groggy state witnesses a ritual taking place where the priest holds up three fingers. Ashes and is smeared all over Sakshi's forehead and neck.
Sakshi wakes up again to find Devi tying up her hands and legs. She tells her about her sister-in-law Sunaini who was a witch. When she married Devi's brother-in-law, she grew close to Devi's three young sons who stopped listening to Devi.
Devi complained to her brother-in-law who did tell his wife to back off but she doesn't, even after she becomes pregnant with her own child.
Sunaini then murders her husband, slits her pregnant belly and makes the three boys jump into the well with her but before that she curses the family so that they cannot continue their lineage.
Devi tells Sakshi that she must now survive three days in order for the curse to be broken. She reveals how she got her son married thrice but none of the babies survived and neither did the wives except for Rani who became mute and could be used as a servant.
She then tells her that her son Rajbir is now in the city, married and his wife is pregnant too and now she wants the baby to survive the curse. So Devi's solution is to leave Sakshi tied up and at the mercy of Sunaini's ghost.
At this point, you wonder: why won't Devi stay by Sakshi's side continuously if she did want the curse to be broken? Why not keep her tied up but feed her and take care of her through the three days.
But nope. Devi leaves Sakshi to her own devices who manages to rid herself of her binds and roam around without any food.
Sakshi then decides to leave the farm using the scarecrow she can see from the terrace and let it direct her out of the fields.
Try as she might, Sakshi is unable to find a way out of the fields and keeps coming to a dead end. She starts to get hungry and goes into the house and of course, finds nothing but a little puffed rice.
Frustrated, she uses her scarf to draw a map of all her attempts to leave the fields. In the end, she breaks down when she realizes escape is impossible.
She keeps seeing the three boys and is plagued by visions of the past. She sees herself as Sunaini and in one such instance, is burned in the room.
She also witnesses Sunaini being sad when she learns she is carrying a baby girl and talks lovingly about her to the three boys who can't wait to play with the new baby.
In the next instant, Sunaini is trying to run away when her husband comes after her. She pushes him and he accidentally falls on the knife. Devi accuses her of being a witch and a murderer.
Sakshi goes into labour and wakes up to find Devi taking away her girl baby and throwing it into the well. Sakshi screams and wakes up again to find she is still pregnant and all of it was a ghastly vision.
Unable to take it any longer, Sunaini jumps into the well and the three boys follow her.
CHHORII Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Sakshi makes another attempt to escape and is made to go through the same choice as Rani. She is handed a knife which she brings to her belly. Sakshi begs Sunaini to let her go and the scene cuts.
In the next scene, Sakshi makes it back to the house, still pregnant. Hemant comes to her and tries to take her back but Sakshi maintains that she wants to reveal the story.
Through the visions, she has learned that Sunaini wasn't a witch but a mother who wanted to save her girl child. When her in-laws come to know about it they try to hurt her and when she tries to escape, she accidentally kills her husband, all of it witnessed by Devi. Devi gets her son to light Sunaini on fire. She still gives birth to a girl child.
Devi and Kajla take the baby to the well as a part of sacrifice so that their crops can grow well. Sunaini jumps after her baby. Devi's three sons try to save Sunaini and die too.
After that, all the women Rajbir married were carrying girls and so Sunaini tried to get them to kill the baby rather than have the in-laws sacrifice the baby.
Sakshi then reveals a shocking truth, she knows her husband Hemant is actually Rajbir who participated in the killings.
She tells the family she is leaving forever. Hemant/Rajbir tries to kill her but Rani intervenes and stabs him to death.
Sakshi walks into the fields, a path is finally visible to her. Behind her she finds Rani, her clothes covered in blood, following her. Sakshi lets Rani accompany her.
The end.
So, did Rani kill Devi and Kajla as well?
Were the goons who beat up Hemant real or part of a set-up to get Sakshi to the village?
And if they wanted Sakshi to survive the three days, why not leave her some food? What if she had died or suffered some pregnancy-related complications?
While escaping, why did Kajla hit his son on the head? It could have been a fatal blow. Why not just drug Sakshi and then simply not show us what was done with Hemant to maintain suspense?
These few plotholes and unanswered questions make a dent in an otherwise solid story with solid acting.
It is also a remarkable story that highlights the plight of women and especially of those carrying a girl child.
Scare scale: 3/5
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