'Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai' Movie Review

Introduction

How far would you go for those you love? Sarita, mother-of-one, gives up her singing dreams to allow her husband his own chance of making it and to build the home. When bills and debt arise, Sarita has no option but to take every upcoming opportunity, even fraudulent money from her kitchen sink drain.

Key themes

A person places large amounts of rolled up cash into a drain.

There is a leak in the apartment block as one of the pipes burst. The ceiling becomes damp.

One night Sarita checks out the disturbing sound coming from her kitchen pipe and drain in the kitchen. Sarita disconnects the pipe from the drain and the drain floods. Moments later bags of rolled up cash floats out.

Sarita, after checking the money is legitimate, at the bank, begins to use the money. The drain continues to bring more cash.

The Indian prime minister announces that 500 and 1,000 rupees notes are demonetised.

The drain spouts out bags of the new 2000 rupees notes. Sarita starts buying new things and updating the home.

Sushant becomes suspicious of where Sarita is getting the money from. They fight over money, family and lifestyle.

Sarita begins taking all the hidden money from the hiding spots around the home when Sushant becomes more suspicious.

When the dry cleaner arrives, Sarita instructs Sushant to give the dry cleaner the clothes and pay. Sushant takes money from Sarita's purse instead. In doing this, Sushant sees a text Sarita receives from a man he owes money to.

Sushant shows up at the bank to pay off the man that is dealing with Sarita. Later that day, robbers show up at the bank to steal. The employees, held at gun point, are told to give the robbers all the money.

Sarita hides her bag full of her 'drain' money, hoping the robbers would not find it. One of the robbers spots Sarita's bag and when about to discover Sarita's hidden stash of money, Sarita leaps forward to take her bag, but is hit by the robber's gun.

The police and tax men arrive at Sushant and Sarita's home. They question Sarita about where the money, the robbers stole from her, came from as it is first of the new 2000 rupees note prints. Sushant takes the blame, claiming that he found the money.

Sushant leads the police and tax men to the drain outside the apartment block where he supposedly 'found' the money.

Sushant gives the police and tax men information on their neighbours. A year later, it was discovered that the neighbours were dealing 'black' money and Sushant and Sarita were rewarded for helping end the money crime.

Key questions

• Does the drain flood at a particular time every night? Sarita seemed to wake up exactly when the drain was about to flood.
• Sushant complains that Sarita makes him feel less like a man, however, he left all the work to Sarita, including 'manly' jobs such as fixing the sink.
• Did Sarita change all the demonetised money at the bank? What did she do with all the old cash she 'received' from the drain? How did she use all the old money? Did she use all the old money?
• Sushant wanted to surprise Sarita by fixing the kitchen sink. Where did he get the money to afford the remodelling? He found the money in the drain when it was taken apart, but surely he should have had money to afford the remodelling prior as he didn't know he was going to find money in the drain. So where did he get the money from?
• Why did Sushant and Sarita not get into trouble for finding the money and not reporting it? Even if they were not the ones illegally earning the money, why wouldn't they get into trouble for keeping silent about a crime, or carrying around 'black' money?
• Did Sarita's dreams of having a singing career ever come true?
• Did Sarita really give up singing for Sushant or because she had stage fright?
• Did Sushant release the music he was recording? What became of his music career?
• Did Sarita always get choked up when under pressure? When Sarita was questioned about the money, she seemed unable to speak. Sushant appeared to recognise this as he was readily able to save her in that moment. It was the same with her singing, Sarita only choked up when the lights came on and she realised that all eyes were on her.
• When Sushant found out about the money appearing from the drain, did he know that it was from the neighbours? Did Sushant figure out the the neighbours were dealing black money?
• What happened to the neighbours when the crime was discovered? Did they go to jail? Who was punished? How were they punished?
• Were all the neighbours, apart from Sarita and Sushant, in on the money crime?
• If the neighbours were dealing with their black money by hiding it in the drain, why didn't they sort out the leak/drain issues in the apartment block?
• Did the neighbours notice that their black money was going missing? Where did they think their black money went?
• What happened to Sarita's career after the robbery and questioning? Did Sarita continue to work at the bank?

Conclusion

Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai, which can be translated to mean 'Choked: money talks', is a film about family and how far you would go for them. The film presented heavily, themes on family, relationships and neighbourly kindness. Sacrifice was a key theme also. The whole film was based on Sarita's sacrifices. However, why did Sushant borrow so much money? Did he need the money to start his music career? Did he need to money to pay for the house and provide? These reasons are all for family.

'Choked' is a fantastic and well-thought out title. Sarita literally became choked up when under pressure or had to perform. Sarita also became choked up when deciding what is best for her family, she had to chose whether to help her family in a good way (working at a stable, legitimate job) or involve herself in a bad thing in order to provide.

The transition of Sarita locking the door and switching off the light was intriguing and intelligent. I think it was highly symbolic. Those two action can seem so innocent and normal, they create a sense of security (you lock the door and turn off the lights before going to sleep, for safety). However, evil happens behind closed doors and in the night. Sarita was doing the best for her family, protecting and providing for them, however, she went to the extent of doing good and bad for their sake.

Overall, the story developed quite slowly, displaying a lot of family life and arguments, yet the film seemed to conclude suddenly without providing many answers. The film was interesting and original and was deep in references, such as the demonetisation of the 500 and 1000 rupees notes in India.

When all odds are against you, what would you do? What would you do for those you love?

Cast

Saiyami Kher - Sarita

Roshan Mathew - Sushant