‘Love Sonia’ Movie Review: A moving tale about the disturbing reality of human trafficking

Directed By: Tabrez Noorani
Produced By: David Womark, Tabrez Noorani
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadda, Freida Pinto, Rajkummar Rao, Sai Tamhankar
Duration: 2 hr
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3.5/5

One of the saddest things you’ll realize after watching ‘Love Sonia’, is that Sonia’s story is not uncommon. Every day, hundreds of young women are abducted and thrown into the murky world of prostitution without their consent. They resist, they fight and they cry their lungs out before they realize that they are extremely helpless to do anything but accept their fate.

‘Love Sonia’ is a realistic and disturbing look inside this world of human trafficking. It’ll make your blood boil and you’ll be left disgusted by the cruelty shown by some of the characters.

Plot

After failing to pay his debts, Shiva (Adil Hussain) decides to sell his elder daughter, Preeti (Riya Sisodiya), to a rich moneylender (Anupam Kher). Distraught and enraged by her father, Preeti’s sister Sonia (Mrunal Thakur) embarks on a journey to find her and finds herself embroiled in the human trafficking racket. She tries to escape, but is severely punished. In a gut-wrenching scene, Manoj Bajpayee (who plays a pimp) releases a snake on the floor, and forces Sonia to accede to his demands. In another gut-wrenching scene, Sonia is locked in a toilet that seems to not have been cleaned for years.

Performances

Mrunal Thakur shines in her debut role as Sonia. She captures the innocence and naivete of the young girl perfectly, and her shrieks and cries seem to come from a place of genuine pain. Other than her, the entire cast does a stellar job, and you will not find a single scene that is not hard-hitting.

Direction and Cinematography

The best part about this film is that it portrays everything very realistically. It drives home a strong message, but never gets preachy. Even events that happen in the background (considering a brothel is crowded place) have been enacted with a great attention to detail.

Music

The film has no songs, but the background music composed by AR Rahman and Niels by Nielsen is soul-stirring and apt.

What’s Good

The script, the performances and the fact that it may inspire you to take up the cause of helping women whose lives have been torn apart by people running the human trafficking business. There are a lot of NGOs working towards this goal, and the movie might prompt you to reach out to one of them.

What’s Bad

At times, the movie is so disturbing that you might want to leave your seat to catch a few breaths outside.

Final Verdict

It’s an important story that needs to be told, and you should definitely watch it. You’re likely to have a lump in your throat long after you’ve finished watching the film.

Watch the trailer here: