143. Sufna; movie review

SUFNA
Cert 12A
143 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent scenes of domestic violence, suicide references

Is everyone who lives in India's villages really so prim and proper?
Can it be that young people don't even hold hands or kiss, let alone have sex before marriage?
This upstanding image is played out in film after film but seems twee to the point of unbelievable to Western eyes.
Jagdeep Sidhu's romantic drama Sufna wears such sensibilities on its sleeve as Tekh (Tania) and Jeet (Ammy Virk) set out on the gentle path towards romance.
Tekh is a village girl whose mother died when she was very young and her father did not come back from duty with the Indian army.
She is a Cinderella character whose beauty, both external and internal, help her through times of loneliness and the cruelty of her aunt (Seema Kaushal) who brought her up.
Jeet is much less complex. For him, it is merely a question of love at first sight and pursuing her with shy persuasion rather than the showiness of his pal and love rival (Jagjeet Sandhu).
Set in the cotton fields of Punjab, this is far away from the big city backdrops of many of today's Indian movies.
Therefore, it is appropriate that the movie moves slowly but, in my view, it is too laboured.
Indeed, there simply isn't enough meat in the Sufna story to warrant nearly two and a half hours and, therefore, repetition becomes inevitable.
On the plus side, Tania's debut as a lead actress is a winner. Tegh is wistful yet determined and I found her performance compelling and convincing.
The much more experienced Virk helps her through by presenting Jeet as upstanding, not pushy and yet desperate to win over the girl of his dreams.
It does seem slightly out of character when there is the generic beating up of three adversaries but, thankfully, brawn is only a small part of the movie.
Audiences will have both wept and smiled and those with romance in their heart will have loved Sufna.
I find such romances less appealing but I could see why it would be well rated.

Reasons to watch: Easygoing love story
Reasons to avoid: Meanders too much

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? India is the world's leading cotton producer followed by the United States, China, Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Australia, Turkmenistan and Burkina Faso.

The final word. Tania: “My character in the movie has freckles, and if even in real life I would have had freckles, then I would have represented myself just like that, instead of getting them surgically removed. I have an overlapping tooth, I didn’t get it removed. Until unless it is not hurting me, I would not get it removed, at least not just for the beauty standards. And since I accept it on a public platform, people are also accepting it, they like it.”  Times Of India

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