‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ goes the saying. ‘Indira Vizha’ centers around such a woman, who jilted by her lover years ago, returns to his life, and plans his downfall. Her scheming results in his personal and professional reputation being torn to shreds. But what’s interesting here is that the woman happens to be the man’s new boss and demands sexual favors from him. And he refusing to take it lying down, sues her for sexual harassment.
A remake of the Hindi ‘Aitraaz’ (a rehash of the English ‘Disclosure’), the director has diverged from it at many places. Like the love track of the lead pair ,which however is as passably watchable here too. But the rest of the changes seems to have worked for the detriment of the film. Playing the crucial role of the vengeful woman Kamini is Namitha. Ambitous and aggressive, Kamini used her seductive powers to reach her goal. One of them was Santosh (Srikanth), who fell for her but left her when reality stared him in the face. When the duo meet years later, she is married to his boss (Nasser) and very much in control of office affairs.
And he married to Savitri (Hemamalini from the Marathi screen).
Kamini’s take to him was either succumb to her sexual overtures, or face the consequences. And then Santosh takes recourse to law.
Namitha’s earlier roles may not have tapped her full potential but here was a role had enough scope for performance too. If only the director had followed the Hindi version.
Here the focus is often shifted to characters in the fringe, like Vivek who plays the defense lawyer.
The role is extended to include a wacky comedy track, with even the crucial courtroom scenes filled with quirky humour. And there is Nasser who gets his own track including a murder. In all these diversions the essence of the theme is lost, with the characters failing to create much of an impact. So Namitha will still be remembered for catching eyeballs in sizzling costumes and her comingout- of-the-water scenes.
Srikanth, natural and spontaneous, also gets short-charged here. The closing scene was a fitting finale in the earlier version But here it is reduced to a comic, frivolous ending.
Rajeshwar in his earlier films had revealed a strong script sense. But here he falters.
‘Aitraaz’ was a well structured script, adapted suitably to native flavour, without losing out on the essence. The least the director could have done here, was to stick to it, instead of trying to rehash it again.