Picture Copyrights: Dark Frames / 69 Productions

Unfreedom – not a dictionary word, says a lot about denial of freedom, from society as well as yourself. This 100 minute film has two stories running parallel to each other without meeting even till the end. On one side is the story of a lesbian girl whose ways are just too bold for his cop father and on the other side a man in the post 9/11 scenario trying to achieve closure from a disturbing past.

Homosexuality as well as the trauma of post 9/11- are not new subjects anymore for new age cinema. But what works for Unfreedom is that it doesn’t talk about these issues in general. It’s narrates a unique story about a lesbian couple and a man with a past.

What the girls have to go through is not exactly what every gay person in India has to go through (thank heavens) but at the same time it is not unimaginable too when we live in times where newly married couple are killed by their family just because they are from same village. Similarly the other story of a Muslim guy who is out to get a closure on a past that haunts him from his childhood is also one extreme case but not totally unimaginable.

Given the topics of both stories, we expected loads of stereotypes but surprisingly Unfreedom is free of all clichés. The film is gripping till the end and editing is fabulous. Irony is that a film talking about freedom is not free for commercial big screen release. Thanks to guys at The Attic for screening this. Indian audience open up to new thoughts and concepts but slowly. This is quite bold even for a Hollywood film. No doubt the film is banned for public viewing in India.

The nudity in the film never gets vulgar and the gory violence sequence never gets too insane to handle. This shows the clarity of script and maturity of the direction. Adil Hussain is impressive as the Police Inspector father of the girl.

Though there is room for improvement, we enjoyed watching this film and recommend this to people who believe in freedom of all sorts – expression, religion and sexuality.