The story opens in a hospital
in Haryana, where we see Savitri (VidyaBalan) undergoing sex determination while her
husband Dushyant(Manoj Bajpayee) looks towards her and says, “We have to.”
Savitri pleads but in vain. “It’s a girl.” Replies the doctor. Savitri cries.
Dushyant and Savitri return
home and argue. The argument is so audible that their 3 year old daughter wakes
up from her sleep and approaches their room. Seeing her standing at the door,
Dushyant commands her to go to sleep as they continue their banter.
During this banter, Dushyant
pushes Savitri so hard that she hits the bed & falls down unconscious. She
opens her eyes in the same hospital where she sees Dushyant smiling at her and
Dushyant exclaims, “Thank u!” and leaves.
Come forward Savitri’s mother,
Seema(Jaya Bachchan) who tells Savitri that in order to save her life the doctors had t0
take out her foetus. Both Savitri and Seema seem to have broken down and so
finally Savitri decides to file a case against her own husband, Dushyant
claiming that he was responsible for the death of her female child and also in
the same case she holds Dushyant responsible for giving her a female child.
A reluctant police officer
files Savitri’s case which causes a huge uproar in the media. In a state like
Haryana lawyers are reluctant on taking Savitri’s case because of which she
decides to fight her own case. Savitri, her daughter and Seema start to receive
death threats but Savitri is undeterred and all ready to fight the case.
She gets police protection and
before anything else, the court has to decide whether such a case can be
accepted or not.With some pressure of the officials on the judiciary, they
instigate Naina Roy(Sushmita Sen) as the judge for this case.
On the day of the case, Savitri
is surprised to see the public prosecutor to be her father, Rajnath (Boman Irani). Seema
and Rajnath had a divorce when Savitri was 3 years old and Rajnath tells
Savitri that she has an elder brother, Tanmay(Rajkummar Rao), who neither Savitri nor
Seema have met ever since their divorce. Rajnath takes a dig at Seema by saying
that glad he took a divorce from Seema had he known that their daughter would
be such a person. This infuriates Savitri but before she can act, Naina comes
into the court and asks for proceedings to start.
Savitri shows all reports of
her sex determination to the judge and asks that Dushyant should be booked
under the section of forced sex determination and domestic violence. Rajnath
speaks nothing but when Savitri puts the point that it was Dushyant who
impregnated her with a female sperm. This goes down to be hilarious and both,
Rajnath and Naina ask for proof. She then begins by illustrating that it is
generally a man’s choice in sex determination of the child and a woman cannot
be blamed for the same because a man’s sperm is of 2 types and it is generally
their sperm that decides the sex of the baby.
She then gets biologists to
confirm this theory and they also cement Savitri’s stand. Convinced enough,
Naina accepts the case and books Dushyant under the domestic violence act.
Outside the court, she sees an
angry mob burning her face and insulting her. Rajnath approaches Seema and
Savitri and says, “Let’s see till which area u can go safe.” And suddenly rings
Savitri’s phone, “If u want to see ur daughter alive, take back the case.” and Savitri
and Seema return home and find that her daughter is missing.
Clueless on what to do, Savitri
decides to take the case back. Meanwhile, Seema tells Savitri that Rajnath
insisted that she has an abortion when he came to know that Seema had a baby
girl. Instead, she decided to divorce him and raise Savitri on her own. In her
own mind, Savitri feels that history is repeating itself and the media are not
letting the hype die out.
Naina at her bungalow is
revisits about how she fought with her husband to bring up her daughter, who is
now married. “Today life has brought you to the same platform where u fought
with me over a similar thing. Today which one are u going to choose?” asks
Naina’s wheelchair bound husband. “Whatever I will chose the right thing.”Replies
Naina.
Meanwhile, Savitri and Seema
along with the help of police are trying to locate Savitri’s daughter. Savitri
gets a ransom call inspite of being asked to withdraw the case . The police
locate the call in an abandoned warehouse where they see Savitri’s daughter
lying unconscious surrounded by 4 goons. The police try to nab them but are
unsuccessful to do so. They have a round of gunshots after which the goons try
to escape, while escaping one of the goons shoots Savitri who lies down
unconscious, though the police manage to save her daughter.
The movie shifts focus to the
next hearing of the court where we see a suited Seema representing her
daughter, Savitri after the incident is in the ICU and her daughter has come to
court with her granny, Seema. The day starts with interrogation of the hospital
staff and in the conclusion, the court cancels their license. The court asks
Seema for more proofs in order to get Dushyant convicted. But, Seema asks for
some for time to which Naina agrees.
Media gets the news that the
case has now turned into a battle of husband-wife, who at no cost can allow each
other to win. There is a knock on Seema’s door where she is seen supported by
many other woman who also were a victim to sex determination and lost their
child. Soon, this war turns into a movement with many woman coming out in
support of Savitri. Seema gets support but is not able to get any evidence
against Dushyant.
Seema out of options, begins to
track Rajnath. She reaches Rajnath’s place where she hears Rajnath speaking to
someone over the phone, “Don’t worry. Seema would not be able to prove
anything. U just relax.” Curious to know who called Rajnath, Seema seeks help
of another woman to follow but while she is leaving, Rajnath’s gaurds catch
hold of Seema and present her in front of him who says, “Seema, Seema, Seemau
woman are so irritating and shameless. It’s been 26 yearssince we got divorced,
todayalso u live an illusion where u think that u can progress .This is
Haryana, here woman do not have the guts to fight their husband for anything
have started a revolt. What do u think of urself? Take her and lock her in the
basement. She should not reach court tomorrow. I will get the case
dismissed saying that u are an escapist.
U lacked evidence so to avoid defeat u didn’t turn up”
Seema feels helpless. She can’t
do anything. She spends the night in the room of the basement and the next
morning, a tired Savitri sees the light of the day when Tanmay opens the door
to explore the house. Seema is both happy and sad to see Tanmay and tells him
everything about what happened 26 years ago. Tanmay is shocked and drives Seema
to court, meanwhile Seema calls up one of the ladies supporting her to inquire
about Savitri and Savitri’s daughter. She is relieved to hear that Savitri’s
daughter is safe but is worried when she knows that Savitri is missing.
She gets worried, calls up the
doctor, in the hospital but is unable to locate her. Meanwhile, Tanmay rings up
his friend, DSP and access Rajnath’s call records. He hands over the call
records to his mother immediately reaches the court to find an injured Savitri
fighting against Rajnath. She enters the court and as per the procedures, she
steps into the witness box and says that it was Rajnath who locked her up in
his bungalow and it was Tanmay who opened the door and saved her. Tanmay
agrees. He also mentions that he is ashamed of his m=father and the people who
have such mentalities towards women. He apologises to Seema and Savitri and
comes off the deck.
Seema takes over the case
from an injured Savitri and says, “Sorry
your honour. I would like Mr. Roy to be called into court as some proceedings
can’t carry on without him.” Naina is shocked but orders Mr. Roy to be present.
Mr. Roy is brought in. Seema
shows the call records of Rajnath and Mr. Roy where it has been evident that
eversince the start of the case, Rajnath and Roy were in contact and Mr. Roy
also had contacts with the goons who might have abducted Savitri’s daughter.
“Haan. It was me who got
Savitri’s child abducted. It was me, who asked the goons to shoot anyone who
tried to rescue that girl.” Says Mr. Roy. “But why?” asks Seema. “To teach all
u woman that u have limits in which u should stay. U should not cross though.
It is Haryana, where sex determination is legal. Every woman is bound to limits
amd chains. Had I not been wheelchair bound, my wife would have also been at
home.” Replies Mr. Roy. This hurts Naina
a lot but due to commitment issues she cannot show it to others.
Naina concludes by saying,
“That today’s verdict is a verdict that all of Indian women should know about.
It is nothing short of the bondages that a woman has broken. And because of
some male chauvinists this freedom cannot be limited. I hereby conclude by
convicting Mr. Dushyant for domestic violence and sex determination. Mr. Roy,
Mr. Dushyant and Mr. Rajnath for devising a child’s abduction to prove their
point. The court would like to condemn the actions of the hospital and
appreciate Mrs. Seema and Mrs. Savitri for bringing in the courage and effort
for speaking up for all the women in the country. The court is adjourned.”
Seema and Savitri hug each
other as tears roll down their cheeks. Tanmay meets his mother and sister after
26 years and apologises for Rajnath’s behavior. Savitri (still unwell) is taken
out by Tanmay and her daughter outside the court where politicians, women and
the media are appreciating and lauding their efforts. They are soon joined by
Naina, who apologises and condemns her husband’s behavior towards the family. And the story ends!
