Provoked: A True Story (2006)

Director:

Jag Mundhra

Writers:

Carl Austin (writer)
Rahila Gupta (writer)

Release Date:

6 April 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In prison she found freedom

Plot:

It's the true story of a Punjabi woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia who leaves India to marry a London-based guy, only to be badly abused. She ends up in prison for murdering her abusive husband.

Plot Keywords:

Change Of The Law | Domestic Violence | Freedom | Womens Rights | Murder

Cast

Aishwarya Rai	...	Kiranjit Ahluwalia
Miranda Richardson	...	Veronica Scott
Naveen Andrews	...	Deepak Ahluwalia
Ray Panthaki	...	Ravi
Nandita Das	...	Radha Dalal
Robbie Coltrane	...	Lord Edward Foster
Raji James	...	Solicitor Anil Gupta
Leena Dhingra	...	Sheela Ahluwalia
Claire Louise Amias	...	Young Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wendy Albiston	...	Guard Miller
John Alford	...	Chris Jones - Legal Aid Solicitor
Lorraine Bruce	...	Doreen
Ashwani Chopra	...	News Vendor
Karen Shenaz David	...	Asha (as Karen David)
Maxine Finch	...	Lula
Nicholas Irons	...	Police Constable James O'Connell
Judith Jacob	...	Guard Tyler
Shaheen Khan	...	Jamila
Steve McFadden	...	DS Ron Meyers
Deborah Moore	...	Jackie
Harpreet Singh Nandra	...	Sandeep D. Ahluwalia
Rahul Nath	...	Doctor
Raoul Pattra	...	Rajeev D. Ahluwalia
Rebecca Pidgeon	...	Miriam
Naila Raza	...	Kiranjit's sister
Marsha Rice	...	Mrs. Byron
Guy Siner	...	Prosecutor
Christina Thornton	...	Commander Kate Halloran
Julie T. Wallace	...	Gladys

Also Known As:

Provoked (UK) (short title)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

UK | India

Language:

English | Punjabi

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | UK:15 | Malaysia:U | Ireland:16

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Trivia:

Based on the autobiographical book "Circle of Light" by Kiranjit Ahluwalia.

Awful propaganda, awfully done with an awful message

The people behind this movie are the ones who should have been set on fire. It's that bad.

The (they claim it's all true) story of an Asian woman in Britain who set her husband on fire because he treated her badly. She eventually becomes a cause celebre because of the incident.

The movie itself is full of melodrama, from over acting to cheesy music, tear-jerking scenes of women bonding in prison, it's a real soap opera. There isn't anything original here, this was all done during the 80's with the "burning bed" movie. It's so one sided that any Asian male who buys into it is probably sleeping out in the garage, in a locked car, after carefully hiding the gasoline can. There is no attempt at all to be objective, or to point out that setting someone on fire isn't a good solution to your marital difficulties.

The problem here is the message: it's OK to set your spouse on fire if they don't treat you well. Never mind the fact that you could just leave, or turn him in to the police, or a hundred other options. This film would have you believe that it's not only OK to set him on fire, it's your moral obligation and you will be a heroine to women everywhere if you do so.

Even if you think it's a good idea to initiate spontaneous combustion of your spouse, and I grant that there may be some who could benefit from that, this movie isn't realistic at all. I'm not reaching for realism in my entertainment, but when you claim it's a true story - try for some truth. Only die hard haters of the male gender could enjoy this, and possibly not all of those. If you have any objectivity at all you'll finish by hating this movie. If you enjoy decent movies, you'll finish by hating this one. And if you have any regard for the opposite gender whatsoever, you'll hate this movie.