A young, coy and pretty Bhouri (Masha Pour), widowed 3 times in the past is married off to a middle aged Dhanua (Raghuvir Yadav), a daily wage labourer at a brick kiln in his village. Set in an underdeveloped rural part of Uttar Pradesh, Bhouri soon becomes an object of lustful desire of the village panchayat members, the alpha males who covertly harass her, asking for sexual favors. They leave no stone unturned to make lives of Dhanua and Bhouri difficult by first expelling the former from employment, declaring him a patient of AIDS and finally banishing him from the village. Bhouri tries her level best to fight back against the exploitation and harassment but beyond a point, fails to make ends meet or fetch a decent living for herself and her ailing husband. She succumbs to the situation finally, setting her own terms for her surrender and in the process, sets off a chain of uncontrollable reactions that jeopardizes the lives of many.
Bhouri is a remarkable story underpinning the exploitative nature of the male dominated, privileged society of rural India where women languish as a machinery for procreation and an object of desire for the powerful and moneyed. The economically weaker people who toil for their daily bread are completely at the mercy of those who rule the roost, and are compelled to sacrifice their women folk to stay alive. Their world is across a vast and deep chasm separating the urban culture of women's empowerment, and unless education and basic human rights reach every book and corner of the country, they cannot be alleviated from their feebleness.
Marked by some powerful performances, Bhouri is a tragic tale of a failed grace and determination to fight back with dignity. Raghuvir Yadav is natural yielding a stirring performance as the helpless Dhanua. Masha Pour in the titular role is poised, dignified and exudes confidence. Kunika, Shakti Kapoor, Mohan Joshi, Manoj Joshi, Mukesh Tiwari and Sitaram Panchal lend strong support highlighting the plight of the villagers and Aditya Pancholi shines as an upright police officer who doesn't care about hierarchy and power centres. Bhouri is a wake up call to make a difference to the lives of the underprivileged in whatever way possible, and help make women's lives worthwhile by restoring their rights to dignity and equality.
