Sins ( 2005 )
'Sins' movie is based on a real life story of a catholic priest involved in a sexual relationship with a girl . The movie was opposed by the christian community of India as they thought that the portrayal would give a bad name to catholic priests in particular and christians in general . The movie as well as the real life story happened in the southern state of Kerala , which had a large number of christians in the 80s when the story happened . Today the christians in Kerala are dwindling somewhat in numbers .
Father William ( Shiney Ahuja ) begins as a kind priest who helps a girl named Rosemary ( Seema Rahmani ) whose bicycle has broken down to reach her exam centre . She is studying to be a nurse . The girl develops a friendship with him and asks him to help her learn driving a car . Once when she has to push the car stuck in a ditch , she gets dirt on her clothes . She has to remove the clothes in the priest's house and he gets to see her lovely back and body half naked . Urged by uncontrollable lust , William embraces her and takes her to his bed for making love and she responds to his overtures . What we get to see is a love making scene with topless half nudity of Seema Rahmani---the actress playing Rosemary , that gives you the hots . There are other such scenes of love making in half naked form in the film and boy , they do give you the hots .
Soon a sexual relationship develops between William and Rosemary , and her brother and her mother do not object . In fact they want financial favours in lieu of Rosemary's sexual favours for the father . Years pass . But the whole thing becomes well known and Rosemary's reputation is tarred . India is a conservative society and a girl in an unholy relationship with a catholic priest is shunned . People throw her out of gatherings of respectable people and she is greatly disturbed by this .
At first William is disturbed by his own sinful behaviour and repeatedly goes to confess his sins to another priest in disguise . He also does repentance for his sins as prescribed by the priest . But soon lust overtakes him and he becomes unrepentant . Rosemary wants him to marry her by leaving the catholic order so that she gains respectability and is not shunned by society any more . He starts dilly dallying on this point of marriage .
The matter soon escalates when William is about to be promoted to Vicar , which will make him a powerful person . He refuses Rosemary's entreaties to marry her as it will ruin his career . She realises that he has become a selfish person and is disgusted . To mollify her William marries her off to Graham ( Nitesh Pande ) , who is a person indebted to him by some past favour . But Graham and Rosemary are forbidden by William to come close . Rosemary has to remain William's woman and his only according to him .
But Graham and Rosemary soon develop an emotional connection , and they would like to be together as a real man and wife . But Father William employs goons to keep a watch on them and intimidate Rosemary into remaining loyal to him . He becomes increasingly violent and beats and kicks her into submission . Amazingly , the entire local catholic establishment does not censure him for his unethical behaviour . Speaks volumes about the rot in the establishment .
Graham however meets Rosemary in the dead of the night and they make passionate love . The scene is beautifully pictured with emotional music and remains a romantic memory of love making from the movie . I liked the movie best at the point of the scene .
Soon Graham hatches a plan to help Rosemary escape to Bombay---as the city of Mumbai was known at that time . And they escape out of William's clutches seemingly . But her mother naively tells William about the spot where Rosemary used to go alone to reflect on herself . That spot is on a lonely stretch near the sea and has a cross . Rosemary also spent some romantic moments with Graham there . Rosemary used to pray to the cross , which shows that even an alleged heretic like her who was in an unholy sexual relationship with a priest needs God to form a spiritual connection . Even sinners need the almighty....
One day when Rosemary's mother ( played by Uttara Baokar ) is alone at the spot , William surprises her there and brutally kills her by strangling her with his bare hands . His transformation as villain is complete . Meanwhile Rosemary is pregnant with Graham's child and is on top of her happiness in Bombay . The news of her mother's death brings her happiness crashing down and she and Graham have to come back to Kerala . She meets William , who repeatedly kicks her in the abdomen and punches her till she begs for mercy on her unborn child and William then allows her to go .
Rosemary contacts the police because she is suspicious that William killed her mother and the police begin to gather evidence about the murder . The church authorities in Quilon are informed and the noose is being tightened around William's neck . Police guards are posed to protect Rosemary as William is hell bent on revenge for this . But one day tragedy strikes ; William's goons get past the police guards and murder Rosemary by knives .
William is doomed by his acts ; doomed by his uncontrollable lust for Rosemary and his open venture into a life of sin . His sins have caught up with him . He is captured by police and condemned to death by the court , and he unrepentantly tells Graham before his hanging that he killed Rosemary because he loved her and wanted to punish her for her disloyalty . But her forgets that Rosemary wanted to marry him and his own desire to stick to his position in the church was what turned her to the arms of another man .
The light eyed and able bodied Shiney Ahuja doesn't look like a priest , to be honest . He looks like a hero of a film rather than a villain . He later was accused of rape in real life by his maid . Wonder if his role in this film had some mental effect on him....??
Acting and photography is good , and the film is in english language throughout . Seema Rahmani is not goodlooking but her sensuous lovemaking scenes do give you the hots .
Verdict---decent .
Three stars out of five .
