Producer: Naveen Tak
Director: Karan Razdan
Cast: Kiran Rathod,  Mahima Chaudhary, Padmini Kolhapure, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover
Music: Anand- Milind
Lyrics: Praveen Bhardwaj

Karan Razdan movies always deal with bold, novel themes. He has dealt with lesbianism (Girl Friend), extramarital affairs (Hawas) and now it is the turn of love and lust. Unlike many movies with such adult stuff the treatment here is not vulgar but powerful. But with minimal promotion and less known cast his movies fail to grab the attention of viewers.

In his new movie ‘Souten- The Other Woman’ he tells us about love and lust. It is the story of a girl and her stepmother who falls in love with the same guy (may be that is why he has chosen this title). The guy Raj (Vikram Singh) is physically attracted to a middle-aged wedded woman Mitali (Mahima Chaudhary). They have a steamy relationship. But Raaj’s sister-in-law Smitha  (Padmini Kolhapure) comes to know about this and tries to make Mitali realize the consequence of such a relationship. But Mitali does not repent. Then Smitha talks to Raaj and he realizes his mistake. He backs off from that relation.
 
Then Sapna (Kiran Rathod) comes to his life. She is the stepdaughter of Mitali. Raaj and Sapna fall in love with each other. Sapna confides her love to Mitali. But a jealous Mitali instead of helping her daughter tries to break their relationship. She tells Sapna about Raaj’s affair with her. Hearing this Sapna breaks away from Raaj. In the end Mitali changes and she unites the two lovers.

The first half of the movie is very interesting. The treatment is somewhat different. But in the second half it becomes another Hindi movie.  The end becomes so predictable that you lose interest in the scheme of the story.

It has many high points in its narration. First is the scene where Smitha meets Mitali to ask her back out from her unconventional relationship. The next scene is between Mitali and Smitha after Smitha gets to know about her stepmother’s affair with Raaj. The intimate scenes are done in a very beautiful manner.

Music by Anand – Milind is ok. The song picturisation is good. Even though the scenes are very hot it never stoops to a mere skin show. The cinematography captures the beauty of Goa and Rajastan.

All the actors, except the newcomer hero Vikram Singh, have performed brilliantly.  Vikram is learning the art and he has a long way to go. It is one of the powerful performances of Mahima Chaudhary.  She excels in her role of a neglected, hurt woman. Padmini Kolhapure enacts her part well. Shakti Kapoor is equally good. Gulshan Grover is at his best.  In total Karan Razdan has succeeded in extracting powerful performance from his cast.

The story and screenplay are superb. But the director (Karan Razdan) has failed to work up on the internal conflicts of his characters. He follows the same old formula of story telling. These kinds of stories need an unusual treatment.  This is the only area where Karan Razdan should improve.

In short with its unusual story line and picturisation this low budget movie is watchable.