It is hard to make up your mind about films that don’t make any sense at all. There is never any dearth of pointless, senseless films anymore. The more you go down the rabbit hole, the more you’ll find films that are preposterous beyond our belief. “Yashoda” is one such film. Directed by Hari-Harish, the film is an amalgamation of outrageous plots sold as a female-centric film. The film is about a young woman who becomes a surrogate mother for financial reasons, but she unravels ugly truths about the entire set-up, which brings out the warrior in her.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Yashoda’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
The films begin with a white woman taking a swim at a private lake during her stay in Hyderabad. Two men drugged her drink, and she ended up consuming it. On the way back to her room, she faints. The men try to molest her when she dies suddenly. The investigation shows the woman was a Hollywood actress visiting India. Her autopsy report revealed the presence of LSD along with a mystery drug, the cocktail of which led to instant death. The cops are yet to find out what the mystery drug was. Yashoda’s life story begins with a hospital visit, where she is told that she has now been inseminated and is pregnant. She is told that her body and baby are healthy so far, so she need not worry. Yashoda insists that she can live in her home and locality during the entire pregnancy. The doctor refuses her request and relaxes her by explaining to her again about the facility where Yashoda is headed. The state-of-the-art facilities, accompanied by food and medicines on time, will help Yashoda have a smooth pregnancy. Yashoda is reluctant, but she finally agrees to head to the facility. Yashoda is in desperate need of money for her sister’s treatment, which made her take this monumental step of becoming a surrogate and earning money off of it from the parents of the kids. However, Yashoda is warned by a nurse at the hospital about her health. Yashoda is informed that after her delivery, she might not be able to get pregnant again, and that the facility where she is being sent is not the right place for her. Yashoda hears the nurse’s plea but decides to go to the facility for the next nine months. Yashoda is not exactly happy with this arrangement, but she needs monetary help at this point, and she has no choice but to go ahead with it. As Yashoda is already packed, one-half of the amount is given to her, and she makes sure it is used for her sister’s treatment. Yashoda gets into the vehicle for her to be taken to the facility, and before which she is given a pill. Yashoda falls asleep immediately and wakes up at the facility. Yashoda is made aware of the do’s and don’ts at the facility, and she will be provided with all the basic needs during this time. Yashoda makes acquaintance with other fellow pregnant surrogates, and she comes to know of the many financial difficulties they have been facing, which made them take up this offer. Most of them are happy to know the parents are willing to spend so much on them so that the baby is safe, healthy, and sound. Yashoda starts settling in at the facility and forms a good camaraderie with other women and Dr. Gautham, the residential doctor.
Meanwhile Aarushi, a supermodel and the heir to a business empire die in a car crash. Investigation into their death leads to the conclusion that airbag malfunction was the reason behind their deaths. The police officer investigating the case requests Commissioner Balram to inform IPS Officer Vasudev to help them with this investigation. Vasudev’s further investigation concludes that a chemical that should be present in the airbag so it would not malfunction was missing from all of the airbags in the car, leading to the car going up in flames and the victims being charred to death in a collision. This proves that the car crash was a pre-planned murder. They start checking up on Aarushi’s messages, contracts, and emails to find out if she has any enemies, which will help them find out the motive. They find out that Aarushi hired a private investigator to look at the products she was asked to endorse from Kraft Cosmetics. Aarushi wanted to know if the brand was what it claimed to be. The police come across a tape sent by the PI, who informs her of a mystery drug that is found in all the products of Kraft Cosmetics. The investigation team sends one of their products to a lab for further analysis. The lab reports suggest that the mystery drug found in the products of Kraft Cosmetics is the same mystery drug found in the body of the American actress who died. The police are hell-bent on finding out how Aarushi and the business tycoon died. They are now aware of the big scam that will be unearthed if they investigate further. The police are sure there is a connection between Kraft cosmetics and the murder of Aarushi, but they need to find proof to back their claims.
‘Yashoda’ Ending Explained – Does Yashoda Locate Her Sister Brinda? Is Brinda Alive?
Soon the lab technician and the PI are found dead by the police, but they begin investigating Kraft Cosmetics, who are in no mood to cooperate with the investigation. The police try to catch the owner of the brand. He turns out to be an influential man with a lot of goons on his side, ready to defend him. An ambush on the police team kills a fellow police officer and injures Commissioner Balram. Meanwhile, Yashoda starts thinking that this place is shadier than she can even fathom. She slowly starts asking a lot of questions, but the staff gives her vague answers. Yashoda keeps wondering what could be on the other side of the door marked Zone 2. One of the mothers, Kajal, goes into early labor and is taken to the restricted zone of the facility, where no one other than the staff is allowed. After a few hours, they were informed that Kajal’s child had died, and Kajal was safe and secure. She is asked to leave the facility immediately, but this information does not fit well with the rest of the women who knew Kajal, including Yashoda. Yashoda tries to dig deep into the system but fails. She and Dr. Gautham form a friendship in the process. Yashoda is curious to know what exactly is happening at this facility, for she was not convinced by the reason given by Dr. Madhubhala and the rest of the staff. They are just repeatedly told not to get emotionally attached, especially to the baby. One day Yashoda collapses in her room out of fatigue, and she is taken to the Zone 2 section of the facility. She tries to find out more about this side of the facility, but she is caught by Dr. Gautham, who initially does not suspect her. Once she is discharged, another mother goes into labor, and again the mother is taken to the Zone 2 section. Soon, the staff reveal that she died during the delivery, as did the child. Yashoda is shaken by this news and decides to take things into her own hands to find out what is happening. Yashoda is worried she will be put through the same torture if she does not find out the truth behind all the good things the facility provides. What are they hiding? Yashoda steals Dr. Gautham’s access card and uses it to access Zone 2, where she is confronted by another mother. She soon finds out the person masquerading as a mother was a spy planted by the facility to keep mothers in check, and she is not pregnant. Both get into a scuffle in which the woman is killed by Yashoda. Yashoda, being pregnant, puts herself through this stress so that she can defend herself. Yashoda enters the freezing area of Zone 2 using the access card and finds many women, including Leela and Kajal, whose dead bodies are stored there. Further, walking into the deep freezer, she comes across cabinets that store newborn fetuses inside boxes. Horrified of what she saw, she is confronted by the security guard, whom she kills in another scuffle that ensues between them. Yashoda is petrified of what she has discovered about the facility and its work. She does not understand what Dr. Madhubala and Dr. Gautham are up to by storing the dead bodies and the fetuses. Yashoda just understands that whatever is going on is illegal and must be stopped.
On the other hand, the police investigation team led by Commissioner Balram finds out that several supermodels and actresses from abroad have come to India for two weeks. The pattern is similar in everyone’s visit, which rings a bell about a supposed racket. The police need to find out who the racket is run by, what the racket is, and who it’s casualties. The police follow an Italian model from the airport and are led to a buffalo shed in the middle of the forest, where the police team is kept hostage. IPS Officer Vasudev soon concludes that they were betrayed by none other than Commissioner Balram himself, who has been wanting to close the investigation as ordered by his superiors. Balram misled the whole investigation team in the hope of capturing them and eliminating them, hoping their findings would never come out. Yashoda at the facility is taken hostage by Dr. Madhu and Dr. Gautham when they finally reveal their backgrounds. Dr. Madhu was always concerned about her beauty, and she ended up arguing with a Central Minister who visited her college. The Central Minister was an older gentleman, is impressed by her talk. He approached her to marry him. Being aware of the age difference but also knowing the fact that she would be surrounded by money makes it easy for her to decide her fate. She soon becomes pregnant, but her pregnancy triggers Werner syndrome. A rare disease that accelerates the body’s aging process. This puts Dr. Madhu in a bad state of mind, and her husband, the minister, decides to leave her. Dr. Gautham comes to her rescue when he experiments on a 5-month-pregnant Madhu. After several attempts, Dr. Gautham is successful in reverting the Werner Syndrome. He uses a formula on her, and Dr. Madhu attempts to kill him. Dr. Gautham reveals his death would mean she wouldn’t be getting the booster dose every six months, which would lead to Werner syndrome showing up again. Her husband decides to make a business deal out of this since his formula can be used to market to people who fixate on beauty. The three of them started a business, and the formula is already being used in the products of their cosmetic company, Kraft. Dr. Madhu, her husband, and Dr. Gautham are insensitive human beings who prey on the insecurities of women who have been told repeatedly to look good at every stage of their lives. The business becomes successful as they start getting clients from all over the world. Dr. Madhu also reveals that the formula that Dr. Gautham uses is from the plasma of the fetus, which will slow the aging process. To harvest fetuses, they start the racket of bringing in women from poor backgrounds and getting them pregnant under the pretext of surrogacy and money. Alarmed by the revelations, Yashoda is stunned to know the extent to which these three would go to earn money and make a business model out of it.
Back in the trapped buffalo shed, Commissioner Balram reveals he is on the payroll of Dr. Madhu and Dr. Gautham. But IPS Vasudev reveals his agent is already in the facility to eliminate them. Turns out Yashoda is a trained police officer who walked in as an undercover agent to rescue her sister Vrinda. Her sister was brainwashed into the surrogacy scam for money, which they needed, but Vrinda soon disappeared. Yashoda is unaware of where her sister might be, and along with her boss Vasudev they unveil this monstrous scam which is backed by the central minister himself. With the hope of finding her sister, Yashoda agrees to impregnate herself to get into the facility and find out if she is alive or not. Dr. Madhu and Dr. Gautham are ambushed and captured. Dr. Gautham is arrested by the police, and Dr. Madhu is confronted by all the pregnant women of her facility. Dr. Madhu reveals she reversed Werner syndrome using plasma from the fetus of her child. The women brand her a demon and throw her off the hill on which the entire facility is situated. Yashoda is hell-bent on punishing this woman for ruining the lives of many in the name of beauty, acquiring profits through inhuman practices. Yashoda turns out to be a badass woman who would go miles for the safety of herself and her family. She joined the force with the hope of serving the greater good and finishing this task that was assigned to her. Vrinda is finally found in the facility, and she is in labor. Vrinda gives birth to a girl child with the help of the pregnant women and the warden, who finally decides to help. Yashoda is overjoyed to see her sister healthy and alive. Yashoda is also glad to have gotten the help of the women she saved from the facility and her team, headed by Vasudev. Yashoda spearheaded the mission to kill the racket of illegal surrogacy conducted by the trio. She makes sure that, along with her sister, other women stuck in the facility are also rescued. It is not revealed if Yashoda keeps her child or gives it away. Keeping up with the theme of the film, it can be assumed that Vrinda and Yashoda keep the child with them.
Final Thoughts
I have many reasons not to like this film. This is with the usual trope of dubbing which is a major issue in every Telugu film. The story and screenplay are absurd, to begin with. Just by selling the film as a female-centric one and wrapping it around the fact that a lady superstar is headlining it, it doesn’t make the film worth watching. The screenplay was bumpy, the editing was sloppy, and the way the story is executed notches up the over-the-top narrative by 100%, making the viewing experience dull. The action sequences are worth mentioning, though they could not save the film. Even though the film claims to be a female-centric story, it is still written by a man, and the story is very much from a man’s perspective. The film emphasizes looking down upon women who believe in investing in beauty and shaming women who don’t want to become mothers. This is a classic case of patriarchal storytelling. “Yashoda” has nothing new to offer, for this is just another masala film headlined by a female superstar instead of a male superstar.
“Yashoda” is a Telugu language action drama, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video with subtitles.
