Fridae

Provoked may just be the movie that would appeal to dykes this week.

It stars stunning Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, who has more websites dedicated to her than any other person on the face of the earth. But in Provoked, she has managed to do the impossible � downplay her gorgeousness to such an extent that you could actually believe she is a poor battered wife.

Based on landmark British court case in 1992, Aishwarya plays a woman who had suffered many years of brutality in the hands of her alcoholic husband (Naveen Andrews of Lost fame).Unable to take it anymore, she sets her husband on fire. She is subsequently charged with first-degree murder.

Her appeal is taken up by Lord Edward Foster (Robbie Coltrane), a well-known queen's counsel, who argues that she was "provoked". In a landmark ruling, the British courts finally freed her on the grounds that she had a right to react to her husband's provocations. This case changed British laws forever with regards to battered women.

What makes Provoked a simple and effective film is its disciplined avoidance of melodrama and mushiness. The facts are laid out earnestly and engagingly, though it is ultimately the poignant real-life subject matter that makes it such a meaningful film.