Unable
to bear the brutality and repeated rapes by her alcoholic and abusive husband,
Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya Rai), a battered Punjabi housewife and mother of
two in London, sets him on fire before unintentionally killing him.  | | Robbie
Coltrane |
Charged
with first-degree murder, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, where she befriends
her cellmate, a wealthy white woman named Veronica Scott (Miranda Richardson),
from whom she learns English. Moved
by her story, the cellmate asks her step brother, Edward Foster (Robbie Coltrane),
a highly respected queen's counsel to file her appeal. Her
case comes to the notice of a group of south Asian social workers running an organisation
called Southall Black Sisters.  | | Within
the prison courtyard in the film Provoked |
They
bring her plight to the attention of the media by organising rallies to gather
public support for her freedom. She
is ultimately freed by the judicial system in a landmark case called "Regina
vs. Ahluwali", that redefined the word 'provocation' in the case of a battered
woman. She
was reunited with her children and was subsequently given an award by the Prime
Minister's wife for her crusade against domestic violence. Queen
of Bollywood, Miss Aishwarya Rai, stars in an intense deglamourised role very
similar to that in Choker Bali, a film much appreciated by the UK audience.  | | Aishwarya
Rai plays the abused wife in Provoked |
Provoked was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in April this year and
was highly praise by the international media.
Aishwarya
Rai was present with director Jag Mundhra to promote the film through press conferences
and parties. In
June, the film opened the 2006 IIFA Film Festival in Dubai. Aishwarya Rai flew
down from her shooting schedule for the day to attend the premiere. The
film is said to be releasing very soon by EROS International in the UK cinemas. Previewed
by Manish Gajjar,
91Èȱ¬ Bollywood Correspondent 
| 
