Xtreme Vogue Islamabad Desk: Sidra Yusuf
Star Cast: Sakshi Tanwar, Divya Dutta, Saiyami Kher, Vanshika Taparia, Arista Mehta, Sharib Hashmi, Parvin Dabas
Director: Tahira Kashyap Khurrana
What’s Good: The simplistic story telling with endearing moments.
What’s Bad: It is a bumpy ride so we are just putting up the warning sign.
Loo Break: Avoid, else you might drop the momentum since it is a little struggle already.
Watch or Not?: Yes
Language: Hindi
Available On: Amazon Prime Video
Runtime: 115 Minutes
User Rating:
Sharmajee Ki Beti opens straight into Mudde Ki Baat – introducing five women of different age groups – two sets of Mothers & Daughters – Kiran & Swati, Jyoti & Gurveen and one independent woman Tanvi. These five women are prototypes for five different groups but all of them have one thing in common – their surname – Sharma!
Tanvi Sharma is a woman in her late 20s who wants to play cricket but has to deal with her complex boyfriend, who cannot strike a balance between loving her and wanting her to be a bit more ‘feminine.’ The second set of Sharma is Kiran and Swati, where the mom struggles to have an accomplished career but cannot strike a work-life balance and gets all the hate from her daughter Swati, who is a struggling teenager feeling left out for adulting a bit late. Right from not having her periods to not having a fuller breast, all are her first-world problems.
The last set of Sharma women are Jyoti and Gurveen, both of whom are struggling with their identities. But Gurveen, a school going teenager has a friend in the other Sharma – Swati, while Jyoti finds herself alone in a city like Mumbai.
The two teenage Sharma girls and the three Sharma women, together, weave an endearing tale of Sharmajee Ki Beti.
Script Analysis
Tahira Kashyap Khurrana picks up the oldest story in the book – Women and their identity crisis – women and their time. While she establishes the struggle of women to find their independent time and space, she very carefully, in fact, extra carefully, makes sure to make this discussion about women and their identity in a totally cool manner minus all the preachiness. And guess what – She passes the test with flying colors since none of the scenes make you feel drowsy or yawning, and this is the first win in the subsequent wins she finds in this story of five Sharma women.
While Tahira decides to make this story as lighthearted as it can, it somehow gets dropped due to a lack of good punches and comebacks. To be precise – Good dialogues. So, while the story progresses just the right amount, there are moments when it fails to connect due to the absence of a good punch or dialogue!
Star Performance
The characters of Sharmajee Ki Beti are endearing. But the winner amongst them all is the little Vanshika Taparia, playing Sakshi Tanwar’s daughter – who almost hates her mother for not being there when she needs her the most. Vanshika, with her mismanaged hair, steals everyone’s thunder – even Sakshi Tanwar‘s when she is on screen. Such precision to emote comes so naturally to her that she is just winning this film with anything she says or does. She gets beautifully supported by the other Sharma kid, Arista Mehta.
The other Sharma woman who touches is Divya Dutta‘s Jyoti Sharma, probably because she has a meatier role that could play well with the emotional void around her. Jyoti’s loneliness, turns a boon for Divya Dutta to nail this character with her finesse.
Sakshi Tanwar and Saiyami Kher fell a little short, probably because they did not have better-written characters.
Parvin Dabas, Sharib Hashmi, Ravjeet Singh, and Sushant Ghadge all support the film very well.
Direction, Music
The film opens with Tapsee Pannu’s voice asking some very important questions about women and time – very brilliantly pitting them against each other. In fact, Tahira Kashyap very intelligently sets up three different worlds for the five Sharma women and introduces them and their problems in the first 10 minutes itself. As the film progresses, it never fails to entertain you, but the problem starts when it doesn’t peak and falls flat towards the end. Though it might have been the most ironic and the obvious end suddenly as the film ends, you do not remember the most part of it, and that is where the main problem of this film lies. It could be a great piece to be treasured in memories but it never reaches that point to make itself feel that worthy!
What could have uplifted Sharmajee Ki Beti was some good musical pieces. In fact, there were visible voids and spaces that could have blended well with some good music, which was the need of this film as well!
What Works
Despite having bumps and loopholes, Sharmajee Ki Beti works for its simplistic storytelling. It starts talking about a problem and keeps talking about it till it reaches its peak. So, the uniformity and no-deviation, minus the preachiness, definitely works for the film. It is like that much-needed bearish amidst the chest-thumping game of the alpha males that have been ruling the screens for quite some time now.
What Doesn’t Work
Despite having an endearing story, Sharmajee Ki Beti doesn’t stay with oneself, and that is where the film disappoints. It takes off very well but never peaks, taking the much dreaded monotonous path of emotions where you are neither laughing nor smiling. You are watching it, giving it that benefit of the doubt, and it would suddenly peak, probably. But it has nothing more to offer; you just keep watching because the content is engaging.
The Last Word
Sharmajee Ki Beti might not have that ‘Wow-some’ effect but it still keeps winning you over in moments. Be it Sakshi Tanwar’s Kiran accepting that there are times when a woman wants to accomplish in her career, just because she loves working – as her child questions her workaholic nature despite having no majboori in the family to push both the parents to work.
Not to forget, Sharib Hashmi, as the understanding husband, trying to strike that balance between the mother and daughter, making them understand each other, wins big time. So, not only Sharmajee Ki Beti, but even Sharmajee Ka Beta needs that acknowledgement and recognition.
Khurranajee Ki Biwi is surely winning hearts with this simple, endearing tale that might not have that ‘extra’ dose of entertainment, but it still has that satiety level that films seldom provide.
All in all, 3.5 stars!
