'Sharmajee Ki Beti' review: Flimsy film unsuccessful in developing ideas
Tahira Kashyap Khurrana's feature film directorial debut, Sharmajee Ki Beti, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, suffers from the lack of execution of ideas. It's complacent in thinking that its ideas are groundbreaking, but the entire film is flimsy, wayward, and all over the place. It may not be unbearable, but it's tough to care for its underdeveloped characters, all marinated in clichéd tropes.
The story of three women with same surname, different problems
Jyoti Sharma (Sakshi Tanwar), is a teacher, who earns her daughter's wrath for not giving her ample time but finds solace in her supportive husband Sudhir (Sharib Hashmi). Tanvi Sharma is a cricketer (Saiyami Kher) trapped by her patriarchal, toxic boyfriend's expectations, while Kiran Sharma (Divya Dutta), a homemaker, is chided by her husband who hardly ever casts a glance toward her.
Does not get to the root of things
Everything in SKB is on the surface level. Khurrana doesn't let any scene properly breathe, simmer, and develop, and resultantly, there is not much that we know about these people except some excerpts from their daily lives. Slice-of-life, sure, but we are always at a distance from Jyoti, Tanvi, and Kiran, and even when all hell breaks loose, we're past the caring point.
Nothing feels new, novel, or engaging
SKB has a whiff of movies that, mostly, define themselves as "different" and "quirky" but eventually, are hollow and painfully superficial (like Dhak Dhak). It has ambition and it seeks to make some points about female solidarity and the need of finding oneself, but things are so basic and so on-the-nose that nothing strikes a chord, nothing warms your heart.
Tonally inconsistent; even the characters seem unaware of each other
When we meet Tanvi and her boyfriend (who hates that she plays cricket) the tonal inconsistencies swim to the surface; they talk as as if it's the first time they have ever conversed! Tanvi has been playing for ten years and been dating him for two, so why do they speak like they virtually met on Tinder and have met for the maiden time?
No captivating story, just vignettes one after the other
SKB has a relaxed, calm pace throughout, which made me wonder when the central conflict will kick into action. Alas, that never happens. The film doesn't exactly have a plot, and instead, it feels like random events from the trio's lives are stitched to make the movie. With no depth, sense of profundity, or narrative anchor, scenes just float without leaving any impression.
Some scenes should have been outright chopped
Some scenes, built around Kiran, are outright ludicrous. They are meant to evoke laughter, but all they elicit is a sense of surprise about why and how those sequences were not chopped off on the editing table. Better, tighter writing and editing, fewer unnecessary scenes, no exposition, and a closer look at the characters could have turned the film around.
What works: Sense of a stronger film somewhere
Coming to the appreciable parts, with Kiran's character, SKB endeavors to be a meditation on the way loneliness gnaws at you, and how being a prisoner of your past only leads to a slower death. There is a different film in here, somewhere, about Kiran's life of disrespect about a homemaker—someone who isn't deemed the best for either world, domestic or corporate.
Watch out for the two young girls
Its earnestness comes alive in the scenes revolving around two teenagers: Gurveen and Swati, daughters of Kiran and Jyoti respectively. While one struggles because her menstruation is too late, the other undergoes a whirlpool of emotions as she tries to confront and come to terms with her homosexuality. Their conversations are progressive, raw, unfiltered, and seem to mirror the reality.
Verdict: You won't be missing much if you skip it
While women telling women's stories is usually a breath of fresh air, it's not necessary that each such attempt will land. Despite the strength of its experienced performers, Sharmajee Ki Beti falls flat, failing to rise above its premise and offering nothing novel in the feminist cinema genre. Wobbly, inconsequential, predictably made, and unsatisfactorily edited, it's a forgettable debut. 2/5 stars.
