'Barkhaa': The Tawaif Goes To The Beer Bar

Film: "Barkhaa"; Cast: Sara Loren, Taha Shah, Puneet Issar, Priyanshu Chatterjee; Director: Shadaab Mirza; Rating: ***

Pakeezah goes to the beer bar. Or some such tagline would serve this fairly watchable melodrama's purposes.

Melodrama as a genre in Indian cinema has gone out of vogue. Debutant director Shadaab Mirza weaves an emotional yarn about a girl's journey from the pristine Himachal hinterland into a beer bar run by an incredibly benign South Indian man who could be one of those caring madams in the films about fallen women set in kothas.

To his credit, the director doesn't over-romanticise the bar girl Barkhaa's tumultuous life story, at least not initially when she is shown to be quite a tease.

The scenes showing the rich pampered lawyer's besotted son Jatin (Taha Shah, stiff and not just in the upper-lip) frequenting the bar to dart lovelorn looks at his object of adoration are met with a disarming mix of amusement and annoyance by Barkhaa.

The scenes featuring the mismatched couple's tragic game of seduction in the bar are effective in putting across a sense of incredulity about the cruel jokes played by destiny specially in movies about... well, the cruel jokes played by destiny.

A large part of the film's effectiveness depends on lead actress Sara Loren, who is emotively motivated, understands the camera and the power of heightened emotions expressed on screen, and is powerfully empowered to convey a wealth of emotions through her eyes and voice.

But the film's finest performances comes from Ashiesh Roy as the level headed unbelievably kind bar owner. Roy imparts a natural ease to his over-sweetened part in a film where everybody strains to make an impact.

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