The work put in by the technicians is of the highest order. Parts of Rajma Chawal might feel a touch under-cooked, but the rawness is only occasional. Dastur, too, turns in an impressively confident performance as the rebellious hairdresser whose own hairdo states her intentions upfront - a long pigtail on one side of the head and a razor-cut on the other, rounded off with a barcode tattoo on the neck. At no point does Tanwar look unsure of his screen presence. He receives enough support from Amyra Dastur and Anirudh Tanwar to be able to turn this agreeable tale into an engaging portrait of a social media tyro negotiating the challenges thrown at him by a rapidly changing social and digital environment. He is, as always, effortlessly on the ball.
No overly jarring notes interrupt its flow. It is Yadav's genteel approach to the material - it is a blend of slice-of-life drama and conventional romantic and emotional tropes - that helps the film strike and sustain a steady rhythm. Rajma Chawal is occasionally marked by simplistic, broad brushstrokes and the film's denouement isn't entirely convincing. When Kabir, on his part, advises Seher to visit her family for Diwali, she confesses that the doors to her home are shut forever. What good are these memories, Kabir asks, when somebody reminds him of the stories of Chandni Chowk that he heard from his mother as a boy. Seher is on the run from her family in Meerut for reasons that aren't divulged until near the end of the film.īut while the self-centred older man thinks nothing of clinging to old habits, the two youngsters are determined to move on with their lives. Kabir is in distress, having lost both his mother and his comfortable New Delhi home. Mathur's bereavement has been aggravated by perfidious business partner. The three pivotal characters in Rajma Chawal are all fleeing from a past and grappling with a present that is anything but stable. Seher's hotheaded boyfriend Baljeet (Aparshakti Khurrana) throws a spanner in the works and Mathur is compelled to come up with Plan B, which entails his paying the cash-strapped girl to keep the ruse going. It pays off until the point Kabir runs into the real Tara - she is actually Seher, a small-town girl who works in a hair salon - at a nightclub gig. The grieving boy has reason to feel hard done by because, among other things, the abrupt relocation has led to the breakup of his band. His son, Kabir (debutant Anirudh Tanwar), has no sentimental connect with the place and is mighty peeved at the disruption caused by the shift. What Yadav does, and does well, is keep the narrative simple, light and uncluttered, which makes for consistently enjoyable viewing.įollowing the untimely death of his wife, Mathur (Rishi Kapoor) decides to move to Chandni Chowk, where he grew up and where many of his childhood friends still live and work. It offers no startling insights into a milieu that is oft-seen in Hindi cinema nor does it have anything new to reveal about individuals coming to terms with loss, grief and loneliness.
The principal conflict in the film centres on the struggle within a family - and a locality - to find a meeting point for what has gone and what is at hand.īut no, Leena Yadav's heartwarming film, released on Netflix, isn't seeking to paint a big picture of a neighbourhood that is both static and in flux. The crowded, chaotic, colourful location plays a key part in the narrative, serving to reflect the uneasy relationship not only between a sullen young musician and his acerbic dad but also between two generations of Indians, one rooted in the past, the other looking ahead. Garnished with flavours that range from the mildly pungent to the gently aromatic, Rajma Chawal, a bittersweet father-son drama set in Old Delhi, is instantly appetizing. Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Amyra Dastur and Anirudh Tanwar
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