Last Updated: July 07, 2023, 08:04 AM IST
Tarla Movie Review: She exudes sincerity, charisma, inner power, and beauty. A ball of wool outside the kitchen and house, or when prodded to talk. In her kitchen, she prepares delectable treats that will satisfy your taste buds. She is a typical middle-class lady who is often a multitasker, juggling various responsibilities simultaneously. From managing household chores to taking care of children’s needs, she excels at managing multiple tasks efficiently.
Know this woman? Our mother or the neighbourhood lady who never really enjoyed college or learnt much in college, graduated with a degree, and then got married? Tarla Dalal, in director Piyush Gupta’s Tarla is that woman.
The film is based on late chef-cookbook author Tarla Dalal, who rose the ranks from being a housewife to becoming a household name with those amazing vegetarian recipes that I am sure we all make in our houses. But this isn’t a biopic nor a food film. Tarla is a coming of age story of a woman who yearns to do something in life, as she keeps saying, ‘Kuch toh karna hai, par yeh kuch kya hai, abhi maloom nahi’. It is about realizing that age is just a number and anyone can achieve something significant if he or she decides to do it.
Gupta’s premise is simple: A woman can change her situation, love herself, and get the family to love her back. It is a winning theme for a film, rife with dramatic possibilities—the underdog, her struggles, her victory against the odds. The writer and debut director builds up a buoyant mood from early on, moving with a linear and predictable graph.
The story traces the journey of Tarla (Huma Qureshi), who gets married at a young age to Nalin Dalal (Sharib Hashmi) and has three children. She remains a successful homemaker, but she has to let go of a lot as possibilities start knocking on her door one after another. The difficulty starts there, and the main plot of the narrative is how she overcomes all obstacles. What we observe is Tarla’s path from the point where her husband encourages her to begin home cooking lessons to the point where she ultimately has her own culinary show on TV after much difficulty and struggle.
The film itself is not without its flaws, though. Gupta is impressive with the feel-good portions but she does go over the top with melodrama in a bid to give the film its emotional core. While the run time is two hours, the film becomes a little sluggish in the middle. A handful of the movie’s conflicts are overly drawn out. It is also a victim of writing for ease.
Talking about the performances, one star in the rating is definitely reserved for Huma and Sharib. She may not have transcended the physical attributes of the diminutive Tarla in the actual sense (except adding a few obvious freckles to her face and the protruding bunny teeth), but she has brought the home chef to life convincingly enough, leaving you rooting for her, long after the end credits roll. Sharib, on the other hand, is excellent as a supporting husband.
So what’s the final take? Well, though, Tarla is predictable in parts, the journey is an enjoyable one. Choose what you wish to eat while watching it. Popcorn or some of that delicious recipe of Tarla that you can make easily at home.