Two warring sisters, a troubled but loving father, and a nosy neighbour who not only enjoys the fight between the sisters but often makes sure to make the most of it. If this sounds like a setting from your own home or a household you know closely, it very well could be. Just that, in this case, the intensity of the fight is higher than what one would usually imagine.
But, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha, is not a sheer figment of imagination that is high on drama, and also cuss words. It is an adaptation of a Hindi short story, Do Behnein, written by Charan Singh Pathik, which is based on a real-life story that unfolded in Pathik’s own household. And like it usually is, it is difficult to watch a Bhardwaj film without being awed by the imaginative spin he puts into stories, and also with the rustic milieu he chooses to set his films in.
The infamous herd mentality of the Hindi film industry that has ensured that every second film is set in a small town/village, applies here too. One starts watching the film with a little scrutiny—of being overwhelmed by the dialect of the place where the film is set, which often goes wrong, in this case a small village in Rajasthan; of unnecessary punch lines exploiting that dialect; and of actors going overboard with it. But none of that happens here. The dialogues in the local dialect, with a generous use of proverbs, are delightful; the actors, almost everyone, are in top form.
Even better is the fact that unlike most "small-town" films where the main characters are mostly stereotyped into being shopkeepers (being a tailor is the new fad too), or may be a farmer or factory worker, Bhardwaj's men are different. If one is a miner handling a stone ore, another is a junior engineer (Namit Das) and yet another an English tutor (Abhishek Duhan) in the army.
The story revolves around the two daughters of the miner, Shanti Bhushan (an in-form Vijay Raaz)—Champa Kumari aka Badki (Radhika Madan) and Genda Kumari aka Chutki (Sanya Malhotra)—who cannot look each other in the eye, instigated more by their crossed-eye neighbour, Dipper (Sunil Grover). Their names, inspired by flowers, have nothing to do with the feisty traits they possess—not just when they fight with each other, but also while pinning down any man who tries to come near them. It is only a matter of time that they fall in love, too, in the process.
The film is not about love though. War is the mainstay, even though underlined by the care they show each other. But it is equally about the aspirations of the two sisters, which in turn, keep becoming a cause of war. Badki has no qualms about dropping out of school as she dreams of running a dairy farm. She loves cows. Chutki wants to pursue education, so that she can run a school of her own some day. Neither happens. At least not when they want. Rather, they elope with their respective boyfriends when pushed to the wall during a financial crunch, just to realise that they have married siblings and will share the same house again.
Years pass, each sister has a kid. In the interim, there have been rare moments of no conflict. The fights continue over anything and everything, embarrassing anyone present including their daughters. Credit should be given to Madan and Malhotra for being sincere in their portrayal.
Bhardwaj, through the stories of the two sisters, described as India and Pakistan through the film, wants to make a point of surviving with a neighbour with whom you have a love-hate relationship like the two countries. It is only apt that the father, heartbroken by the hatred between his daughters, is referred to as Bapu by not just the daughters, but everyone in the village.
The film brings home the point that the director wants to make. But at two hours 15 minutes, it is a little too long and gets a little repetitive. But there is less to complain, because don't the two countries fight repetitively for no reason?
Film: Pataakhaa
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast: Sanya Malhotra, Radhika Madan, Vijay Raaz, Sunil Grover
Rating: 3/5