Movie Review: Sharmaji Beti

In the recent past, many films have been released on topics like feminist, women’s issues and women’s privacy. Writer-director Tahira Kashyap has also taken the same trend forward with Sharmaji Ki Beti. The specialty of this film of Tahira, who has written and directed many short films, is that it talks about the issues of women of three different classes without glorifying them and the interesting thing is that their surnames are the same. The story of this film coming on Prime Video is based on issues related to women.

The story begins with two teenage girls Swati (Vanshika Taparia) and Gurveen (Arista Mehta) who study in school. Both these girls are going through the pressures of teenage. Swati is worried about not getting her period yet, while Gurveen feels that she is interested in girls rather than boys. Swati also complains to her mother Jyoti (Sakshi Tanwar) who teaches in a coaching school that her mother is not able to pay much attention to her due to her career. Jyoti’s husband Sudhir (Sharib Hashmi) fully supports his/her working wife, but despite this Jyoti is seen struggling to balance her career and family. Gurveen’s mother Kiran (Divya Dutta) is going through loneliness in Mumbai due to belonging to a small town like Patiala. She is in a marriage with Parveen Dabas where she is not getting happiness. On the other hand, Tanvi Sharma (Saiyaami Kher), who has come to Mumbai from Vadodara to become a cricketer, is a state level player. She has a different kind of passion for her game, but her boyfriend Rohan (Ravjit Singh), who is struggling to become an actor, constantly discourages her and her game. he/she wants Tanvi to give up her cricket and marry him/her. All these girls and women fight their own battles on their own fronts.

The best thing about Tahira Kashyap’s film as a writer-director is that instead of talking about any big issues, she talks about the issues related to women, which women have to face in their daily lives. Women ignore these small things, but all of Tahira’s characters have the courage to underline their issues and find solutions to them. Tahira expresses their problems with ease. She handles topics like peer pressure of teenage girls, career-oriented women and equality with ease. Tahira did not make men villains in women’s problems. Yes, the film seems slow at times and in the end it moves very fast towards the climax. The dialogues of the film could have been made witty, in the same way the music aspect could also have been strengthened.

The acting of the actors is the main attraction of the film. Sakshi has acted very restrained as Jyoti. Sakshi’s specialty is to play her character with ease. Vanshika Tapadia and Arista Mehta have done a great job as teenagers. They have portrayed the insecurities and pressures of teenage girls beautifully, but Divya Dutta wins the battle as Kiran. She has lived the subtleties of a housewife neglected by her husband and society in her own way. Parveen Dabas is memorable in a small role. Sharib Hashmi is cute as a supportive husband. Saiyami has done complete justice to the role of the cricketer, but more work should have been done on his/her character. Ravjeet Singh’s work in the role of her lover Rohan is good. Sushant Ghadge has managed to provide moments of entertainment in the role of Chotu. The supporting cast is fine.

Why watch: Those who like light-hearted films on women’s issues can watch this film.