Tarla Review - A Tasty Dish For Men & Women, And It's more Than Just About Cooking

Piyush Gupta sits in the director's chair for Tarla Dalal's biopic, starring Huma Qureshi and Sharib Hashmi. The man who wrote Dangal and Chhichhore, Piyush dear, you certainly have it in your blood. You have spent enough time with Nitesh Tiwary and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari—two people who know how to make a cinema that can reflect on society and might possibly bring about a change. Tarla Dalal is a known name in India (perhaps abroad too), but her story is not just about cooking and recipes. Piyush Gupta knew that he wasn't just making a biopic of a famous personality but of an inspiration, a hero, and a woman who changed the mindset of women, men, and in-laws in the emerging era of TV. Tarla may be a dated dish for me, but it did satisfy my hunger with a variety of delicious ingredients.Way back in time, we had Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Masterpiece "Anuradha" (1960), which taught us the value of a woman behind a successful man, who could have had a bigger career than the man of the house. How about turning things around in 2023? Maybe it's time to change the famous saying "Behind every successful man, there is a woman," to "Behind a very successful woman, there could be a man too". Some films have done so in the past, but today Tarla taught me that again. Going a little further behind, when Spencer Tracy yelled at Katherine Hepburn, "The woman of the year is not a woman at all," I liked that. Yes, a woman should not overuse her freedom; I agree, but American culture is different. We have a different culture in India, and Tarla was definitely not in the category of 'not a woman at all'. It's about keeping the limit right and flying high with your wings to achieve your dreams. Huma Qureshi's Tarla is also about that freedom and those limits. One more heartwarming addition is giving respect to the man, who supported his wife in male dominance era. That scene when the CEO tells Nalin, "I am a fan," and Nalin says, "Meri wife ke". The boss replies, "No. I am your fan. You are an inspiration." What a sweet message. In today's fast-forward era, when biopics are raining like cats and dogs (pardon my language), allowing viewers no cinematic value, here comes a sensible biopic with dated methods (that's the only problem with the film), which you should taste at least once this rainy season.Tarla (Huma Qureshi) wants to do something in her life, but she doesn't know what that 'something' is. Before she could figure out that something, she was married to Nalin Dalal (Sharib Hashmi), who offered her full support as a husband. Years go by, and Tarla has become a regular housewife with three children to take care of. Her cooking skills help a neighbourhood girl get married and get permission from her mother-in-law to work after marriage. Tarla starts getting requests from other girls too, and there she realises that her 'something' might just be this 'thing'. She can enjoy her passion for cooking and also help girls find their wings. After some obstacles, Tarla decides to write a cookbook. It's a big success, and Tarla is now set to flash live on Television, while her personal life is dimming bit by bit. Her jobless husband can't help but get irritated by her, and the gap between them widens. How Tarla writes her name in history books and how her husband realises her heroic value form the crux of the story towards the end.Tarla is a beautiful story for every small-family girl and middle-class woman who wants to do something in her life. There was a time when women were not allowed to go outside the house at night, but today's girls work at BPOs and in the corporate world on night shifts. The times have changed, but where did it change? Tarla is just one player from that time-changing phase, while her husband, Nalin, was one more but unfortunately didn't get enough recognition. The screenplay has some outdated dramatic moments that I disliked during the show because everything else was going so smoothly. Attempting additional topics like women's empowerment, realising womanhood's limits, and changing men's perspectives have boosted the main context of this biographical drama. It couldn't have been shorter, as the runtime fits all the standard criteria, but it could have definitely been more crisp.The casting director of Tarla deserves to be applauded for his mind-blowing thought process. Who would have imagined glamorous Huma Qureshi as a typical 70s housewife with big circle lensed specs and such teeth? Huma Qureshi wears the shoes of Tarla Dalal as if she had left them for her. She doesn't try to be a Bollywood heroine for a moment, and that's what makes her performance memorable. Sharib Hashmi has to be one of the busiest actors in Bollywood nowadays that I get to meet him every month for his films. From a strong supporting actor to becoming the male lead and nailing his part like a boss. I am lucky to have witnessed your journey closely, not just on screen but in real life. What an actor you are! Hardly anyone understood your worth, and I thank Tarla's casting director from the bottom of my heart for choosing you for this role. Hence, it proved that talent is bigger and better than stardom. No A-lister or B-lister star could have played this part better than you. May you keep growing, and we get to see you in good roles again and again in the future. Getting Huma and Sharib as the leading pair has to be one of the gutsiest decisions in recent times. Kudos to the Tarla team for that. A small mention to the brilliant supporting cast of Bharati Achrekar, Amarjeet Singh, Rajeev Pandey, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Veenah Naair, and others.OTT releases are actually getting away with bad music, and some of the good ones are getting away without any hype. "Aankhon hi aankho mein Jo vaade kiye, humne nibhane bhi hai." I just heard this on line and fell in love with "Rang Khilen". Nilotpal Bora has given me a sleeper hit, and believe it or not, I am still humming it while writing these lines. "Papa Why" is a typical kids song like we had in the 80s, and "Yahi To Hai Zindagi" is pretty good. Tarla's dialogues are surprisingly good. "Ek raddi wale ki jitni pahunch hoti hai na, utni Pradhan Mantri ki bhi nah" hoti". Dialogue of the year! And it's cent percent true if you can just spare a few seconds to think about it. "Aurat ko sab Laxmi maante hai par Ghar ke Bahar laxmanrekha khinch kar use Ghar me band kar dete hai" is so meaningful. Those cute conversions between Tarla and Nalin have some nice one-liners too. "Jis din tumhe apna Kuch to pata chal Jayega na, tab me apna sab Kuch chodd ke tumhara Saath Dunga". If I had been a girl, this would have been my definition of a "Man". The editing, cinematography, and production value looked fairly good, if not too impressive. Piyush Gupta's executive finds its motive alright. Thank God; otherwise, we have too many biopics going astray to seek enough masala. Mr. Gupta has done a fine job as a director while compiling an inspiring tale with social lectures, and that with a sweetness from the old days of Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Tarla isn't on that level, but somewhere it reminds you of that old-school cinema, which is slowly fading away in today's OTT era that mostly lives on vulgarity and abusiveness. Overall, Tarla is a surprisingly tasty dish that's more than just about cooking and biopic recipes.