Qala – Movie Review

There was a time when my movie viewing decision was largely driven by the soundtrack the movie had. This means that I have seen almost all Emraan Hashmi, Vikram Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt movies which used to feature new music directors, new singers (some of them Pakistanis) and beautiful lyrics. This was long before movie viewing became so easy on OTTs. Despite boasting of a great soundtrack, these movies never quite compromised on what makes a movie work – the story. And combine that with great casting, you had a hit guaranteed. Kalyug, Gangster, Murder, Raaz – none of these movies were cinematic masterpieces but they worked for the masses and delivered the box-office goods.

I watched Qala for the simple reason that it has a great soundtrack. I had seen the trailers and after listening to it’s soulful music I was quite excited about the possibilities of the soundtrack playing a key role in the movie. I was left disappointed.

I will not go to the details of the story, but the basic plot revolves around a singer who is born into a reputed family of ‘Pandits’ and her struggle to be accepted by her inexplicably unattached mother. The movie features Tripti Dumri as Qala who I am told was great in a movie called Bulbull. Babil Khan, son of the great Irrfan makes his Hindi movie debut as a turbaned gurbani singer from Solan with a promise to be the next best thing. Swastika Mukherjee, who Hindi film audiences might recognise from Dibaker Banerjee’s Byomkesh Bakshi, plays the role of the mother who’s approval Qala longs for throughout the movie.

Before I go into the reasons why I think the movie doesn’t work, let’s just talk about the music. I mean it doesn’t get better than this. You have Amit Trivedi, Varun Grover, Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Kausar Munir all coming together to create this masterpiece of an album. Shahid Mallya is amazing as the voice behind Babil Khan’s character Jagan. But the real find and showstapper of this work of art is Sireesha Bhagavatula. Her mesmerising voice and range across the four songs in which she is featured is just a treat. She quite reminds me of when Shreya Ghoshal made her debut with Devdas. I have listened to Phero na Najariya countless times just beause of how Sireesha has sung it. She will have a bright future in Hindi film music scene.

Coming back to the movie itself, director Anvita Dutt failed to make the most of what could have been a great screenplay. The story seemed incoherent and forced at times. There were many themes that were explored in the movie – parental pressure, burden of legacy, shady practices in the world of entertainment, mental health, misoginy etc. The problem is when you have so many messages, you really don’t know how to convey them in a manner that makes sense. For me the mental health angle was quite compelling, as it could have been the anchor to explore every other theme in a way that it all made sense. But quite inexplicably, the director never explored it and chose to the end the movie when we just got started to explore it.

This movie is set in 1940s Kolkata but for some reason you don’t really see it. I mean you could have at least cast actors who look Bengali even if they don’t speak the language. Amit Sial, who recently played a Bihari politician in the web series Maharani, plays the most unconvincing role of a Bengali music director. Sameer Kochhar is also there in a similar role. Varun Grover plays Majrooh, a poet. Having seen him struggle through some stand up comedy routines, my advice would be for him to stay away from the cameras. In a nutshell, the casting was quite bad and contributed hugely to the audience not liking many of the characters.

Some credit to the camera work, which looked very Sanjay Leela Bhansali-esque ar times. In fact in many ways this movie reminds me of Devdas the music, the colours, the sets and the non Bengaliness of all that. Ar least Devdas got the costumes right.

The plot itself didn’t make much sense as we were expected to understand why Qala’s mother put her under so much pressure, and then suddenly shifts all her love and attention towards a completely unknown Jagan after she hears him sing. There is a backstory of Qala being the stronger twin when she was born and her brother not surviving. Was that enough for us to relate to the implied longing of her mother for a son? I don’t think so.

The movie starts with Qala winning a golden vinyl which was her dream, and then through a series of flashbacks we see how she gets there through manipulation and worse. The director wants the audience to feel bad about her and empathise with her struggles but it just doesn’t happen. Also the choices her mother makes – like not letting her sing while on a boat makes no sense at all when all her life she has wanted her to be a ‘Pandit’.

I will call this move a wasted opportunity of telling a compelling story of an artiste’s struggles – struggles against parental expectations, against favouritism, against mental health challenges. The strange little cameo by Anushka Sharma was also not enough to save this sinking ship. In a way it’s good that this movie got released on OTT otherwise it would have been a major box office bomb.

The movie is now showing on Netflix. Watch only if you like the songs, you can skip the rest.