Legend has it that the big and strong Pandava Bhima invented the dish ‘Avial’ during his stint as a cook in disguise. Being the macho warrior, he had no clue about cooking and all he did was to cut up some vegetables, boiled them in water and added grated coconut. The dish has become a hit especially in south India and every housewife has her own special touch to this humble dish. My mother’s special touch is the pacha manga or green mango that adds a thick sour taste that enhances the taste and gives it a tangy, sweet-sticky yummy flavour. And that is the point - you can make an avail and you can make a special avial. #Tarla on #ZEE5 is sweet and very feel-good but lacks the special touch of the pacha manga.
#Tarla is the story of Tarla Dalal who rose from being a simple housewife looking for something to do to the woman who made vegetarian cooking hip. Her cookbooks, television shows and recipes are now a household name in India and the world. Director #PiyushGupta and co-writer #GautamVed put together what could be considered a ‘safe’ biopic but is clearly a missed opportunity. #SharibHashmi as Tarla’s husband Nalin Dalal puts in a superb performance but that is not just enough to life the film to its potential.
The thing about a biopic is that it needs to have a strong angle. The Oscar winning documentary filmmaker #AlexGibney puts it succinctly “It’s (about) finding an approach. It’s finding an attack”. Successful biopics like #Gandhi leave an impact on you that is so significant that when you picture the man, it is #BenKingsley’s image that comes to mind. With #Lincoln, the angle is can the President bring an end to slavery or not and #DanielDayLewis leaves the same impact. In #TheKing’sspeech, the angle is how the British monarch prevailed despite his stammer. #HumaQureshi with her buck tooth and oversized glasses makes us root for the character in large parts but does not quite leave that impact of a woman who made the most of what her humble beginnings offered.
“If the kitchen is a jail, cooking could be the key that sets you free” Tarla tells the girls who come to attend classes with her. Wearing jeans, securing permission to work and build a career or chase a hobby based on an ability to cook adeptly is a tad too much of a stretch to believe and the script does not offer anything to hold on to. At the least, one would expect some ravishing food shots ; it is quite ironic that the only close-up shot of food is a piece of mutton that Nalin is enjoying in the office canteen, egged on by his colleague (#RajeevPandey). The settings remind you of #RiteshBatra’s #TheLunchbox but there is none of the lip-smacking, flavour inducing treatment that the food gets in that masterpiece of a film.
That one incident however spurs Tarla on to experiment with her recipes, She tweaks the Murg Mussalam and the Chicken 65 to make her vegetable dishes appealing, and there is no looking back. For the spunky woman from Ahmedabad, it has taken a long time for her to figure her “Mujhe kuch karna hai”. She feeds her prospective husband gaajar ka halwa laced with red chili powder. Nalin is a sport though, and vows to support her in her dreams. The couple get married, move to Mumbai and over the course of one song live through a whole decade and have three kids.
#SharibHashmi shows us how talented he is with a crackle of a performance, soft and understated as he plays second fiddle to his wife and thinks of himself as a supportive husband. Along the way, his male ego kicks in and he thinks it's time to go back to being an engineer. That one scene where he realizes the truth and confesses to Tarla that he has just been a typical husband is truly gold class.
#Tarla has its shortcomings and serious ones. For a film that serves to provide agency to women, it does not give us insights into Tarla’s motivations and ambitions. Early on in the film, she observes her Professor walking in class and says it is symbiotic of her drive to achieve something. That moment had something in it but simply fades away. Nor is there enough material about how she mixes and matches recipes to create her own legacy. When she insists on serving Ragda Pattice to her family repeatedly till she gets it right ( 10/10 score), there was an opportunity to show what she modified in the recipe. Or what inspired her to learn to be such a fantastic cook. Yet another miss is that there is virtually no scene that throws light on her commercial acumen as the business flourishes.
On the contrary, the softer approach towards feminism that is taken in the film runs into issues with some very simplistic treatment. For example, there is that one scene when Tarla is almost accused of not being conscious of her commitment to her family and the expectation seems to be that she must forego the shoot that is planned . Her mother comes home one evening and takes charge and what plays out is a scene that reminds you of the one narrated by Indra Nooyi where she is reminded that back at home she is first a wife and a daughter.
Cinematographer #SaluKThomas takes us through the life of Tarla quite briskly. The music by #SuhitAbhyankar, #NilotpalBora and #RohanVinaya is soulful and the track #YahiToHaiZindagi stands out. It was delightful to see #BhartiAchrekar back in action but she is quite wasted in this role. #HumaQureshi is not the feisty Monica of #MonicamyDarling but writing is what does not leave too many opportunities to beef up the role.
#Tarla does have its sugary sweet charm but is clearly missing out on its potential. A biopic hits hard when it leaves a certain slant or angle that becomes the corner stone around which the script is centered. The conflicts, tension and resolution that stem from this is what makes the story stand out and become memorable. For now, I will just have my avail sans the pacha manga but its not quite there !
