Sharmajee Ki Beti Cast/Actors: Sakshi Tanwar as Jyoti Sharma, Saiyami Kher as Tanvi Sharma, Divya Dutta as Kiran Sharma, Arista Mehta as Gurveen Sharma, Vanshika Taparia as Swati Sharma, Sharib Hashmi as Sudhir Sharma, Parvin Dabas as Vinod Sharma, Nazneen Madan as Dr. Shreya Talpade & others
Sharmajee Ki Beti Movie Director: Tahira Kashyap Khurrana
Sharmajee Ki Beti Movie Release Date: 28th June, 2024
Sharmajee Ki Beti Movie Available On: OTT Release – Amazon Prime Video
Sharmajee Ki Beti Released/Available In Languages: Hindi
Sharmajee Ki Beti Movie Runtime: 1h 56m
Sharmajee Ki Beti Movie Critic Review:
It is conventional filmmaking. Writer-director Tahira Kashyap Khurrana uses a voiceover to introduce three families with one similarity – all of them have the Sharma surname and they crisscross one another at some point or the other.
Each parivar has its own battles.
Teenage angst is given to the eternally dissatisfied Swati (Vanshika Taparia). She’s still flat-chested (there’s a dance with oranges and melons as substitutes), hasn’t got her periods and resents Jyoti (Sakshi Tanwar), her busy working mother, for not hovering around her. Swati’s girlie conversations with bestie Gurveen (Arista Mehta) centre around “system checkup ie vagina”, “sanitary pads” and attention from boys. She’s grumpy even when she lands the role of Ramu Kaka in a school play, in short, discontent is always brimming over.
Coaching class teacher Jyoti who rides a scooter to work leaves so many instructions for Sudhir (Sharib Hashmi) that you initially think he’s the house help. But he’s the understanding husband with a career of his own, happy to support Jyoti’s dedication to teaching.
Gurveen has her teenage obsessions like her hair and doubts over her sexuality. In direct contrast to her confidante Swati, Gurveen’s mother, Kiran (Divya Dutta) from Patiala, has all the time in the world. She exemplifies the bored housewife,friendless in bustling Mumbai. Even her mother in Patiala keeps herself busy (Tahira throws in a ‘reach down there and help yourself’ sequence for the mother). Kiran’s husband Rohan (Parveen Dabbas) is uncommunicative, the kind that hides behind a newspaper, stays out late and says, “Don’t wait up for me,” every day. So Kiran, the lonely Punjaben, amuses herself buying unnecessary vegetables which the live-in domestic help would’ve picked up anyway. The cheese toast her daughter doesn’t want goes to neighbour Tanvi (Saiyami Kher) who too has no time for the housewife next door.
Once again after Ghoomer, Saiyami plays Tanvi the cricketer comfortable with bat and ball, not a belan (rolling pin). Boyfriend Rohan (Ravjeet Singh) would rather she showed aggression in bed and not the cricket field, and keep her hair loose, not tied up. He also has a problem if she doesn’t have manicured nails (she hides a chipped one with a band-aid), gets irritated with her routine of warm milk and bananas and can’t bear watching her arm wrestle guys. Tanvi’s track topped with her walking out on the boyfriend saying, “Find someone who likes strawberries,” is as old as the Sagarika Ghatge-Vivan Bathena gender issue in Chak De! which came 17 years ago.
That is the main problem with Tahira’s Sharmas. All their issues have all been seen and dealt with ages ago.
How often have we seen teenage worries and angst against a working mother (not father)? How often have we seen a bored housewife facing infidelity before finding herself? While there are neat directorial touches like Swati reaching out slowly for her mother’s hand or happy to flaunt her stain on the uniform, the stories themselves tread a much-beaten path. Tahira even gives Kiran ancient Walter Mitty sequences where she imagines herself playing cards bindaas with men on the road or as superman flying out to save people from a flat on fire. Each time, she’s brought down to earth by something mundane like the cook asking if he should use onions or not.
There are listless background songs too for Kiran’s flop Tambola party, when the husband is found straying and for the winding up of each Sharma’s story.
There is another problem. Tahira’s solutions are about ending a relationship with the woman topping her game to gain approval. What about women who do love their work sincerely but are not necessarily medal winners?
What works are the performances. Divya Dutta is a natural as the Punjaban from Patiala. Sakshi Tanwar is at home as a career woman, so is Saiyami Kher comfortable on the cricket field. Vanishka Taparia and Arista Mehta make likeable teenagers.
Sharmajee Ki Beti – Watch Or Not?: If you’re okay watching a pleasantly inoffensive replay of thoughts expressed several times before, go for it.
Sharmajee Ki Beti Movie Review Score Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (i.e. 2.5/5)
Sharmajee Ki Beti Official Trailer:
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