‘Tarla’ movie review: A simplistic, flat narration dilutes a fascinating story

Huma Qureshi in ‘Tarla’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In Tarla, the biopic on food writer-chef Tarla Dalal, there is a scene with immense potential to be the definition of the culinary wizard’s inspiring journey. Tarla (played by Huma Qureshi) is disappointed that her first attempt at becoming a food writer hasn’t borne fruit. She is giving away bundles of her unsold cookbook to the scrap dealer. While she does that, Tarla forgets to turn off the flame on the gas, and the dish gets burnt.

On paper, this is a symbolic scene. For Tarla, cooking was a medium to rise above the patriarchal society. But at that moment, she realises she is one step away from being purposeless again. However, it’s hard to connect with the heartbroken Tarla because director Piyush Gupta doesn’t stay invested in the scene. Nalin Dalal (essayed by Sharib Hashmi), Tarla’s husband, assures her of a solution, and in the very next scene the problem is solved.

This episodic pattern of Tarla is no different from flipping through an album of Tarla’s high and low points or skimming through her website. The film’s one-conflict-after-another structure offers no room for engaging drama. The story of Tarla Dalal is fascinating, not just because she turned her adversity into an opportunity, but also because she succeeded in a field unexplored till then. Despite having all the elements for a great biopic, Tarla stays boringly on the surface, like other poorly-made Bollywood films on high achievers.

Huma Qureshi with Sharib Hashmi in ‘Tarla’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The film also fails to unlock the persona of Tarla in a satisfying manner. For instance, early on, she measures her professors’ desire to achieve through their way of walking. But we don’t get any more of Tarla’s philosophy of life. Why does she resort to a softer approach towards feminism and not be a rebel? The supportive words of Nalin notwithstanding, why does Tarla plunge into marriage when she wants to become something? (life mein kuch karna hai , she tells her assertive parents) More importantly, why does Tarla take 11 years to find her calling?

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It’s also disappointing that from the vastly available material on Tarla, the director only chooses sentimental moments over details about her inspiring profession. Tarla brought the world to the kitchen; yet we we don’t see how she mastered foreign cuisines to attract the masses.

Tarla’s cultural significance also gets reduced to character terming her just ‘a famous cook’ while her influence on men to explore cooking gets sidelined. I wondered if the gentlemanly Nalin offered to cook when Tarla was sick. Towards the end, he calls himself “a typical husband,” but this scene, coated with melodrama, doesn’t help the film’s flat narration.

Marred by utterly simplistic writing and plain dialogues, the plot doesn’t challenge actors Huma Qureshi and Sharib Hashmi either. In one scene, Tarla, retorts to a publisher that “cooking isn’t a job, but an art”. The film needed more such heart-warming moments mixed with cinematically rousing sequences to make it a compelling biopic.

Tarla is now streaming on ZEE5