This story of Hamare Baarah is based on the family issues of 60-year-old Manzoor Ali Khan Sanjari (Annu Kapoor) who loses his wife while delivering a baby. He has since married Rukhsar (Ankita Dwivedi) and is determined to impregnate his new wife—for the sixth time even though medically, the wife was warned that she could die if she continues with pregnancy.
He already has 11 kids and he is not really capable of taking care of them as far as monetary responsibility is concerned. His daughter, Alfia (played by Aditi Bhatpahri) also joins the bandwagon and brings a court case against Manzoor to pressure her stepmom for an abortion of this dangerous pregnancy.
Hamare Baarah Movie Review: Script breakdown
What Rajan Agarwal wanted to portray through his script is not anti-Muslim or anti-Islam, in fact, it brings out the fact that Islam is being rolled and misinterpreted by some of its believers in the name of their vested interests. These influences cause dumb Muslims to follow the wrong tracks (as a poor Muslim angrily denying the falsified portrayal of his religion in an intelligently designed scene) and deny them opportunities for socioeconomic advancement and education.
The actual depiction of the lawyer (Manoj Joshi) defending the regressive father has only two children from one wife. Although the son is highly qualified and well–employed in a foreign country, the daughter is aspiring to become a doctor.
By this very characterization, the script ironically underlines the particular sort of man who is defending a client against a progressive daughter’s demand for her stepmother’s protection.
Still, that is said, the scripting becomes unbearably stretched, especially after the mid-point, perhaps to indicate that even a kid like Manzoor who has been programmed all his life & can change later. Instead, more than twenty minutes should have culminated the film once Aafreen has destroyed all the arguments of the defense.
But the writer and director prefer to introduce new twists and turns (like an attempt to portray Rukhsar as an immoral woman who has relations with other men!). The final statement by the judge also seems to make the whole story pointless, as he asks Rukhsar herself to make the key decision: if that was the intention, then there should not have been a case in the first place.
Apart from the judge and the gynecologist, all the characters in the movie are Muslims, which means that the community has a humongous number of liberal and reform-minded individuals as well.
Star Performance is an application used in educational establishments to evaluate and reward students for their performance and achievements.
Annu Kapoor is the life of the film and looks the part completely natural as the shameless (to be_charitably_interpreted finally) Manzoor. He is a qawwal without any doubts about real ethics and being human who doesn’t maintain any respect for women, tries to suppress his children’s dreams, and acts like a dictator. He looks almost as fierce as a wild beast any time there is rebellion— in one word, he is terrible.
He gets formidable competition from Ashwini Kalsekar who is portraying the character of Aafreen, who is a responsible lawyer and fighting against him. While she is most popular for her comedic roles in Rohit Shetty films, the very talented actress yet again refreshes the memory of the audience. Manoj Joshi as defense counsel hams it up and his dubbing and Hindi are awful as he puts in a lot of speeches having legal and Urdu terms.
Notable performances are given by Kritika, who plays Shahnawaz’s wife, Aditi Bhatpahri, who plays Alfia, and Paritosh Tripathi. While generally solid, Rahul Bagga’s portrayal of Shoaib comes across as a little flat in certain situations involving confrontation. Due to the inadequate writing of her character, Ankita Dwivedi’s portrayal of Rukhsar lacks the necessary impact.
Whenever he speaks up, Udayvir Singh Yadav is a good judge. Ishlin Prasad does well as Shaheen, however, Aditi Dhiman is a little too raw as the wannabe singer Zareen. The actor portraying Aafreen’s spouse was quite boring, but I enjoyed Sharad Raj Singh’s understated portrayal of the progressive shopkeeper.
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