‘Saali Mohabbat’ movie review: Radhika Apte makes this reductive domestic noir watchable

Some stories are best left short. Making her directorial debut, actor Tisca Chopra turns her piquant short film Chutney (2016) into a full meal, but after the initial bite and aesthetic garnishing, this simmering noir tastes flat. Those who watched Chutney would remember that it is about an ordinary woman’s unusual revenge for her husband’s infidelity.

Here we have Kavita (Radhika Apte), a demure housewife who, after discovering her husband’s wandering interest at a Delhi party, channels her shock and disappointment into narrating a compelling tale to her family and friends to process her feelings and communicate her underlying feelings.

She tells the story of Smita, a simple homemaker in the sleepy town of Fursatgarh, who loses her domestic bliss when she invites her cousin, Shalini, home. Shalini turns out to be a temptress who gets into a torrid affair with Smita’s husband, Pankaj, behind her back. Neck deep in a loan, Pankaj falls for the charms of a younger woman. That’s not all, Shalini also serenades a corrupt police officer, Ratan (Diveyendu Sharma).

As Smita wakes up to her reality, we soon discover that Kavita is Smita in a different time period and city, and that the story is her ploy to send a message to her philandering husband. It also becomes a no-brainer that circumstances forced Smita to transform into the Khoon Bhari Maang mould.

After building the atmosphere, Chopra keeps it safe and straightforward. She paints her supporting characters in a single tone. We can see from a distance that Pankaj is eager to cheat on Smita. It reduces the title to a single interpretation of love, perhaps to make the audience empathise with Smita when she bares her claws, but it takes away the texture and dilemmas that both love and long form demand.

Radhika is the essential element of Chopra’s recipe, and she reveals her nuances. Her transition from an unremarkable presence to an avenger is seamless. She protects her dignity from predators, yet her demeanour also embodies the sorrow of her fractured relationships.

However, when she dissolves herself into Smita, her expressive eyes betray her. They keep talking more than necessary to convey, making the performance a tad performative. Chutney didn’t miss the mark thanks to the superlative supporting cast. Anshuman Parkar lacks Adil Hussain’s subtlety, and Sauraseni Maitra wears her seductress tag on her sleeve. Sharat Saxena is an odd choice to play Smita’s well-wisher. Experience tells us that it is challenging to keep things subtle with Sharat. Divyendu repeats Munna of Mirzapur in a police uniform, and Anurag Kashyap’s friendly appearances are equally monotonous.

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In the beginning, Chopra uses Smita’s interest in gardening to convey the story’s deeper meaning, comparing domestic life to a lush garden and infidelity to a weed that needs to be cut out for a healthy home. However, over time, the feminist lens and the aesthetic production design become overbearing, and the thriller loses its heft. Between the who and the how of the story, we are left wondering why. As one said, some stories are best left short.

Saali Mohabbat is streaming on Zee5