Living on the edge

deterred. She is master of her fate, and the fates of the girls in her house. Begum knows all their secrets, is protective of them, and they are fiercely loyal to her.

Hers is a complex character, one who can explain away anything she does, take credit for all that goes right and blame the rest of society for what doesn’t. Balan carries it off with dollops or charm and screen presence.

As traitors from both sides cross the fence, she continues to fight. The male villains are horrid; the side stories moving.

Where the film fails is in trying to take on too many ‘issues’ at the same time. Stories collide and the plot fails to come together. There are too many backstories, each of them made up of varied strands both personal and political.

There are large stretches that seem to have nothing to do with the central plot, until — as if the director had suddenly been reminded of this — it is all jerked back to the central narrative.

The dialogue is wordy and inconsistent. There are moments so moving, they bring tears to your eyes; but emotion comes sporadically as the plot continues to jump around.

One thing that does work is the location — an eerily quiet house in the middle of nowhere, apparently shot on location in Jharkhand. It feels for all the world like a place forgotten by time. Balan also gets able support from Gauahar Khan and Chunkey Pandey. Pandey as a cold blooded contract killer will

TI