Emotions come sporadically as the plot jumps around

and women living on the line between East Pakistan and West Bengal. In his debut Hindi film, Mukherji reworks the story, and shifts the house to the PunjabPakistan border.

His protagonist is a brothel owner named Begum Jaan (Vidya Balan), who lives here with her girls. The local ruler has taken them under his wing and it’s a relationship Begum loves to flaunt. The locals are afraid of her, so is the administration.

There’s another side to her, mellow, benevolent and caring, but more on that later.

As things stand, she is battling the cops and the state, who want her land and don’t think much of a woman who thinks she has rights.

This hookah-snorting, razortongued madam will not be deterred. She is master of her fate, and the fates of the girls in her house. Begum is protective of them, and they are 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 of 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 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.

Balan also gets able support from Gauahar Khan and Chunkey Pandey. Pandey as a coldblooded contract killer will likely haunt you for a while.