movie review of qala

Thanks For Rating

Reminder successfully set, select a city.

• Nashik Times
• Aurangabad Times
• Badlapur Times

You can change your city from here. We serve personalized stories based on the selected city

• Edit Profile
• Briefs Movies TV Web Series Lifestyle Trending Medithon Visual Stories Music Events Videos Theatre Photos Gaming

'Outlander' Season 7, Part 2 premiere date announced; new characters revealed for season 8

Designer Rick Roy to do a guest appearance in the show Dil Dosti Dilemma

'Loki Season 2' Fan theory on EPIC finale will leave you mind-blown; Tom Hiddleston starrer may be most important event in MCU since 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Takeshi's Castle Indian Reboot Trailer: Bhuvan Bam aka Titu Mama unleashes hilarious punches

Actress Go Ah Sung wows with her idol talents in upcoming Netflix series 'Doona!'

Neeraj Ghaywan's work is important, but this is my life: Dalit author Yashica Dutt on the OTT show that depicts her, without acknowledging it

Kaantaye Kaantaye

Naam Namak Nishan

Emily In Paris

Shekhar Home

Secret World of Sound w...

Life Hill Gayi

Gyaarah Gyaarah

Dus June Kii Raat

Batman: Caped Crusader

Matsya Kaand - An MX Original Series

Sabka Sai - An MX Original Series

Samantar 2 - An MX Original Series

Indori Ishq - An MX Original Series

Runaway Lugaai - An MX Original Series

Ramyug - An MX Original Series

Hello Mini 3 - An MX Original Series

Bisaat - An MX Original Series

Hey Prabhu 2 - An MX Original Series

Chakravyuh - An Inspector Virkar Crime Thriller - An MX Original Series

Filmfare OTT Awards

Borderlands

It Ends With Us

The Instigators

Project Silence

Modern Masters: SS Raja...

Mothers' Instinct

Sleeping Dogs

Demonte Colony 2

Raghu Thatha

Nanban Oruvan Vantha Pi...

Mazhai Pidikkatha Manit...

Mr.Bachchan

Purushothamudu

Sarangadhariya

Prabuthwa Junior Kalash...

Music Shop Murthy

Bhaje Vaayu Vegam

Adios Amigo

Level Cross

Agathokakological

Nadanna Sambavam

Little Hearts

Gaganachari

Avatara Purusha 2

Chow Chow Bath

Hide And Seek

Somu Sound Engineer

Manikbabur Megh: The Cl...

Rajnandini Paul and Ama...

Chaalchitra Ekhon

Nayan Rahasya

Teriya Meriya Hera Pher...

Kudi Haryane Val Di

Shinda Shinda No Papa

Sarabha: Cry For Freedo...

Zindagi Zindabaad

Maujaan Hi Maujaan

Chidiyan Da Chamba

White Punjab

Any How Mitti Pao

Gharat Ganpati

Ek Don Teen Chaar

Danka Hari Namacha

Aamhi Jarange

Vishay Hard

Swargandharva Sudhir Ph...

Naach Ga Ghuma

Juna Furniture

Devra Pe Manva Dole

Dil Ta Pagal Hola

Ittaa Kittaa

Jaishree Krishh

Bushirt T-shirt

Shubh Yatra

Your Rating

Write a review (optional).

• Web Series /

Would you like to review this movie?

Cast & Crew

Qala Review : A haunting tale of validation and penance

In-depth analysis.

Our overall critic’s rating is not an average of the sub scores below.

Videos left arrow right arrow

'Qala' Trailer: Swastika Mukherjee and Tripti...

'Qala' Teaser: Swastika Mukherjee and Triptii...

Photos left arrow right arrow

Users' Reviews

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

Seema David 361 days ago

Excellent movie. Refreshing one. A thousand times better than the 100 crore club movies. Watched it a few hours before and here i am! Still haunting!

Ram Thakur 581 days ago

Gem of a movie. Excellent direction, sterling performances by actors. Babil Khan makes an impressive debut. I see a promising career ahead of him. The apt use of Chamba folk song Ämma puchdi . . .", especially at the end of the movie.

M k 608 days ago

Underrated movie of 2022. Unique way of story telling started in India by this movie. Movie's cinematography is superb. This deserves more popularity.This musical movie gives vibes of the old songs .This movie has separate fanbase. Highly recommended movie

Rohit 616 days ago

Good Movie Nice and Well

Himanshu Chawda 617 days ago

Visual stories.

Entertainment

​Kalyani Priyadarshan stuns in her new photoshoot​

​Ritika Singh photogenic in every shot ​

10 mutton delicacies from across the country

Avneet Kaur's ethnic wear is her ultimate fashion happiness

​10 habits of people with high metabolism​

Avika Gor charms in a Multicolored Gota patti Anarkali suit

Invading Sidharth Malhotra's ramp partner Alicia Kaur’s high-fashion wardrobe

10 baby girl names that mean ‘the moon’

Types of relationships and their effect on your life

12 Shakespeare quotes that feel extremely relatable in modern times

Latest Reviews

Secret World of Sound with Dav...

'Bridgerton' Season 4: Yerin Ha cast as Sophie Beckett; Korean-Australian actress to play Benedict Bridgerton's love interest

Nicolas Cage to headline David O Russell's new film 'Madden'

Mahesh Bhatt to host the talk show Hum Tumhe Marne Na Denge

Did Vishal Bhardwaj Influence Anubhav Sinha's IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack?

Park Shin Hye transforms into a demon in the fantasy romance 'The Judge From Hell'

Sneak peek: Jung Hae In, Jung So Min, Kim Ji Eun, and Yun Ji On bring their charms to 'Love Next Door' teaser

Jang Nara and Nam Ji Hyun back in action as 'Good Partner' picks up where it left off after break

The Diplomat’ season 2 release date confirmed, season 3 expected in 2025

Jang Nara and Han Jae Yi clash as custody battle intensifies in 'Good Partner'

Jin Se Yeon and Yang Hye Ji connect over drinks in 'Bad Memory Eraser'

Promoted Stories

• OpenAI Blocks Iranian Group's ChatGPT Accounts For Targeting US Election
• Blinken Heading To Israel To Press Gaza Truce
• 'INDIA' Is with You Against "Injustice": Rahul Gandhi To Arvind Kejriwal
• "Strong Indications" Bangladesh Security Forces Used "Unnecessary" Force: UN
• Delhi Experienced 15 Consecutive Days Of Rainfall, Says Weather Department
• Change Font Size A A
• Change Language हिंदी | Hindi বাঙালি | Bengali தமிழ் | Tamil
• Focus on Story
• Dark Theme Light Theme

Qala Review: Period Drama Rides On Impressive Turns By Triptii Dimri And Swastika Mukherjee

Qala review: the film also gives debutant babil khan the space to deliver a poignant act as a gifted but ill-fated singer proud of his talent..

Cast: Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee, Babil Khan, Amit Sial and Varun Grover

Director : Anvita Dutt

Rating : 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Fastidiously designed, heavily stylised and occasionally stolid, Qala is a music-themed, female-centric period drama that looks and sounds absolutely glorious. Powered as much by director Anvita Dutt's screenplay as by its cinematography, production design, soundscape and editing, the film delivers enough by way of theme and treatment not to be merely a surface-level sensory experience.

In soul and spirit, Dutt's soulful sophomore venture scores on many fronts, not the least of which is its sensitive exploration of the mental toll that ambition, success and disillusionment can take on the emotionally vulnerable in a cutthroat world that gives nobody any quarters, certainly not if it is a girl scarred in the manner of the film's eponymous protagonist.

Set in the 1930s, when Calcutta was the hub of Hindi film music, Qala tells the story of a female playback singer caught in a web of defeats and deceits, part of which are of her own making. Her life revolves around music and her mother. Single-minded pursuit of the former distances her from the love of the latter. The consequences are disastrous.

A meditative study of the daunting hurdles that stand in the way of a girl who deserves better, Qala is a worthy follow-up to the writer-director's debut film, Bulbbul. It sees Dutt reunite not only with Netflix, but also with producer Karnesh Sharma of Clean Slate Filmz, music director Amit Trivedi, cinematographer Siddharth Diwan and actor Triptii Dimri. The repeat collaboration yields another film that is chiselled with care, if only at times with overt artifice.

The occult makes way for the worldly. A young woman, pretty much like the child bride of Bulbbul , is up against a male-dominated society in which she has to work much harder than the men to get ahead in life. In the bargain, she must pay a high physical and emotional price.

The progress that the protagonist makes against all odds is slow and agonising, with her mother, who believes she has the girl's best interest at heart, playing both facilitator and spoilsport. There is something wrong with me, Qala intones when the family physician pays her visit after she has had a meltdown. That is a line she will have reason to repeat even when circumstances seem to be changing for the better.

Bulbbul was a feminist supernatural thriller set in 19th century Bengal. Qala , with an equally strong gender-sensitive core, is a tale that depicts the struggles of a young girl in pre-Independence India fighting for a niche in the fields of classical music and playback singing.

When a Solan boy Jagan Batwal (debutant Babil Khan), who literally comes in from the cold, infiltrates Qala 's world with the tacit encouragement of her mother Urmila (Swastika Mukherjee), the fragile girl faces a deep abyss and encounters noises in her head and fear in her heart. She is in danger of being deprived of the role she has always aspired to play as the undisputed bearer of a generations-old musical legacy.

A tragic past, her fraught relationship with her mother, the sudden advent of a male rival who threatens to scuttle her chances of making it big and her despairing response to the worsening situation combine to push Qala over the edge.

The director demonstrates a self-assured hand all the way through. She does not give in to the temptation of resorting to grand, overdramatic flourishes. She banks instead on a blend of suggestions and subtle sleights to capture the delicate state of Qala 's life and mind. Her screenplay keeps a tight leash on the protagonist's gradual descent into dire straits.

The line dividing the ponderous and the contemplative is inevitably thin. There are moments in Qala that seem a touch stagey, but the taut script ensures that the deliberate narrative arc moves along smoothly, never letting the focus shift from the struggles of the vocalist who resorts to measures that aggravate her relationship with her mother.

It is when dealing with the grey shades of the two principal characters - both mother and daughter have inner demons to ward off in the process of trying to realise their personal and familial dreams - that Qala is at its very best.

The depiction of two women determined to keep their music alive even as they take divergent routes in that direction is marked by understatement. The artistic choice to utilise visual methods rather than overtly emotional sweeps serves the film well for the most part. It carves out two differing portraits of pain, one of a mother looking for replacement for a son she has never had, the other of a daughter battling for agency in a milieu that militates against her need to assert and express herself.

Qala rides on a pair of impressive pivotal turns by Triptii Dimri and Swastika Mukherjee. They dig deep into the souls of two women who are as ambitious as they are susceptible to bouts of weakness and come up with compelling performances. The film also gives debutant Babil Khan the space to deliver a poignant act as a gifted but ill-fated singer proud of his talent.

Flitting between a feudal mansion in Himachal Pradesh and Calcutta, Qala is obviously a fictional tale. It, however, gives its supporting characters names that bring to mind Hindi film music greats of yore. The leading singer of the era is Chandan Lal Sanyal (Sameer Kochhar), a music composer is Sumant Kumar (Amit Sial) and a lyricist is Majrooh (Varun Grover). To top it all, Anushka Sharma appears in a black and white song sequence in which she evokes Madhubala.

Neither of these characters is derived from the realms of reality. Neither is the city that they work out of. Calcutta is the backdrop for a large part of the story but the city is recreated rather than real.

In one scene, an incomplete (presumably computer-generated Howrah Bridge looms in the background (in the form of a time-framing device) as Qala , at a crucial juncture of her career, negotiates with a demanding composer who believes that she isn't a finished article yet. The construction of the cantilever across the Hooghly began in the mid-1930s. With two ends of the bridge jutting outing over the river and link between them missing suggests that some years have passed.

A snow-covered Kashmir stands in for Himachal. The 'cheating' does not take anything away from the exquisite texture that the production designer and the director of photography are able to create and sustain. The constant interplay of light and shade, of warm interiors and cold exteriors, of subdued hues and extravagant glows lends the film visual variety and depth and accentuates the psychological dimensions that are at play.

Qala is out and out a director's film that has ample room for the technicians and the actors to give full rein to their skills. Meticulous to a fault, parts of the film might seem somewhat overwrought but the issues and concerns that it embeds in a story set eight decades ago have an unfailingly contemporary resonance.

• Cast Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee, Babil Khan, Amit Sial and Varun Grover
• Director Anvita Dutt

Entertainment I Read Latest News on NDTV Entertainment. Click NDTV Entertainment For The Latest In, bollywood , regional , hollywood , tv , web series , photos , videos and More.

• Notifications
• Web Stories
• TV Schedule
• मध्य प्रदेश

Qala (2022) Movie Review – A visually breathtaking movie that artistically explores psychological themes

A visually breathtaking movie artistically exploring psychological themes

Anvita Dutt’s period musical drama “Qala”, is among the most visually beautiful movies of the year; each scene resembles an impressionist painting. Regardless of whether it’s a ferry floating over the Hooghly bridge or the snow-capped Himachal highlands, or even the rich, jewel-toned hues of a Calcutta evening, the backdrop is exquisite.

The figures in the forefront are seen next after viewers have taken in the precision with which the entire composition has been put together and it might just be what defines and influences how we watch the movie.

Anvita Dutta and Muhammad Asif Ali, the writers and directors of the movie, beautifully explores the mental landscapes of the primary characters. Following the eerie Bulbbul, she crafts a musical journey into the thoughts of a girl who resembles a cuckoo and is torn between passion and talent, expectations and realities.

The musically rich psychological horror movie is set during the pre-independence period and it paints a moving picture that revolves around Qala, a young, gorgeous, gifted vocalist who ventures into playback singing and finds fame. Sadly, though, underneath all the glitz, reverence, and honors, she is consumed by her desire to succeed, tormented by her past, and is fervently seeking approval from her estranged mother.

Qala soon begins to let her mind dominate as she struggles with the demands of the movie industry, which eventually results in her destruction.

It is challenging to like or feel any sympathy for Qala and yet you do. She seems to be a parasite; a morally grey character just like a cuckoo. According to a doctor, she ingested her twin brother’s nutrients while being in her mother’s womb. Qala chooses to eliminate the competition at her mom’s place by making a terrible choice after failing to live up to her mom Urmila’s expectations, a demanding thumri musician who is already past her prime.

The vintage lyrical drama, which features strong performances starring Tripti Dimri, Babil Khan, and Swastika Mukherjee, offers an artistic depiction of pressing issues including childhood trauma, the challenges faced in mother-daughter bonds, and the ugly side of stardom.

Throughout the movie, the filmmaker handles everything with assurance. She resists the need to overdo it with extravagant twists and theatrics. Instead, she relies on a mix of inferences and clever tricks to accurately depict the fragile nature of Qala’s reality and psyche. Additionally, she employs fine symbolisms, for instance, the cuckoo to reflect our morally questionable protagonist and the boat sequence to represent a moral conundrum as the protagonist faces a challenging decision in later scenes. Additionally, her screenplay tightly controls the character’s slow slide into psychological ruin.

The threshold between being reflective and becoming ponderous is often blurry in the movie. There are some stagey elements in Qala, however, the precise screenplay keeps the meticulous narrative arc moving forward without ever letting the spotlight leave the challenges of the musician who turns to actions that worsen her bond with her mother.

The psychological horror movie is at its strongest while addressing the darker undertones of the central leads. The mother-daughter duo, both face emotional wounds that they fight against while attempting to accomplish their own and their family’s aspirations.

The creative approach to use visual elements instead of blatantly dramatic sweeps benefits the movie. It outlines two distinct portrayals of suffering: one of a parent searching for a substitute for the child she never really had, and another of a daughter fighting for the love and acceptance of her mother.

The movie’s visual richness and complexity are enhanced by the ongoing interaction of complementary colors, warmer interiors and chilly exteriors, subtle hues and grandiose glows. This also exemplifies the psychological aspects that are at work.

Qala is clearly a made-up story that swings between a feudal palace in Himachal Pradesh as well as Calcutta, an aesthetically beautiful place. Additionally, it gives the supporting cast members names that paint a picture of legendary composers of old Hindi melodies.

Chandan Lal Sanyal serves as the most renowned musician of the time, while Majrooh is a lyricist and Sumant Kumar seems to be a music composer, and to add a crown to it all, Madhubala-inspired Anushka Sharma makes an appearance in what seems like a black and white musical scene.

A significant portion of the tale takes place in Calcutta, an unfinished and also quite possibly digitally generated Howrah Bridge hovers over Qala as she bargains with a demanding composer who reckons she isn’t quite prepared yet. This is a pivotal point in Qala’s professional life. Roughly halfway through the 1930’s, the work on the cantilever bridge over the Hooghly commenced. The bridge’s two ends sticking out into the river as well as the missing link connecting them indicate that some time has elapsed.

Triptii Dimri and Swastika Mukherjee’s stunning key performances carry Qala. They dive deep into the psyche of two brave women who are equally driven and prone to vulnerability, delivering outstanding performances. Babil Khan, who is making his movie debut here, is also given the opportunity to play a talented but unfortunate singer who is proud of his capabilities in a moving performance.

Qala is a visual treat and it makes use of its medium to present psychological elements. The movie brilliantly explores disturbing subjects while presenting sympathetic morally grey characters. The performers excel in their roles and genuinely bring the characters to life. This is a surprisingly compelling watch and one of the bigger surprises this month.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

• Verdict - 9/10 9/10

Leave a comment

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Home » Movies » Movie Reviews

Qala review – a harrowing look into mental health as an artist

Qala  is a film that highlights mental health and the pressures of being a woman in an industry that doesn’t give you room to breathe. Everything is pre-determined for you, and not being able to make those choices can do more harm than good.

We review the Netflix Indian film Qala, which does not contain spoilers.

There have been films that highlight mental health and suicide in different ways, but the way writer-director Anvita Dutt connects the visuals with Qala Manjunshree’s ( Triptii Dimri ) emotions is powerful.

Haunted by her past, a talented singer with a rising career copes with the pressure of success, a mother’s disdain, and the voices of doubt within her, as per the synopsis on IMDB. Mental health, anxiety, and depression can all stem from childhood. The older we get, the more we realize that the catalyst of our adult issues comes from the way our parents treated us. Parents always want the best for their children and they push them too hard into something they don’t even want to do.

Qala was forced into the music industry because her father fell ill, and her mother disciplined her to become just like him. Even when others would compliment Qala, her mother would twist the words and find a way to box her into her mind, telling her that she isn’t good enough.

There are choices made to show what is happening in Qala’s mind, as Dutt utilizes flashbacks at the proper moment within the present time to trigger a memory. The film flows from past and present, and there’s a clear distinction between the two.

The cinematography by Siddharth Diwan is exceptional as he shows Qala’s anxiety early on in the film, which triggers a downward spiral into her trauma. She is at the top of her game in the music industry, but a piece of her is missing. Since the day she was born, her mother resented her. She had many things stripped from her, and it felt like she wanted to make Qala’s life difficult.

There are key moments in Qala’s life that she remembers that altered the way her brain functioned. The way she approached people, or even spoke to them, changed because her mother was present. She was never relaxed and always had her guard up.

During the musical performances, the production design and costumes were gorgeous and set the tone of each performance. Whether it was the father or Qala, they both moved differently at the centre of the room. The parallel between her father’s illness and Qala’s was hard to watch because they both loved the music they were putting out.

The pressure of everything consumed them, and it was ultimately their downfall. Qala kept flowing in and out of consciousness with her trauma and reality, and Diwan showed that visually as well. Qala’s mind is complex, and she thought that she had to deal with her mental illness on her own because she didn’t understand it. There are many things she does that were a cry for help, but even her mother wanted nothing to do with her.

Netflix’s Qala is a film that highlights mental health and the pressures of being a woman in an industry that doesn’t give you room to breathe. Everything is pre-determined for you, and not being able to make those choices can do more harm than good.

What did you think of the Netflix film Qala? Comment below.

More Stories on Qala

• Qala ending explained

Article by Amanda Guarragi

Amanda Guarragi joined Ready Steady Cut as an Entertainment Writer in June 2022. She is a Toronto-based film critic who has covered TIFF, Sundance Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, and HorrorFest International. Amanda is also a growing YouTuber, with her channel Candid Cinema growing in popularity.

10 movies like Missing (2023) you must watch

Skater Girl review - Inspiration + Tricks = Feel Good

This website cannot be displayed as your browser is extremely out of date.

Please update your browser to one of the following: Chrome , Firefox , Edge

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 80% Alien: Romulus Link to Alien: Romulus
• 78% Cuckoo Link to Cuckoo
• 97% Good One Link to Good One

New TV Tonight

• 96% Industry: Season 3
• 91% Bad Monkey: Season 1
• 100% Solar Opposites: Season 5
• 64% Emily in Paris: Season 4
• -- Bel-Air: Season 3
• -- Rick and Morty: The Anime: Season 1
• -- SEAL Team: Season 7
• -- RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars: Season 1
• -- Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Season 2
• -- Worst Ex Ever: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 54% The Umbrella Academy: Season 4
• 100% Supacell: Season 1
• 78% Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• 82% A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Season 1
• 100% Women in Blue: Season 1
• 78% Presumed Innocent: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• 91% Bad Monkey: Season 1 Link to Bad Monkey: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All James Cameron Movies Ranked

Best Horror Movies of 2024 Ranked – New Scary Movies to Watch

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

2024 Emmy Awards Ballot: Complete with Tomatometer and Audience Scores

Movie Re-Release Calendar 2024: Your Guide to Movies Back In Theaters

• Trending on RT
• Renewed and Cancelled TV
• Best Movies of 2024
• Popular TV Shows
• Re-Release Calendar

Qala Reviews

For those who like slow-paced drama-thrillers, this one’s going to be a treat.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 9, 2024

Anvita Dutt's film is a poignant, if familiar, story about artistic merit and the gendered pursuit of both affection and excellence.

Full Review | Jan 23, 2024

Marked by uplifting music and stirring lyrics, this tragic tale of a singer is worth admiring thanks to a formidable Swastika Mukherjee and a confident debut from Babil Khan.

Qala is an intoxicating juggernaut of self-doubt, destruction and road to atonement. It looks beyond the obvious to explore the underlying complexities of a mother-daughter equation.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 23, 2024

Qala is a sleep-inducing movie that looks spectacular. Anvita Dutt evidently wants to talk about a lot of things because she is aware that those topics exist. But she fails to unpack them through her characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 20, 2023

The filmmaking is engrossing, as writer-director Anvita Dutt employs a variety of angles to convey Qala’s deteriorating sense of self and grasp on reality.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2023

Whether in past or present, for two excruciating hours, the characters' arcs budge not one centimeter from where they started.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 7, 2022

It’s a film that romanticises female suffering, presenting it not as a horrid truth of patriarchal society, but as a rite of passage instead.

Full Review | Dec 7, 2022

Qala' is an absolute visual feast. Whether it is the snowy, desolate landscapes of a hamlet in the Himalayan foothills, or the interiors of a recording studio, the images are crafted with the precision of a surgeon by Siddharth Diwan.

Full Review | Dec 3, 2022

Amit Sial is a wonderfully smooth operator. Babil Khan, in his debut role, has a soulful air as Urmila’s golden-voiced protege.

Full Review | Dec 2, 2022

It looks like I’ve seen the most gorgeously-shot film of the year: each frame of Anvita Dutt’s sophomore feature ‘Qala’ is like an impressionist painting...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 2, 2022

The film also gives debutant Babil Khan the space to deliver a poignant act as a gifted but ill-fated singer proud of his talent.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 2, 2022

One wishes the film mirrored Qala's temperament with a little more vigour. Qala, even in its persuasive best, ultimately feels lost in its stylistic embellishments to figure out how to make the underlying conflict visible.

The triumph of Qala is that it remains tragically human.

The film, seamlessly blends poetry, pain and politics.

Full Review | Dec 1, 2022

• Entertainment
• Life & Style

To enjoy additional benefits

CONNECT WITH US

‘Qala’ movie review: Anvitaa Dutt’s mother-daughter tale is poignant and admirable

Marked by uplifting music and stirring lyrics, this tragic tale of a singer is worth admiring thanks to a formidable swastika mukherjee and a confident debut from babil khan.

December 02, 2022 07:36 pm | Updated 07:38 pm IST

Tripti Dimri in a still from ‘Qala’ | Photo Credit: Netflix

In an industry where storytellers usually avoid negotiating the mindscapes of their protagonists, writer-director Anvita Dutta is an exception. After the spooky Bulbbul , she weaves a musical exploration of the mind of a cuckoo-like girl who is caught between ambition and skill, between expectations and reality. It is difficult to like or empathise with Qala (Triptii Dimri). Like a cuckoo, she is a parasite. A doctor tells us that in her mother’s womb, she sucked her twin brother’s nutrition. Later, when she could not meet the standards set by her demanding mother Urmila (Swastika Mukherjee), a thumri singer past her prime, Qala decides to cull competition at home by making compromises that she ironically learnt while watching her mother walk on feet of clay.

But, in the process, Qala starts loathing her imposter self and descends into a vacuum. But the noise of her soul continues to trouble her. It is a tragic situation, and, in Amit Trivedi and a string of top lyricists of our time — Amitabh Bhattacharya, Swanand Kirkire, Kausar Munir, and Varun Grover — Anvitaa has a team to give voice to the chaos that plays havoc in Qala’s mind. Together with cinematographer Siddharth Divan and production designer Meenal Agrawal, she painstakingly paints the fuzzy inner world of Qala.

Qala (Hindi)

However, the magic of the visual and sonic tapestry doesn’t translate into interesting characters and motivations. There are moments that capture the tenuous relationship between the mother and daughter, but the screenwriting is more like sentences that have all the words, but in the wrong order. You can see that it is about a mother coming in the way of a daughter due to centuries of patriarchy, but there has to be something more that makes Qala wilt so easily. The screenplay seems full of unexplored possibilities... but Anvitaa surprisingly sticks to one-and-a-half notes.

Positioned in the film industry of the 1930s when Calcutta was still the cultural capital, the story refers to the time when courtesans were struggling to get rid of the Bai and Jaan surnames by finding a foothold in the Hindustani classical music. It was the time when the top male classical singers were addressed as ‘Pandit’ but the female stars were yet to be addressed as ‘Vidushis’.

Urmila seems to have emerged from a similar space and wants her daughter to rule the rarefied space of classical music. Unfortunately, Qala doesn’t have the mettle to make it. One day, the mother and daughter come across the performance of a boy from Solan. He sings Kabir in a soiree where Qala renders a classical bandish. The mother soon discovers that divinity sings through Jagan Batwal (Babil Khan) and decides to adopt the orphan. As expected, Qala develops a complex and goes into a shell. She feels that she could at least become a playback singer, but Urmila stops her and pushes Jagan instead. Like most of us, Qala is seeking validation from her mother who is in no mood to serve her daughter to the predators in show business. But Qala has different plans that put her on the path of self-destruction.

There are references to the legendary singing star of Bengali cinema Pahari Sanyal, lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri, and ace photographer Homai Vyarwalla by naming characters after their first names or surnames that bring alive an era when music was organically made and female artists were rare in public space.

However, as the narrative progresses, a degree of artifice creeps into storytelling. Qala may be morally weak from the inside but her confrontation with herself is not. Too much styling becomes a distraction as well. The shutter sound of cameras and the gilt-edged frames are good to marvel at, but they do not fully transport us into a bygone era. It is like building a story by looking at a photo album, and becomes impassive very much like Triptii’s performance. She has an unmistakable spark, but looks a bit stiff for the challenges that the role demands. No such issues with Swastika, who like a cascading river, evokes an old-world charm. Amit Sial chips in as the predator in the skin of a well-wisher.

Meanwhile, Babil makes a confident debut. With deep eyes that resemble those of father Irrfan Khan, he shines as a singer who breathes music. When Qala tries to insert a thermometer into Jagan’s mouth, he almost breaks into an impromptu alaap . It is such magical moments that make Qala worth admiring.

Qala is currently streaming on Netflix

Related Topics

Hindi cinema / Indian cinema / reviews

Top News Today

• Access 10 free stories every month
• Save stories to read later
• Access to comment on every story
• Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
• Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products

Terms & conditions   |   Institutional Subscriber

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

• You Are At:
• Entertainment News
• Qala Movie Review: Tripti Dimri, Babil Khan's Musical Period Drama Marks The Journey Of Envy And Jealousy

Qala Movie Review: Tripti Dimri, Babil Khan's musical period drama marks the journey of envy and jealousy

The movie qala impressively brings together the beauty and the dark reality of the music world, backed by great direction, cinematography and background score. the film is not just a must-watch but an experience to be lived..

• Movie Name: Qala
• Critics Rating: 3.5 / 5
• Release Date: DEC 1, 2022
• Director: Anvita Dutt
• Genre: Psychological thriller

Qala Movie Review: The impeccable portrayal of envy and jealousy by Tripti Dimri and Babil Khan in the movie has won the hearts of the audience. The relationship between a mother (played by Swastika Mukherjee) and a daughter (played by Tripti Dimri) in a male-dominated society and the struggles to fit in the space are well displayed in the movie. Anvita Dutt’s psychological drama ‘Qala’ is like an impressionist painting. The background is perfect, whether it is the snowy mountains of Himachal, or the warm, jewelled tones of a Calcutta night, with a boat gliding down the Hooghly bridge. 

Set in the 1930s, when Calcutta was the hub of Hindi film music, Qala tells the story of a female playback singer caught in a web of defeats and deceits, part of which are of her own making. Her life revolves around music and her mother. Single-minded pursuit of the former distances her from the love of the latter. The consequences are disastrous. Both the actors Tripti and Babil justified the characters. Marking the first step in Bollywood, Irfan Khan's son Babil has rightfully taken over the legacy of his father. A glimpse of his late father is evidently visible in his acting skills. 

As a young girl, Qala wishes to become a great singer, mostly to win her mother Urmila's approval. The flashbacks reveal how they live isolated in a dimly-lit house in the Himachal, where her mother tells her that she has to work harder than any man to achieve success as a playback singer. Qala constantly shifts from the present to the past, as Anvita tries to situate her views in the mind of her female protagonist. Whether we see her hallucinating or crumbling down with nervousness, there is a certain confidence in the way the director constructs the narrative fabric of Qala. Yet, Qala's journey is built in a suspended deceit that does not quite know where to focus. 

The constant interplay of light and shade, of warm interiors and cold exteriors, of subdued hues and extravagant glow lends the film visual variety and depth along with accentuating the psychological dimensions that are at play.

Gorgeously shot by Siddharth Diwan, each scene is mapped out like a painting. Meenal Agarwal's production design serves as a dreamlike space for these characters to inhabit. 

Overall, Qala impressively brings together the beauty and the dark reality of the music world, backed by great direction, cinematography and background score. The film is not just a must-watch but an experience to be lived.

Watch Qala trailer:

Congress makes major reshuffle in party's Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand units ahead of Assembly polls

'Icing on the cake': Sharmila Tagore on Gulmohar winning National Film Award

India announce Davis Cup team for World Group I tie against Sweden; Sumit Nagal returns

Latest News

J-K Assembly Elections 2024: NC chief Farooq Abdullah to contest polls, reveals plan for son Omar

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections: What makes this election unique?

Haryana Assembly Elections 2024: 20,629 polling booths to be set up, 4.52 lakh first-time voters

• Aap Ki Adalat
• Aaj Ki Baat
• Kurukshetra
• Haqiqat Kya Hai
• Entertainment

Aaj Ki Baat: Who is stopping Mamata Banerjee from taking action?

Haqiqat Kya Hai: Is there a racket behind the Kolkata incident?

Muqabla: Brutality against trainee doctor in Kolkata: Who is Mamata Banerjee protesting against?

• Maharashtra
• Uttar Pradesh
• Madhya Pradesh
• West Bengal
• Jammu & Kashmir
• Chhattisgarh

Modi govt effects major bureaucratic reshuffle, appoints RK Singh as new Defence Secretary | LIST

Kolkata rape-murder case: IMA makes five demands for doctors and healthcare workers' safety

Senior bureaucrat Deepti Umashankar appointed as Secretary to President of India

'Rahul Gandhi may go to jail in future…AAP-Congress alliance talks after Kejriwal's bail': Sisodia

• Haryana Election
• J-K Election
• Celebrities

'Big surprise for me': Neena Gupta reacts to winning National Award for Uunchai

Devara - Part 1: Saif Ali Khan's first look as Bhaira unveiled, film to release on THIS date

70th National Film Awards: Rishab wins Best Actor, Nithya Menon & Manasi Parekh share Best Actress

70th National Film Awards: Rishab Shetty bags Best Actor, Aattam wins Best Film; full winner's list

• Live Scores
• Other Sports

Zimbabwe and UAE show interest to host Women's T20 World Cup 2024 after BCCI rejected offer

Vinesh Phogat pens open letter, not sure of future: 'I could see myself playing till 2032...'

Sri Lanka Cricket suspends star wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella for doping violation in LPL 2024

Paralympics 2024: PCI, SAI give grand send-off to largest-ever Indian contingent for Paris Games

Google acknowledges Search rankings glitch, says working on fix

Airtel revised postpaid plans for August 2024 offer unlimited calling, OTT, more at affordable price

OnePlus 12 gets huge price cut, available under Rs 55,000 on Flipkart

Redmi A3x launched in India starting at Rs 6,999: Check specifications, availability

Forgotten your Aadhaar-linked mobile number? Quick steps to recovery it

Why Pakistan celebrates Independence Day on August 14 despite achieving freedom together with India?

Japan all set to pick its next Prime Minister: Who could succeed Fumio Kishida?

What prompted Centre to reconsider draft of Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill? EXPLAINED

Bangladesh unrest: Why Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan was forced to resign? Explained

What is Waqf Board Bill? Why was there a need for amendment?

Union Cabinet gives nod to two new airport, three metro rail projects across India | DETAILS

Saraswati Saree Depot IPO allotment: Key details and step-by-step guide to check status

Sensex soars 805 points to 79,911, Nifty rises 252 points to 24,395 in early trade

SBI raises lending rate by 10 basis points across tenures from August 15: Will loan EMIs go up?

ITR refunds: Understanding refund timelines for ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3 filers

What is the role of raw garlic in cholesterol management? Know here

Vitamin E deficiency? Include THESE food items in your diet, know benefits

Ketogenic diet may boost treatment outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients, finds study

How can PCOS/PCOD impact female fertility? Know from expert

5 important things men should do in their 20s, 30s and 40s to lower cancer risk

• Power List 2024
• Cannes 2024
• In-Depth Stories
• Web Stories
• Oscars 2024
• FC Wrap 2023
• Film Festivals
• FC Adda 2023
• Companion Zone
• Best Indian Films Forever List
• FC Front Row
• FC Disruptors
• Mental Health & Wellness

Qala Review: An Enchanting Mix of Method and Madness

Director : Anvitaa Dutt Writer : Anvitaa Dutt Cast : Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee, Babil Khan, Amit Sial, Varun Grover

Qala opens with a hero. Her name is Qala Manjushree ( Triptii Dimri ), and she has a voice. She is the nation’s leading playback singer. Having just won the Golden Vinyl in the late 1930s, Qala is seated in a roomful of reporters. Before taking questions, however, she requests the sole female photographer in the room to capture her moment. She makes the men wait, posing for the lady, who in turn reacts like this isn’t the first time Qala’s picked her. Later, at a recording session, the film director wonders why she has a female secretary unlike other stars. Qala gently chides him for using a gender prefix – "you can just say secretary, no?” – while rehearsing with her music director, also a woman, and her queer lyricist. Her breakout song years ago was about the playful politics of consent, centered on a heroine (a cameo by producer Anushka Sharma ) who croons about an entitled lover unwilling to understand that “no means no”. 

Everything about Qala’s career suggests that she is the voice of the marginalised – a trailblazing girlboss determined to use her privilege and push for equality in a deeply chauvinist system. Her own path to success has been troubled. So her inner strength is now in service to others like her, those who strive to break the glass ceiling in an industry averse to short vocal cords and long umbilical cords. Maybe, while she’s at it, she might channel this power and punish all the villains of her journey – a heartless mother, a male rival, a sexual predator. Perhaps she might avenge the brutality of being a woman. She is a hero, after all. 

In many ways, appreciating Anvitaa Dutt’s haunting Qala merits a look at her haunted directorial debut, Bulbbul (2020). One is the spiritual sequel to the other. Bulbbul , set in the Bengal Presidency of 1901, tells the (love) story of a mysterious landlady who moonlights as a vengeful, man-eating ‘chudail’. She nurses a chilling past by day and preys on male offenders by night. Flashbacks convey that this former child bride was subjected to years of abuse by her husband and his family. The goth-horror period tone almost wills her supernatural transformation – into a creature worthy of her fantasy surroundings. The film follows M. Night Shyamalan ’s “the broken are the more evolved” superhero motif. It’s as though the story finds solace in the mythical after being disillusioned by man; the vigilante demon is the consequence – the afterlife – of all that suppressed trauma and rage. At one point in Qala , her lyricist friend, Majroo ( Varun Grover) , hints at something similar – he mentions that her silence might trigger a “sailaab” (flood) one day. 

But the triumph of Qala is that it remains tragically human. The sailaab is more life than afterlife. It’s more Black Swan than Bulbbul . Qala’s transformation is not supernatural but natural – into an anti-creature at odds with the film’s fantasy surroundings. Flashbacks convey her years of suffering and abuse, but the only demons here are internal. We see not the consequence, but the toll of all that trauma. There is no chudail, no vigilantism; just a crisis of conscience. It’s just Qala and the voices in her head. If anything, her feminism emerges as a manner of doubling down on the toxic agency that she embraced as a teenager yearning for the validation of her mother. It becomes her way of purifying the womanhood she once weaponised – her body, soul, moral core – to reach the top. Slowly but steadily, her veneer cracks. Her image fades. Her arc addresses the callousness of a culture that often trivialises the mental health of celebrities as the “pressures of fame”. We blame it on something as public as fame, but movies like Qala remind us that stardom is only the medium. The catalyst can be something as private – as achingly ordinary – as heartbreak or familial discord. 

To Dutt’s credit, the striking visual language of Qala expresses the anatomy of madness. It feels like part of the narrative detail, as though the story gets consumed by man despite being on the brink of the mythical. Amit Trivedi ’s best soundtrack since Manmarziyaan (2018) combines with Meenal Agarwal’s production design and Siddharth Diwan’s camerawork to create a psychological palette that works on multiple levels. It’s not just the artful symbolism – like Qala’s Calcutta apartment reflecting the greens of envy and blues of faded masculinity, her songs playing out like melancholic pleas to be heard, or her snowy childhood home replicating the starkness of mental isolation. It’s also the way Qala thinks. Unlike Bulbbul, it’s her mind that determines the sensory tone of this film. The world she sees is very different from the one we do, almost like she’s reimagining the aesthetic of the black-and-white era to renovate her own sanity. She longs for the indoor colours to be beautiful – and the symmetry to be poetic – so that it hides the ugliness inside her. Her obsession is softened by wall mirrors and moths around flames. But when she’s outside, her strings vanish. The sky turns dark and cloudy on the day she compromises her dignity. She hallucinates when the press hounds her for an interview on the street. The snow evokes not just her mindscape but her misdeeds too. A top-angle shot reveals her body crumpled at the center of an icy hedge maze in her yard, foreshadowing the role of a mercury maze in the plot. 

There are other lovely touches, too. Qala, like the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, is fondly termed ‘didi’ (sister). Except to her, it also sounds like an accusation, because it’s being a sister that Qala has failed at. Her mother Urmila Devi’s (Swastika Mukherjee) resentment stems from the fact that Qala survived at the cost of a twin brother in the womb. A son that, the woman hoped, would do justice to their family’s classical legacy. When Urmila adopts a talented orphan named Jagan (Babil Khan), who becomes Qala’s stepbrother of sorts, her jealousy shapes the story. Then there’s the choice of period – pre-Independence India – that’s just about cosmetic enough to convey that social shackles like patriarchy are timeless. The writing isn’t afraid to sound a bit contemporary – for instance, when Majroo uses a MeToo-adjacent line to comfort Qala – in its pursuit of cultural fluidity.

The cast bleeds into the film, in all the right ways. Swastika Mukherjee is eerily unsettling as the parent that subverts the Indian father-son dynamic. The late Irrfan’s son, Babil Khan , has a stirring screen presence; his face is lit in part to invoke some of his father’s most memorable roles. You keep looking for his Jagan to give Qala a bigger reason to hate him, but his only crime is that he’s a true artist; even the camera thinks so. Triptii Dimri is strangely persuasive as Qala herself. Her performance brings to mind a sheltered innocence that one usually associates with a Janhvi Kapoor character. Qala’s emotions are stunted, just like her sense of cruelty. Her imposter syndrome is literal. Her personality is derived from pieces of the people around her – evident in how she imitates her mother while seducing a man, or even the way she steals Jagan’s words to explain her condition to a doctor. There are shades of Devdas (2002) in her fraught relationship with Urmila Devi – a mother-daughter story that wears the drama of an unrequited love story. 

At times, it appears like the film’s internet-age writing is taunting Qala for being fragile – for being too childish to allow for a supernatural twist. But Dutt’s script implies that a woman’s agency need not only be restricted to the act of having control; it can also be defined by the freedom to lose control. Qala’s sound is, for better or worse, a phonetic subset of being unsound. While watching Bulbbul , I remember observing that Hindi cinema is biased towards performative male breakdowns. Stories too often stage sadness – rather than madness – as the cornerstone of female heartache. Qala rectifies that. Because it is not reluctant to admit that one condition is simply the sequel to the other.

Related Stories

Assembly polls: J&K to vote in three phases, Haryana on October 1, results on October 4

Man who arrived in 1988 from Bangladesh becomes first person in Assam to get citizenship under CAA

‘Shekhar Home’ review: An irreverent adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories

At a time when Americans held odd ideas about India, a poet set the record straight

Hindi nonfiction: An excerpt from ‘The Second Sex’ by Simone De Beauvoir, translated by Monica Singh

Reclaim the Night, Kolkata edition: I walked with thousands of women for justice and dignity

New York: Don’t allow Ram temple float in India Day Parade, it’s ‘anti-Muslim’, faith groups demand

Skewed in favour of rich nations, illogical rules, too many sports: Do the Olympics need a rethink?

Bihar: Six booked for gangrape, murder of Dalit teenager

SEBI chief continued to earn revenue from her firm, potentially violating regulator’s rules: Report

‘Qala’ review: As a playback singer unravels, moths, mothers and metaphors abound

Anvitaa dutt’s follow-up to ‘bulbbul’ is being streamed on netflix..

Anvitaa Dutt has followed up her beguiling debut feature Bulbbul (2020) with another heretical tale of thwarted female desire. While Bulbbul rewrote the rules of witchcraft lore in feudal Bengal through a feminist heroine, Qala presents a counter-narrative to accounts of women in the early years of the Hindi film industry.

Qala shares with Bulbbul a fantastical approach, hyper-real backdrops and anachronistic detail. Although the Hindi-language film takes place in the 1930s and 1940s, revisionist ambition guides the dialogue (some of which includes contemporary English phrases and sentiments), Amit Trivedi’s interpretive score and the treatment of stock characters from the period.

Qala (Triptii Dimri), a playback singer at the peak of her game, tells a journalist after receiving her latest burst of praise that she feels as though she has reached home, exhausted, to find her mother is waiting for her.

It’s a gossamer lie, spun by Qala to maintain a facade that rips upon close scrutiny. Qala’s thorny relationship with her mother Urmila (Swastika Mukherjee), Urmila’s preference for the gifted folk singer Jagan (Babil Khan), and Qala’s desperate need for validation have brought her to the edge of insanity. This black swan harbours painful secrets, some of it the result of Urmila’s intransigence and some of it flowing from Qala’s circumstances.

Despite the loyal support of her secretary Sudha (Girija Oak), the soothing counsel of lyricist Majrooh (Varun Grover) and the encouragement of composer Naseeban (Tasveer Kamil), Qala flutters and flails, much like the moth that is irresistibly attracted to the flame that will eventually consume it.

The metaphor of the moth that dominates Dutt’s screenplay becomes literal when it appears as a motif on Qala’s saris and accessories scattered about her home. There are other metaphors too, some less explicit than others and all the more effective as a result.

Qala harbours unsettling memories of her loveless childhood, giving the narrative the surreal flavour of a waking nightmare. Another metaphor, whose meaning solders Qala with Jagan, is inventively explored through scenes, costumes, and sets.

Qala has been released on Netflix, as was Bulbbul . What is lost by a small-screen viewing might be gained by the unique advantage of the streaming experience: a particular tablueax can be frozen to take in cinematographer Siddharth Diwan’s lighting exercises and Meenal Agarawal’s evocative production design . This film needs a very large television set to admire Agarwal’s dazzling Art Nouveau-inspired sets and Veera Kapur Ee’s delicate costumes.

Inky blacks and metallic greys in Qala’s ancestral home in Himachal Pradesh give way to lighter fabrics and pastel shades after she makes her mark in Kolkata. Snow machines, fog machines and artificial lights are hard at work in a highly stylised narrative that sets out to boldly reimagine what we think we know about a woman’s place in the showbiz hustle.

Qala’s dealings, particularly with music composer Samant Kumar (Amit Sial), underscore the vulnerability of women in the film industry. There are shards of reality in Qala’s efforts to shake off the burden of a classical music legacy to craft a career in showbiz. Does this performer with the sweet and virginal voice remind some of us of a playback singer who emerged in this period?

The dance between overtly constructed backdrops and Qala’s acutely real trauma is not always graceful. A feeling of eternal winter abounds in a 119-minute narrative that is cold to the touch despite dealing with the passions of the heart.

The film’s dollhouse-like quality is creakiest when exploring the tortured mother-daughter relationship. The mesh of style and intent is smoothest in Dutt’s analysis of the treacherous ways of showbiz, which wounds women more than men.

The archness to the performances and dialogue delivery poses an insurmountable challenge to Triptii Dimri. The ease with which Dimri portrayed complex characters in Laila Majnu (2018) and Bulbbul is missing in Qala , and not just because her character is required to teeter on the edge at nearly all times. The leadenness of Swastika Mukherjee’s silver jewellery-laden diva too isn’t just a result of characterisation.

The actors in shorter roles, who are unburdened with having to convey meaning through metaphor, fare much better. Amit Sial is a wonderfully smooth operator. Babil Khan, in his debut role, has a soulful air as Urmila’s golden-voiced protege.

Varun Grover has an affecting cameo as a lyricist who sees through Qala’s bravado. Apart from paying tribute to Hindi cinema’s great Urdu wordsmiths, Grover has one of Qala ’s sharpest lines: “The times change. This is an old trick of time.”

The art of ‘Qala’: Art Nouveau and ‘a lot of drama in the darkness’

• Qala review
• Anvitaa Dutt
• Triptii Dimri
• Swastika Mukherjee

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Haunted by her past, a talented singer with a rising career copes with the pressure of success, a mother's disdain and the voices of doubt within her. Haunted by her past, a talented singer with a rising career copes with the pressure of success, a mother's disdain and the voices of doubt within her. Haunted by her past, a talented singer with a rising career copes with the pressure of success, a mother's disdain and the voices of doubt within her.

• Anvita Dutt
• Triptii Dimri
• Swastika Mukherjee
• 126 User reviews
• 24 Critic reviews
• 14 wins & 39 nominations

Top cast 16

• Qala Manjushree

• Urmila Manjushree

• Sumant Kumar

• Chandan Lal Sanyal

• Doctor Banerjee
• Recording Engineer 2
• Dr. Goyenka

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Babil Khan, who is the son of late Irrfan Khan, Qala is Babil's debut movie.
• Soundtracks Ghodey Pe Sawaar Vocals by Sireesha Bhagavatula Lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya Music by Amit Trivedi

User reviews 126

• Nov 30, 2022
• How long is Qala? Powered by Alexa
• December 1, 2022 (United States)
• Netflix Site
• Kashmir, India
• Clean Slate Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 59 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

• Times Now Navbharat

Qala Movie Review: Babil Khan makes solid debut, but Anushka Sharma...

Updated Dec 2, 2022, 02:36 PM IST

Share This Article

Critic's Ratings

QALA CRITIQUE

Qala acting review, qala music review, qala dialogues, surprise surprise.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE

Latest entertainment news.

Discover the Excellence of Pachouli Aesthetics and Wellness

ARL Tyres Partners with Blockbuster Film “Chandu Champion”

Alia Bhatt Would Do THIS Differently For Raha In Terms Of Parenting In Comparison To Soni, Mahesh: Want Her To Learn...

Alia Bhatt Sports Kaala Teeka Behind Her Ear At Met Gala 2024, Netizens Call It 'So Precious'

The Family Man 3 BIG Update: Manoj Bajpayee Starts Shooting For Raj & DK's Action-Thriller. See Post

Kareena Kapoor Opts Out Of Yash's Toxic Due To THIS Reason

RCB Captain Faf du Plessis Shares Birthday Pics From Anushka Sharma's Intimate Party, Virat Kohli Holds Wife In Arms

Woman Without Ticket Argues For Seat In Train, Video Goes Viral

Latest And Upcoming Movies

Sonakshi Sinha,Richa Chadha,Manisha Koirala,Aditi Rao Hydari,Sanjeeda Sheikh,Shekhar Suman,Fardeen Khan

Critic's Rating

Amar Singh Chamkila

Diljit Dosanjh,Parineeti Chopra

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

Akshay Kumar,Tiger Shroff,Prithviraj Sukumaran,Manushi Chillar

Ajay Devgn,Priyamani,Gajraj Rao,Rudranil Ghosh

Related News

Heeramandi The Diamond Bazaar Review: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Aptly Shows Lives of Courtesans During British-Ruled India

Amar Singh Chamkila Movie Review: Imtiaz Ali's Ode To Late Punjabi Legend Hits Hard

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Movie Review: Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff Impress With Jhakaas Action And Funny One-Liners

Maidaan Movie Review: Ajay Devgn Film Hits Winning Goal But Misses Patriotic Feel

The Family Star Review: Vijay Deverakonda, Mrunal Thakur Film Is A Heartwarming Tale Of Familial Bonds

• Firstpost Defence Summit
• Entertainment
• Web Stories
• Health Supplement
• First Sports
• Fast and Factual
• Between The Lines
• Firstpost America

Qala movie review: A brooding portrait of the artist as a woman

Anvita Dutt’s film is a poignant, if familiar, story about artistic merit and the gendered pursuit of both affection and excellence.

In a scene from Netflix’s Qala , a mother tells her daughter “ Naam ke aage pandit lagna chahiye, uske peeche bai nahi ”. This bit of worldly wisdom feels loaded with unseen but readable context. Hidden behind the mother’s worn eyes is possibly a lifetime spent learning a woman’s place in a brutalising man’s world. Her ambitious daughter, won’t have it easy, or worse, she might never have it at all. Qala is about an artist’s pursuit of a vague form of excellence and approval but it is also about the unsaid bond a mother and daughter share. Directed by Anvita Dutt, Qala can often overindulge its eerie atmospherics but at its core it is a deeply poignant narrative about art, aspiration and of course gender.

Qala stars Tripti Dimri as a gifted young vocalist who is the toast of town in pre-Independence India’s film industry. The sight of her conquests is modern-day Kolkata, though we rarely get to take a peek at the city’s streets. Qala is a celebrated singer, serenaded by men and ministers alike. She is also, as an extension of working in the film business, surrounded by leering men. The first scene itself places her centre, at a press conference overrun by male journalists. Her reputation and fame, however, have a grim backstory. Qala is born to a doting but demanding mother in Diwan Manjushree, played by Swastika Mukherjee . The film regularly jumps between these two phases of her life, a sequestered but testing childhood somewhere in the snowy hills between Solan and Shimla and the dizzy heights of stardom in an industry that though it looks warmer, is possibly the coldest place on the planet.

As a parenting hardliner, Manjushree entrusts the harshest methods to teach Qala the most valuable lessons. From banishing her daughter from the house in the night, to replacing her with newfound, obscure talent, Manjushree is both the seed and the sickle. At a concert organised for Qala’s musical debut, the headlines are stolen from under her endearing countenance by the rookie Jagan (played by Irrfan Khan ’s son Babil ). Jagan’s voice, his raw talent becomes the line of division that distances Qala from her mother. Not only is he far more talented, but he is also the one thing she can never be - a man.

This film is a broody mix of stunning music, magical setups and some truly arresting art direction. As was the case with Dutt’s previous project, it is also a film that shouts detail and authenticity at various points and is supported by a palette that brings out the lustre of a bygone era in Indian cinema. It obviously feels nostalgic and is given the gothic treatment that also makes it equal part horror and drama. To which effect, Qala has hallucinatory episodes. Her rise in the industry itself, is punctuated by greased palms and more, a nod to the many ceilings women must task themselves with breaking. And at the end of it all, the pinnacle is satisfyingly distant from the mob, but overwhelming close to the edge. The top of the pyramid, the film tells us, is a deeply lonely place. It is lonelier still for women who get there at some personal and emotional cost.

While Dutt’s previous film attempted to rewrite a popular fairy tale here she reproduces a portrait of the artist as an incomplete woman. A woman who though she ascends to a certain pedestal in public life, descends to a far darker place on the inside. No ascent, it feels, comes without a cost, but for women it comes at the exponential price of having to also play your gender. Success can be grabbed, but not without loosening the grip on things you hold dear. It’s a truism that Manjushree beats into her daughter early. It’s possibly also the kind of truth that eventually becomes her undoing. Some lessons are maybe better not learned at all. Of the performances, none disappoint. Dimri is brilliant as the naïve and yet quietly sinister Qala the tragic monolith at the heart of a film that says as much about art as it does about the emotional cost of ‘making it’. Babil Khan is adequate though never really sensational. Amit Sial is, well, effortlessly brilliant as ever as a blunt and quietly lecherous composer. Varun Grover, in his acting debut, is serviceable at best.

Qala is obviously an acquired taste. It broods and contemplates far too much, but at its heart it has a familiar story to tell about artistic aspiration becoming a conduit for discovering the fractured, personal self. At times a little too decorated for its own good, the film can also seem obsessed with poeticising the banal, and exotifying the mechanical. The sum of these parts, however, is a memorable, if familiar story told through the syntax of arthouse and horror. As an audio-visual artefact at least, this is a specimen worth discussing, poring over and preserving.

Qala is streaming on Netflix

Manik Sharma writes on art and culture, cinema, books, and everything in between.

Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .

Find us on YouTube

Related Stories

Yodha: How Karan Johar and Sidharth Malhotra created history by unveiling the trailer mid-air at 37,000 feet

Netflix’s The Indrani Mukerjea Story – Buried Truth Review: A very mature approach to the Sheena Bora case

Here's looking at how Anant Ambani lost 108 kilos in mere 18 months ahead of his wedding with Radhika Merchant

Actress-politician Jaya Prada declared ‘absconding’ by court, arrest warrant issued for this reason

• India Today
• Business Today
• Harper's Bazaar
• Brides Today
• Cosmopolitan
• India Today Hindi
• Reader’s Digest
• Aaj Tak Campus

Download App

Qala Movie Review: Watch it only for Triptii Dimri and Babil's earnest performances

Triptii dimri and babil's qala, out now on netflix, is a psychological thriller that caters to those fond of realistic narratives. it, however, doesn't make the desired impact as the writing is not up to the mark..

Listen to Story

• Qala premiered on Netflix on Thursday, December 1.
• The film stars Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee, and Babil Khan.
• Qala is directed by Anvita Dutt.

Release Date: 1 Dec, 2022

Triptii Dimri and Babil’s Qala had the potential to be a haunting and unnerving tale about guilt and jealousy. It, however, ends up being nothing more than a one-time watch. Qala revolves around a popular singer (played by Triptii Dimri) who is admired by many because of her ‘mesmirising’ voice. She, however, is not able to enjoy this fame as she is constantly haunted by her past. As the film progresses, we learn more about her strained relationship with her mother (played by Swastika Mukherjee).

The basic plot is quite promising and caters to those fond of realistic narratives. It, however, doesn’t quite reach its potential as the execution is not as good as it could have been.

Qala opens with a sequence that introduces us to the protagonist as she addresses the media after receiving a prestigious award. The scene is quite a simple one, but it does a good job of giving us an idea of something being terribly wrong in her life. The narrative then shifts to her relationship with her mother.

Qala also feels a bit predictable at points. The pacing, too, may be an issue for some, as the film often moves at its own pace. The big reveal towards the end is anything but surprising, which dilutes its impact. That said, Qala is not a wasted opportunity by any stretch of the imagination. The makers have handled a couple of sensitive issues with a fair degree of maturity. There’s no attempt to sensationalise them. Qala, for the part, focuses mainly on its lead characters. There aren’t many digressions. The last scene feels gut-wrenching despite the screenplay’s limitations.

Coming to the performances, Triptii Dimri is the heart and soul of Qala. The film gives her ample scope to showcase her abilities and the actress rises to the occasion. She manages to capture her character's vulnerabilities reasonably well. This becomes amply clear in a moving scene where she pleads with her mother to rescue her from her doom. She also manages to internalise the character’s insecurities well in the scenes set in the recording room.

Babil makes his presence felt despite being burdened with a one-dimensional character. He tries to keep his performance as realistic as possible. It is another matter that Qala isn’t really a ‘launch vehicle’ for him. Swastika Mukherjee adds depth to her character with her stoic performance. Amit Sial is underutilised in a role that is quite different from the ones he played in Maharani and Jamtara. The rest of the cast serves its purpose.

Music is an integral part of the narrative. Amit Trivedi tunes, however, prove to be a mixed bag. While the songs manage to hold our attention, they aren’t really all that catchy.

The cinematography (Siddharth Diwan) is one of the highlights of Qala. The film has a distinct rich look and feel.

To sum up, Qala is an ambitious and sincere attempt at storytelling that needed a better screenplay to pack a punch.

2.5 stars out of 5 for Qala. Published By: Zinia Bandyopadhyay Published On: Dec 1, 2022 --- ENDS --- ALSO READ | Qala trailer out! Babil Khan shines in this complicated tale of a young singer and her mother

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories

Qala ending explained — what exactly happened at the end of the artsy psychological drama that leaves you with some haunting questions

By the time the credits to  Qala roll around, you’re already feeling blue. Not your ordinary run-of-the-mill blue; more like the silvery-blue that’s used generously as a theme throughout the film. And that’s not the only time that the Tripti Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee and Babil -starrer movie uses colour to evoke a certain kind of emotion in the viewer. 

Set in pre-independence India,  Qala is as much an art film as it is a fairly disturbing psychological drama. The clever use of light and shadow, wooden furnishings replete with a fireplace, rustic gramophones, records, even down to the pipes they’re all smoking… every little detail has a telling bit of flair. 

The storyline follows the titular character, Qala Manjushree (Tripti Dimri) as she emerges as one of the most celebrated singers in the Indian music industry. However, the hundreds of accolades — that include the most prestigious golden vinyl, the frenetic media devotion and high praise from the industry biggies all fall short in the face of the thing she craves the most. Her mother’s approval. 

Qala’s been fighting to win her mother’s favour from when she was in the womb. Urmila Manjushree (Swastika Mukherjee) is considered music royalty in the Hindustani classical music space. When she learns that Qala’s twin brother has died in childbirth, her dream of the family’s musical legacy reigning unchecked gets a crack. Even as a baby, Qala is made to feel that being a woman is a weakness. After all, it’s a man’s world. 

Despite tireless training sessions and an austere upbringing, nothing seems to be enough. Her mother is disgusted, belittling her at every step and it’s no wonder that the girl spends her whole childhood vying for even a morsel of affection. And then enter Jagan (Babil) to make things worse. Jagan, an orphan who self-trained in the gurdwara he grew up in, literally has the voice of an angel and a personality to match. He sings, Urmila is mesmerised and her mind is made up. Jagan is coming home with them. 

By the end of the movie, you hate Urmila. The tragedy that struck both Jagan and Qala is a consequence of her neglect, and her obsessive need to launch talent that only meets her lofty standards. It also paints a grim picture of the patriarchy that’s rampant in this age, with even a woman as powerful as Urmila enabling it. 

Present-day Qala may be a singing sensation, but the glory has come with a heavy price. By this point, we already know that sweet, sweet Jagan had killed himself after losing his voice mid-way through a game-changing performance. His voice, as he tells Qala throughout the movie, is his identity. And when Qala reaches the peak of celebrity, even resorting to desperate means to achieve it, all she has is visions of Jagan accusing her of stealing his life and success. 

And as the movie gears up to its curtain close, we know why. Qala, who had spent months playing second fiddle to Jagan for her mother’s attention — who considers the latter the son she lost in childbirth — snaps. It is revealed that on the day of Jagan’s big performance, she had mixed mercury in the warm milk her mother made her serve him. Mercury, as we know from an earlier scene in the movie, has certain traces of poison and can destroy someone’s voice. Incidentally, Qala uses traces of mercury from a game that Jagan had given her in a moment of camaraderie. 

And so for years, Qala carries the debilitating guilt of Jagan’s death on her conscience, which after a point, starts manifesting in these visions. Reality blurs and in one disturbing instance that the media laps up, she starts talking to him out loud. By some fluke, Urmila hears that peculiar exchange on the radio and at the same time gets a worrying call from Qala’s doctor. Qala has tried to kill herself. 

The final climax comes with a flavour of regret. Finally realising her role in Qala’s descent into mental turmoil, Urmila reaches Calcutta, determined to take her daughter home. But she’s too late. In a scene of (the worst kind) poetic justice, Urmila barges into Qala’s room to find that she has hung herself, mimicking Jagan in his final moments. 

This too is fitting because, in many ways, Jagan is more of a family member (and maybe even mentor) to her than her mother could ever be. In one beautiful scene, he even tells her that she should stop singing for her mother, and sing instead for herself. But for Qala, her world started and ended with her mother. Something that Urmila realised a little too late. 

Read more entertainment stories 

4 big-ticket films Vicky Kaushal rejected or lost out on that eventually went to SRK, Ranveer Singh and others

11 inspiring series on Prime Video, JioCinema, Netflix and Hotstar that will motivate you towards success

13 iconic Hindi thriller movies of all time that have stood the test of time

Vincenzo actor Song Joong Ki is making his K-drama comeback with these actresses

5 blockbuster films Priyanka Chopra rejected that went to Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif & others

GQ Recommends

• Games & Puzzles
• ₹ 10 Lakh,1" data-value="Loan ₹ 10 Lakh">Loan ₹ 10 Lakh

• Entertainment
• Latest News
• Election 2024 Date Announcement Live
• Kolkata News Live
• The Interview
• Web Stories
• Mumbai News
• Bengaluru News
• Daily Digest

Qala movie review: Anvitaa Dutt's film struggles to rise above its parts

Qala movie review: tripti dimri, swastika mukherjee and babil khan star in this psychological drama about a singer haunted by her past, trying to find her ground..

When the doctor asks Qala about her symptoms for her health condition, she is firmly articulate in the way she says it's not physical ailment, but more of an emotional turmoil. "It's like," she begins to whisper, "I've been waiting for something to happen. And it is happening." The doctor tells her not to overthink, and concentrate more on her singing. That's precisely the point everyone tries to make, where Qala's mental health is not to be given too much importance. Given the setting is Calcutta in the 1930s, it is almost an outlier as a topic. Yet, this particular scene, that arrives quite early in Anvitaa Dutt's sophomore feature film directorial, establishes the narrative's revolving theme of mining out the inner landscape of an artist. (Also read: Babil Khan says he hates the word 'debut' ahead of Qala release: ‘If I wasn’t Irrfan Khan’s son nobody would have cared’ )

Qala follows the eponymous protagonist (played by Tripti Dimri) as a young girl who wishes to become a great singer, mostly to win her mother Urmila's (Swastika Mukherjee) approval. The flashback tells us how they live isolated in a dimly-lit house in the Himachal, where her mother tells her that she has to work harder than any man to achieve success as a playback singer. Qala tries her best, but there's an extent to which hardwork can lead up to talent, which Qala lacks. Urmila notices this, and rebukes her- "akal mein zero, shakal mein zero, talent mein zero." Qala is left with a blinding sense of inadequacy, as she yearns only to seek Urmila's approval above everything else.

When an orphan named Jagan (Babil Khan, making his debut) appears out of nowhere, and charms his way through his gorgeous vocals, Qala notices how her mother responds so willingly to him. Qala is devastated when her mother gives him the space at their home, and sets him up for regular practice sessions and introduces him to eminent film personalities to help him with his career. What is to become of Qala then? Urmila tells her that a daughter's place is always with her husband, so she should get married as well. What can Qala do now to safeguard her artistic pursuits?

Qala constantly shifts from present to the past, as Anvitaa tries to situate her viewers in the mind of her female protagonist. Whether we see her hallucinating or crumbling down with nervousness, there is a certain confidence in the way the Bulbbul director constructs the narrative fabric of Qala. Yet, Qala's journey is built in a suspended deceit that does not quite know where to focus. On one hand, it is about the toxic and abusive relationship between a mother and daughter, and then it transforms into an artist's quest for expression and identity, while also revealing the misogynistic tendencies that are brushed under the carpet in any industry. Qala feels disjointed as a whole as it tries to bridge these elements together, and becomes a sum of its individual ideas, never fully transforming into a whole portrait of an artist in crisis. Flashbacks to Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan are evident, yet Qala is quieter, more reserved in its own wavelength.

Technically, Qala is superb. As evident in Bulbbul, director Anvitaa Dutt masterfully assembles an expert team of artists that help in bringing the film together. Gorgeously shot by Siddharth Diwan, each scene is mapped out like a painting. Meenal Agarwal's production design serves a dreamlike space for these characters to inhabit. Most of all, it is Amit Trivedi's music that powers through the moods and rhythms of the film with an icy-cold opacity, giving Qala its much-needed energy. Yet for so much scope and vision in its technical aspects, Qala falls flat when the light reveals the characters.

Tripti Dimri is in fine form but her character is frustratingly one-note and delivered mostly in the same anxious wavelength. Swastika Mukherjee, clad in those gorgeous silver jewelry, plays Urmila with force and power, but her character is given little to no scope to reveal the change of heart that occurs later in the film, leaving behind too many questions unanswered. As Jagan, Babil Khan gives a haunting debut turn, unusually charming yet also underutilized in the film's treatment overall. His introduction scene alone is one for the ages. Varun Grover is quite a revelation in his cameo as the lyricist Majrooh, with the sly reveal of his red nail paint quite playful in the world of hypocritical male figures. By the time, Qala's arc spirals, the film edges on to an otherwise predictable climax, giving the journey a vacant denouement.

There's a lot to like in Qala, and somewhere within its overcrowded chambers lies a potent film about mental health and female agency. Even with so much happening, there's not much that gets past. One wishes the film mirrored Qala's temperament with a little more vigour. Qala, even in its persuasive best, ultimately feels lost in its stylistic embellishments to figure out how to make the underlying conflict visible.

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Weather Today
• HT Newsletters
• Subscription
• Print Ad Rates
• Code of Ethics

• India vs Sri Lanka
• Live Cricket Score
• Cricket Teams
• Cricket Players
• ICC Rankings
• Cricket Schedule
• Shreyas Iyer
• Harshit Rana
• Kusal Mendis
• Ravi Bishnoi
• Rinku Singh
• Riyan Parag
• Washington Sundar
• Avishka Fernando
• Charith Asalanka
• Dasun Shanaka
• Khaleel Ahmed
• Pathum Nissanka
• Other Cities
• Income Tax Calculator
• Petrol Prices
• Diesel Prices
• Silver Rate
• Independence day 2024 live
• Independence Day 2024 Wishes
• Relationships
• Art and Culture
• Taylor Swift: A Primer
• Telugu Cinema
• Tamil Cinema
• Board Exams
• Exam Results
• Admission News
• Employment News
• Competitive Exams
• BBA Colleges
• Engineering Colleges
• Medical Colleges
• BCA Colleges
• Medical Exams
• Engineering Exams
• Love Horoscope
• Annual Horoscope
• Festival Calendar
• Compatibility Calculator
• Career Horoscope
• Manifestation
• The Economist Articles
• Lok Sabha States
• Lok Sabha Parties
• Lok Sabha Candidates
• Explainer Video
• On The Record
• Vikram Chandra Daily Wrap
• Entertainment Photos
• Lifestyle Photos
• News Photos
• Vinesh Phogat Verdict Live
• Olympics 2024
• Olympics Medal Tally
• Other Sports
• EPL 2023-24
• ISL 2023-24
• Asian Games 2023
• Public Health
• Economic Policy
• International Affairs
• Climate Change
• Gender Equality
• future tech
• HT Friday Finance
• Explore Hindustan Times
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Subscription - Terms of Use

• Program Guide
• Sports News
• New & Trending NEW
• Streaming Services
• Newsletters
• OTTplay Awards
• OTT Replay 2023
• Changemakers

Home » Review » Qala movie review: Tripti Dimri’s Qala is talentless in love, loyal in betrayal »

Qala movie review: Tripti Dimri’s Qala is talentless in love, loyal in betrayal

As destiny would have it, between the two musicians Qala and Jagan, one succeeds while the other is pushed into oblivion. But what defines success, and who decides it anyway?

Anvita Dutt Guptan’s Qala feels like a psychoanalysis on musicians, a bare-open of the often morally twisted and visibly insecure world of creative arts.

• Pallabi Dey

Last Updated: 10.56 PM, Dec 01, 2022

STORY: Anvita Dutt Guptan’s Qala—both the film and her leading lady—has hues of grey sprinkled all over them, and provides an aerial view into the lives of those who want to learn how to live, before living. Qala’s quest for knowledge on human consciousness and its subsequent impact on one’s psyche may flounder every once in a while, but it never truly derails.

REVIEW: At an event in New Delhi, Vishal Bharadwaj once said, as I vividly remember, “... All an artist ever wants is appreciation. To be applauded for his/her body of work. To be seen.” Anvita Dutt Guptan’s Qala, troubled and troubling in equal measures, is an offshoot of what Bharadwaj had observed, albeit darker.

Tied at the umbilical cord to a twin brother who couldn’t make it for she, the stronger between the two, ‘feed off of his energy’, Qala (Tripti Dimri) had the gold and riches to kill time with but was doomed for a life of isolation regardless: somewhere deep in the mountains of Solan, this young girl being punished for seeking love, for wanting to be seen. While she navigates her quick-to-temper mother’s (Swastika Mukherjee) penchant for perfection, Qala, now somewhat detached from reality, reaches within the deep recesses of her mind for something she was cursed against all along: unconditional love, and external approval.

Deeply insecure and always eager to please, all Qala ever wanted was her mother’s affection and carry her legacy forward in Thumri: a popular subgenre of Indian classical music. Her mother, a hypocrite, encourages Qala to make a name for herself in an otherwise male-dominated world, only to shun her for a musically gifted young man, Jagan. “His voice touches souls,” Mrs. Mukherjee says; spellbound. Her protégé has a hold over her she cannot break: from sleeping with powerful men from the film industry to hosting high-end tea parties secretly hoping they would crack a deal with him, Jagan’s non-mother mother stops at nothing. Qala, however, lingers on ... in the shadows, almost as if she were a stranger to her own life; a human among ghosts. As destiny would have it, between the two, one succeeds while the other is pushed into oblivion. But what defines success, and who decides it anyway?

Anvita Dutt Guptan’s Qala feels like a psychoanalysis on musicians, a bare-open of the often morally twisted and visibly insecure world of creative arts. Encapsulating what the lead characters feel in the movie, a scene comes to mind: when Qala warns a top music composer against signing Jagan as he would replace the man and labels him a ‘serial replacer’. To which, the composer says, “Jagan will replace me just as I had replaced someone... Only music stays.” In Guptan’s dark palette, there are no heroes, and there are no villains. In true Guptan style, her Qala, however flawed, is a feminist and spares no man when her choices are questioned. The director’s vision of a woman is raw and real, for her protagonist, when faced with a morally responsible and an ethically corrupt decision, she chooses the former. Men, in Qala, are heavily entitled and disturbingly condescending, except for a character with a brief role that never truly reaches a respectable place within the story. Perhaps, it was deliberate: to show how the ones who speak up are often silenced. Perhaps, it was an honest mistake.

Rendering support to Guptan’s vision of a 1960s gloomy Himachal Pradesh, amongst the elite at least, is cinematographer Siddharth Diwan. Through Diwan, we see pictures in motion and every frame feels like an art of work within an art of work we eventually grow to admire. The complexity of each of these characters, or the lack of it, is heightened by Meenal Agarwal’s poetic set design. For a hot second, I was transported back to O.Henry’s world of melancholy.

Tripti Dimri must have felt the pre-release jitters a tad more once the Natalie Portman-led Oscar-winning Black Swan comparisons started to float around. Tripti, by all means, is no Natalie Portman and I say this with utmost respect to both the actors. At its core, Qala is about two passionate artists, with one constantly snipping at the other, but we get where the Black Swan comparisons are being drawn from. Dimri, even in her brief career thus far, has shown immense range and growth in her performances. Of course, Qala is no expectation. Dimri’s idea of an unrealistic mind reflects in her expressions: that awkward pouting of lips while rehearsing for an award-acceptance speech that is yet to materialize, the flaring of nostrils while burning with envy over being dropped; forgotten, and the general coldness in her eyes lamenting over what could have been. Tripti Dimri’s finesse as an actor is captured aptly in a collection of scenes: once when her own guilty conscience manifests in the form of a fly and she catches it with the angst of a dejected warrior, and another time, when she asks her mother what would it take to be loved by her, only to apologize a few seconds later for having asked the question in the first place. To compare Dimri to Portman would be criminal; they are on their own separate lanes.

Babil, on the other hand, aces the restrained rage of a beat musician. He is never loud, but always seen. He is never pushy, but always heard. Babil, as Jagan, is what a man with no reasons to carry on would like, I reckon. And this film is about Qala’s mind and not his body, and Babil Khan knows it, too.

Swastika Mukherjee, as always, takes to trauma and trouble quite organically. Her lover-like worshipping of Jagan is in stark contrast to her very-evident disappointment over her only child. In both the sequences, Swastika is her absolute best.

It also helps the script by leaps and bounds that Amit Trivedi, with Varun Grover and Shahid Mallya, has created a catalogue of songs that imbibe pain in what is already painful. Mallya’s Shauq is an absolute winner of a soundtrack, and so is Phero Na Najariya.

Qala makes the poorly timed choice of throwing in pay disparity in a conversation heavily invested in mental health and artists’ insecurity, but you forgive the fiasco. Flawed or not, it is a catharsis of a movie: leaves some enraged at their circumstances, while others at dear life itself.

VERDICT: Qala is a complex movie, with several layers added to all the characters in question, but if twisted yet meaningful movies stimulate your mind, then Qala is an absolute must-watch.

WHERE TO WATCH

• New OTT Releases
• Web Stories
• Streaming services
• Latest News
• Movies Releases
• Cookie Policy
• Shows Releases
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Subscriber Agreement

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

How to Prepare Your Kids for School After a Summer of Screen Time

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 2 Reviews
• Kids Say 0 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Singer can't handle the pressure; suicide, smoking, sex.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Qala is an Indian period drama about a young woman who wants to use her lovely voice to gain her withholding mother's love. Instead, that desperation leads to tragedy. Language includes "crap" and "hell." A woman is coerced into performing sexual favors (implied oral sex) for a man…

Why Age 15+?

Someone commits suicide and is seen hanging. An accidental murder is implied. It

On a walled-in patio, a clothed man is seen from the waist up with an ecstatic l

Adults smoke cigarettes and possibly marijuana.

"Crap" and "hell."

Any Positive Content?

The movie is shot in India with an Indian cast.

Mothers who don't love their kids cause damage.

A desperate unloved child is driven to bad acts and madness.

Violence & Scariness

Someone commits suicide and is seen hanging. An accidental murder is implied. It's implied that a woman is kneeling before a producer performing oral sex in order to advance her career. In another scene, he asks everyone but her to leave the room and close the door, implying he'll be demanding sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

On a walled-in patio, a clothed man is seen from the waist up with an ecstatic look on his face. It's implied that a woman is kneeling before him performing oral sex in order to advance her career. In another scene, he asks everyone but her to leave the room and close the door, implying he'll be demanding sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Diverse Representations

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Messages

Positive role models.

Parents need to know that Qala is an Indian period drama about a young woman who wants to use her lovely voice to gain her withholding mother's love. Instead, that desperation leads to tragedy. Language includes "crap" and "hell." A woman is coerced into performing sexual favors (implied oral sex) for a man in power. Adults smoke cigarettes and possibly marijuana. Suicide is a subject and a body is seen hanging. In Hindi with English subtitles. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (2)

Based on 2 parent reviews

RATED 16+ suicide, substances, sex, mature themes

Capcut : may have extended length, what's the story.

QALA (Triptii Dimri) is from a renowned musical family and she has a nice voice, but her singer mother won't give her the time of day. That dynamic sets in motion a tragic outcome for all involved. All Qala wants is her cruelly withholding mother's praise and approval. Soon Mom (Swastika Mukherjee) discovers a poor young singer named Jagan (Babil Khan), who sings with passion and lives for music. Mom takes him in and calls him her son even though he's of a lower caste. Qala grows increasingly frustrated by the rejection. Just as he's about to record for a famous film music producer, Jagan falls ill and seems to permanently lose his voice. Tragedy ensues. Qala makes the recording instead, her mother kicks her out, and the producer sexually exploits the now homeless girl. Fame and wealth come but Qala becomes more and more depressed and isolated, weeping before recording sessions and still desperate for her estranged mother's approbation. We finally learn that Qala has reason to feel guilty about a terrible deed she did.

Is It Any Good?

Without a sympathetic character to be found, Qala may be one of the most ridiculous movies of the season. A depressed girl who wants her mother's approval falls deeper into desperation. Hysterical deafness, hallucinatory near-catatonia, and self-harm overtake her. Rinse and repeat. That's the plot. We learn only in the film's final minutes the source of her great pain, even as her mother still refuses to embrace her daughter's lovely voice and success. Flashbacks are indistinguishable from present-day scenes as Qala looks the same age in all. Whether in past or present, for two excruciating hours, the characters' arcs budge not one centimeter from where they started. The spineless, depressive daughter never stands up to her cruel, hypocritical, and insensitive mother, and the mother continues to have no sympathy.

Plenty of fanciful nonsense makes the film too long. Qala speaks to Jagan's ghost while surrounded by a scrum of reporters. She imagines a snowstorm in the recording studio and stumbles through her hallucination and the "snowy" studio floor. Mental illness is a fine subject for film, but nothing excuses the stagnant, dragged-out tedium here.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the reason the mother doesn't love her daughter. Do we need to know to understand the movie? Does the movie explain it?

What effect can severe sibling rivalry have on kids? Does the movie depict it realistically? Why or why not?

Why do you think Qala wants her mother's approval so badly? Do you think she could've moved on from that seemingly unattainable goal? Why or why not?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : December 1, 2022
• Cast : Triptii Dimri , Swastika Mukherjee
• Director : Anvita Dutt
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 119 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Sweet Dreams

Silver Linings Playbook

Girl, Interrupted

A Beautiful Mind

Best international films for kids, travel movies.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• Click on the Menu icon of the browser, it opens up a list of options.
• Click on the “Options ”, it opens up the settings page,
• Here click on the “Privacy & Security” options listed on the left hand side of the page.
• Scroll down the page to the “Permission” section .
• Here click on the “Settings” tab of the Notification option.
• A pop up will open with all listed sites, select the option “ALLOW“, for the respective site under the status head to allow the notification.
• Once the changes is done, click on the “Save Changes” option to save the changes.

• Top Listing
• Upcoming Movies

Khel Khel Mein Review: Akshay Kumar Is Back To The Comedy Genre With A Bang In This Mudassar Aziz's Laugh Riot

Khel Khel Mein Review: Akshay Kumar is known for his amazing comic timing. The last time we saw him in a proper comedy film was in 2019 release Good Newwz. Now, after nearly five years, the actor makes a comeback in comedy. His fans have been waiting to watch him in a laugh-riot, so is the wait worth? Find out in our review below...

The movie revolves around seven friends, Rishabh (Akshay Kumar), Vartika (Vaani Kapoor), Harpreet (Ammy Virk), Happy (Taapsee Pannu), Sam (Aditya Seal), Naina (Pragya Jaiswal), and Kabir (Fardeen Khan). They all come together for Vartika's sister's wedding, and one night, they decide to play a game in which all their phones will be kept on a table, and whatever message, call, or email comes on their phone they all will read it, and the calls will be answered on speaker. While the game starts on a funny note, soon it becomes quite serious as everyone's secrets start coming out. Will the relationships and friendships be the same at the end of the night? To know that you need to watch the film...

Khel Khel Mein is a remake of the Italian film Perfect Strangers. I have watched the original film, so I know what the basic storyline is. But well, this is how a remake should be made. This is not a copy-paste remake, but a proper Indian adaptation of the original movie. In fact, it is much better than the Italian film.

The first half of the movie is hilarious. There are multiple scenes that will make you laugh out loud. In the second half, the movie becomes dramatic, but even in those dramatic scenes, there will be one punchline by Akshay Kumar and once again make you laugh. And of course, the film tries to give an important message at the end.

Khel Khel Mein Actors' Performances

Akshay Kumar is back with a bang to the comedy genre. This is the Akshay Kumar we all love and even his fans have been waiting to watch him in a role like this. It is tailor-made role for Akki, and he has nailed it. After Akshay, it is Taapsee Pannu who steals the show. Among all the female actors, she has been given the strongest role. Comedy as well as the emotional scenes, Taapsee has performed very well proving that she is one of the best actresses we have in the industry.

Fardeen Khan has been given one of the most pivotal roles to portray and he leaves a very strong mark. He has two major monologues, one comedy and one dramatic, and he has performed both wonderfully.

Ammy Virk with his perfect comic timing impresses us a lot, and Pragya Jaiswal, who makes her Bolywood debut, is very confident and grabs our attention. Aditya Seal and Vaani Kapoor are good in their respective roles.

Khel Khel Mein Music

The songs in the film are quite good, but it is background score that impresses us a lot. The track Parde Mein Rehne Do has been use fantastically in the movie.

Khel Khel Mein Review Final Verdict

Overall, Khel Khel Mein is an entertaining film that will make you laugh out loud and at the end it also gives an important message. Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, and Fardeen Khan fans are in for a treat!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Filmibeat (@filmibeatofficial)

• Don't Block
• Block for 8 hours
• Block for 12 hours
• Block for 24 hours
• Dont send alerts during 1 am 2 am 3 am 4 am 5 am 6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm 4 pm 5 pm 6 pm 7 pm 8 pm 9 pm 10 pm 11 pm 12 am to 1 am 2 am 3 am 4 am 5 am 6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm 4 pm 5 pm 6 pm 7 pm 8 pm 9 pm 10 pm 11 pm 12 am