Chaarfutiya Chhokare review: Soha Ali Khan, Seema Biswas try to tackle social evils in Bihar, but fail

NRI Neha Malini (this is supposed to be a pun on Hema Malini’s name), played by Soha Ali Khan, goes to a remote village in Bihar to set up a school for her NGO. She becomes involved in the lives of three adolescents who are forced into a world of crime and child trafficking by the local don, Lakhan. As Neha tries to unravel the issues that make these young boys opt for the tragic choices they do, she eventually discovers the nexus between the political class, police and the underworld.

Chaarfutiya Chhokare has a concrete plot that has a clear focus: to show how kids living under debt and in poverty are forced into crime, and often have no one to guide or protect them. The film succeeds in parts to portray most of the issues realistically, provided you’re willing to ignore critical details like how impractical it is for anyone (particularly an NRI woman) to show up at a village in Bihar, all alone, with the intention of starting a school. Director Manish Harishankar’s heart may be in the right place, considering how many social evils he’s tried to spotlight in his film, but his execution leaves a lot to be desired.

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Tipping any possible balance on the watchability scale is Khan as the protagonist. Her acting is cringe-inducing and Chaarfutiya Chhokare ends up to be most watchable in the parts without Khan’s Neha Malini. The film’s cast also includes Seema Biswas, best known as Phoolan Devi courtesy her brilliant performance in Bandit Queen, who plays the role of a mother who suffers in silence, unable to summon up the courage to revolt against the powerful crime boss. Mukesh Tiwari is a corrupt but vexed cop, trying to follow the local don’s orders and save his job at the same time. Why this requires him to keep taking off his shirt is not explained. Zakir Hussain plays the evil don, Lakhan. His jokes, though extremely dark, are unfortunately the only funny ones in the movie. Hussain will make you loathe his character, and perhaps even fear it.

One of the most pleasantly surprising roles was that of Harsh Mayar, who plays the adolescent leader of the group of three misled boys. Usually, in average Indian cinema, the role of a kid is limited to either displaying annoyingly high, almost-psychotic levels of happiness on being offered candy and toys or crying their eyes out over someone’s death or scolding. Mayar, refreshingly, shows the conflict within an adolescent who is being forced into adulthood too soon.

Chaarfutiya Chhokare is a film that could have achieved much more than what it ultimately does deliver.