These day several old and new directors have been daring to experiment with different themes that may not be commercially viable. Rajshree Ojha is one among such directors and her latest directorial venture Chaurahen - Crossroads is one new experiment, which deals with three separate relationships that are intertwined through love, loss, light drizzles and destiny. It is a very complex subject, yet is exciting and interesting.Chaurahen - Crossroads is a romantic thriller and the top-notching performances of lead actors is the major highlight of the film. Rajshree Ojha's interesting storyline, characterisation and narration, Manikanth Kadri's background score and Bina Venugopal's crisp editing are the other plus points of the film. The movie lacks much-needed masala elements.
Chaurahen - Crossroads is an evocative and poignant composition consisting of three separate stories set in three different cities like Mumbai, Kochi, Kolkata in contemporary India. The movie deals with intense characters, complex relationships, intellectual dialogues, which land many viewers ending up understanding some of it.
Ira (Soha Ali Khan) is caught in a relationship with Farooq (Ankur Khanna), a grief-stricken man grappling with the memories of his dead parents. Weirdly, this depressed soul even preserves his dead daddy's dentures, with the 'last crumbs of bread' still stuck in those teeth (gross). Dr. Bose (Victor Banerjee) and Mrs. Bose (Roopa Ganguly) are suffering a passionless marriage constantly enveloped in a ghostly silence, from a painful past. Lea (Keira Chaplin) is a stereotypical foreigner trying to find the 'meaning of life' in the mystical land of India. Nandu (Karthik Kumar), along with his family is coping with unbearable loss, while finding an identity in his own home. Caught between intellectual dilemmas, overbearing grief and unchangeable truths - they are all at crossroads.
Chaurahen – Crossroads follows a very complex format of characterisation and Rajshree Ojha has done a wonderful job in casting various roles. As usual, Soha Ali Khan has given wonderful performance in the film. As estranged married couple, Victor Banerjee and Roopa Ganguly are successful in maintaining the much-needed silence and dignity in their characters. Arundhati Nag and Karthik Kumar have handled their roles very effectively. But Kiera Chaplin seems to have failed to do complete justice to her role.
Overall, Chaurahen-Crossroads revolves around a very complex subject and it does not dramatise things without reason. Although it has been promoted as romantic entertainer, it does not have much masala elements, which are usually found in present day film. So this film may surprise many movie buffs, who like watching romantic thrillers.
Direction: Rajshree Ojha
Cast: Soha Ali Khan, Ankur Khanna, Victor Banerjee, Kiera Chaplin, Roopa Ganguly, Zeenat Aman, Shayan Munshi, Karthik Kumar, Arundhati Nag
Genre: Romance
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
