Movie review: Chowrasta,Crossroads Of Love

A sorrowing tea-planter writes love letters to his no-longer-present-wife,and his no- longer-peaceful-town. A failed actress,along with her young son,shows up to tax her former husband of past sins and find forgiveness. A squabbling couple finds each other. A separatist looks for freedom. And all of them criss-cross Darjeeling’s main street,going their way.

The fact that it’s set in Darjeeling immediately gives the film freshness : Darj,as its residents like to call it,has a feel all its own. You wish,though,that the characters had been given more room for manoeuver: the just-married wife keeps harping,without a break,on the lack of responsibility that her husband ( Naved) shows. The bitter shop-soiled actress ( Roopa) who’s had so many affairs she doesn’t know who her son belongs to,deserved more of a back story. So does the gun-toting separatist ( Atul ),who gets involved in a kidnapping sub-plot which peters out.

What lifts the film is its music. Neel,director Anjan Dutt’s son,layers ‘Chowrasta’ with a great soundtrack,and a superb song,set in a pub,which the young husband sings for his wife.