Darbaan is an Indian Hindi drama film directed by Bipin Nadkarni. It stars Sharib Hashmi, Sharrad Kelkar, Flora Saini, Rasika Duggal, and Varun Sharma in main roles. It was released on 4th December 2020 on Zee5.
The story is set in Jharia of Dhanbad district of Bihar (now Jharkhand) in the 1970s. Naren Tripathi (Harsh Chhaya) is the owner of a coal mine. Raicharan (Sharib Hashmi) is his servant but is like a member of the house. Raicharan is Naren Babu's son Anukool's friend, brother, and guru, and they're very close. The government nationalizes the coal mines, taking away all the business and pride of Naren Babu. The family has to leave their ancestral home and flee.
Raicharan goes back to his village and starts farming. After many years, suddenly one-day Anukool (Sharad Kelkar), who has become a big officer and regained his hereditary wealth and social stature, comes to Raicharan's house and offers his 'Raicho' to come home. The aging Raicharan arrives and begins his old life in the same mansion with Anukool's son Sidhu. One day Raicharan takes Sidhu outside, but an accident happens, in which Sidhu goes missing.
Even after searching a lot, there is no evidence of Sidhu being alive. Raicharan had no children of his own and so Anukool's wife Charul (Flora Saini) is already suspicious of him. After this accident, she is broken. However, due to emotional attachment, Anukool refuses to take police action against Raicharan. The guilt of this accident has created a hole in his mind. He returns to the village and after a few months, Raicharan becomes father, but the misery of believing himself responsible for Sidhu's death does not allow him to love his son. Meanwhile, his wife Bhuri (Rasika Duggal) also dies.
Raicharan's sister constantly makes him understand that it was not his fault but is not able to awaken his affection for his son. Then one day, Raicharan's son calls him Channa, by which name, the young Sidhu called him at the first meeting. It was as if Sidhu got back to Raicharan. He raises his son in the same way as Sidhu. Work all day and teaches him to a good school. Fulfills all his demands. Time passes and the son reaches the adolescent stage. The guilt of losing Sidhu still haunts Raicharan. Fearing that the people will take away his son, he leaves the village and goes to Gangtok. But even changing the place he does not let go of his past. Then, he takes a difficult decision and decides to atone for an accident that happened several years ago.
At the pace the crime-based shows on OTT platforms are flooding these days, Darbaan released on Zee5 is like a cool spray, which gives emotional relief. It is based on the famous short story Khokababur Pratyabartan by Rabindranath Tagore. A Bengali film with the same name has been made on this story in 1960, in which Bengali cinema legend Uttam Kumar had played the lead role. Now Sharib Hashmi has got the opportunity to play the same character.
This composition is more than a century old, but the tide of emotions in it is still relevant today. It tells the story of the relationship between a servant and a master, in which the sense of dedication ends the difference between small and big.
In this story of fluctuating human emotions, events go through many turns before the end. The long journey has been covered, in which Raicharan reaches his old age from youth but his affection for 'Chhote Sarkar' doesn't dip a bit. Bipin Nadkarni managed to retain the thrill of the original story but he fails sadly. The story has a literary simplicity and beautifully narrated by Anu Kapoor.
The film moves smoothly like poetry, but it never explores the depth of any of the characters, hence you will be feeling discontented. The film delivers many sweet moments, but it seems at least to me, that the writers didn't understand the purity and the intention behind the original short story. They have just offered whatever the best they could spoon out from the original story, and the result is that it's still watchable but never fulfilling. The death of Bhuri, and like this many scenes are just thrown at you with phrases and hence many times misses to hit you. The duration of 2 hours at least should be taken to convey the depth and the objective of the short story.
In such a situation, the character of Sharib stumbles from time to time even so the strength of the film is the performance of Sharib Hashmi, he steals the frame with his earnest performance. His hard work is visible. Sharib has not become the face of mainstream cinema, but his efforts to grow in content cinema are clear. He needs the right time and better roles, just like a diamond needs light to shine.
Sharrad Kelkar is good, given he's just in a couple of scenes. Rasika Duggal as Bhuri, again not got that much screen time, but we know she's here to stay, and even in one scene she truly delivers her act with brilliance. Flora Saini as Charul is just average and appears weak in emotional scenes. There's not much scope of visually appealing camera work but whatever it is, it's nice and the music is easily forgettable.
The film 'Darban' is very emotional film if you see beyond what's on screen. It shows the trust and sacrifice between the rich boy and the poor servant's relationship. The story of 'Darbaan' is reminiscent of 'Kabuliwala', in which the feelings of a human being have been explored by the relationship of a poor man and a child of a rich family. There are good things in the film, but delivers many scenes in an absolute untouched manner. Many scenes are shown in a hurry. Overall, 'Darban' is just an average film and you can watch it once. If you like to watch action, glamor and masala films then it's not for you. Anyway, it was really a soothing experience after watching so many thrillers and action movies in a row.
Rating:- 2.5/5
Now streaming only on Zee5.
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