Aachari Baa review: A film with heart and the right message that constantly longs for deeper substance!

Neena Gupta anchors this misguided tale about loneliness, ageing, and lost family connections, bringing some sincerity to a story with the right intentions but flawed execution.

Space is a five-letter word that has taken a significant space in our lives. We crave it when it's scarce and drown in its emptiness when there's too much of it. Hence the struggle lies in striking a balance between solitude and connection, an age-old conundrum. In Aachari Baa, this notion of space extends to family and community, offering a flawed exploration of what happens when we create too much distance from those closest to us. The film taps into the idea that while personal space is essential, we shouldn’t isolate ourselves from the warmth of community, a sentiment particularly relevant in today’s fast-paced, individualistic world.

The film seems to borrow emotional cues from classics like Baghban, with its premise centered around a parent-child relationship where Baa (Neena Gupta), a widow living alone in Rapar, is asked by her son, who lives in Mumbai, to take care of their dog, Jenny, while the family goes on a 10-day vacation. Baa, who finds solace in her community and makes the best aachar (pickle) in town, jumps to spend time with her son’s family. But upon arriving, she quickly realises she’s not a guest in their lives but a mere caretaker for the dog—a creature she’s terrified of. What follows is a journey of two lonely souls—a woman and a dog—finding companionship in each other while navigating their feelings of abandonment and isolation.

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To the film’s credit, it wants to celebrate the importance of community, especially in urban environments where people live side by side but remain entirely oblivious to each other. Baa’s presence, along with her cooking prowess, brings together a motley crew of people—a retired navy officer with his granddaughter, a newly married woman, a security guard, and some young adults—who bond over Baa’s helplessness in handling the dog, leading to the process of making aachar with her. On paper, this premise of building a community through food and shared experiences is enticing. However, the film's execution is a different story altogether.

The problem lies in how the film translates its ideas on-screen. The narrative feels disjointed, with fragmented scenes pieced together to form a fractured storyline. It’s as if the film had the right ingredients but didn’t know how to make them cohesive. The children, for instance, are portrayed as almost villainous, blood-sucking creatures rather than a layered exploration into people who are more concerned about their convenience than their mother’s feelings. Their actions are baffling—leaving their dog with someone entirely unequipped for care for it while focusing more on sightseeing than ensuring their pet's well-being - raising the question of whether they even deserve to have a pet. The fact that they don’t check on Baa or their dog feels contrived, seemingly designed to emphasize Baa's helplessness. This contrivance culminates in absurd moments where Baa feeds the dog aachar and chocolate (both harmful) and accidentally leaves her on the balcony all night. These forced incidents are clumsy attempts to manufacture conflict rather than organic, meaningful storytelling.

Meanwhile, the well-meaning people of the society are mere plot devices, appearing just long enough to help move the story along. Take, for example, the security guard, who seems to be witnessing stuff more than he’s involved in, functioning more as a detached narrator than a genuinely concerned character. What salvages the film, to an extent, is Neena Gupta’s portrayal of Baa. Gupta breathes life into the character, infusing her with a mix of vulnerability and innocent infectious energy that carries the film—still, even her performance struggles against the weight of an underdeveloped script.

As someone with experience in caring for dogs, I appreciate how films like this and Dil Dosti Aur Dogs try to give these heartwarming, furry companions more space. But while the attempt to capture the joys and challenges of living with dogs is commendable, it fails to reach the heartwarming heights of a film like Marley and Me—to tell a more wholesome and memorable story about the bond between humans and animals. Ultimately, Aachari Baa is a film with its heart in the right place but falls short in its execution by a considerable margin. The noble concept of building community in a disconnected urban world suffers severely from the film's scattered narrative and lack of depth, preventing it from leaving a lasting impact. And Neena Gupta alone can’t save a story! Much like the aachar Baa is known for, the film needed more time to ferment into something genuinely flavorful! 

Aachari Baa is currently streaming on JioHotstar!

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