Qala

2022

1 hr. 59 min.

Drama

List

79%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

Haunted by her past, a talented singer with a rising career copes with the pressure of success, a mother's disdain and the voices of doubt within her.

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Sanjay B

Wow !! What a rollercoaster of a ride if emotions in this movie.. Tripti nailed the role perfectly.. It's a must watch movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/01/24

Full Review

Nikhil K

Without any doubt the movie had the best music album of the year and it perfectly complemented the movie in every aspect. The complex relation between mother and daughter has been perfectly captured especially the dynamics of their relation. It sure is worth it's time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/28/23

Full Review

Dustin D

I watched Qala twice to see if I understood it. On my first viewing, I assumed Jagan wasn't real, that he was Qala's mental projection a la Fight Club. I thought he was the male energy she had absorbed from her twin brother who died in the womb (think Elvis Presley's twin, Jesse). There was a shot of Qala looking into a zoetrope, and images from the zoetrope were projected behind Qala in a couple scenes where she's talking to Jagan, suggesting this was an illusion. I thought we were primed to accept this as Qala mentioned she never had a brother and she was always mirroring her mother's movements, so I thought it possible they would share a delusion. As for why others can see Jagan and mention him, I thought they might be interacting with Qala while she's in Jagan mode, and they have their own understand of what Jagan means or they're humoring her or manipulating her. In one shot Qala is reading "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," so why did the filmmakers put a book about a person with two personas in the character's hand? Also, the Jagan scenes are a flashback in a crazy person's memory, so there are several layers of unreliability, and I wasn't sure how much to take literally. On second viewing, I thought Jagan could be real. The movie is highly stylized to begin with, so the projections from the zoetrope could have been to establish the setting. The death of her twin could have been foreshadowing Jagan's death and Qala taking his rightful place. Her mirroring her mother's mannerisms could just be showing her constant need for her mother's approval. As for the Jekyll and Hyde book, I read that book before, and I am only one person (I think). This is a more straight-forward and easier to explain interpretation. Either way, I love it when movies prompt you to think about what you saw.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Bibek S

A movie that starts out with georgous cenematography gets more and more boring with cheap tricks and fails to maintain the quality in its story, its message and its visuals.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

naina s

Amazing movie and anyone who likes slow songs then they are awesome . I keep on repeating it on. Must watch .

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/06/23

Full Review

Saman Z

Visuals were stunning but somehow the characters weren't developed fully. The only character that was portrayed well-developed was that of Jagan, which was already a short one. A LOT was left unexplained in characters of Qala and Urmila. We yearned to have a closer look into their lives. We heated to see a plethora of emotions here. Urmila showing concern for her daughter in the end, seemed totally out of her character. It could have been very well-developed but unfortunately, I couldn't feel emotionally connected to the movie.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/27/22

Full Review

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Anvita Dutt

Director

Triptii Dimri

Actor

Swastika Mukherjee

Actor

Amit Sial

Actor

Varun Grover

Actor

Babil Khan

Actor

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Shubhra Gupta

The Indian Express

It looks like I’ve seen the most gorgeously-shot film of the year: each frame of Anvita Dutt’s sophomore feature ‘Qala’ is like an impressionist painting...

Rated: 2.5/5

Dec 2, 2022

Full Review

Anupama Chopra

Film Companion

The film, seamlessly blends poetry, pain and politics.

Dec 1, 2022

Full Review

Manik Sharma

Firstpost

Anvita Dutt's film is a poignant, if familiar, story about artistic merit and the gendered pursuit of both affection and excellence.

Jan 23, 2024

Full Review

Anuj Kumar

The Hindu

Marked by uplifting music and stirring lyrics, this tragic tale of a singer is worth admiring thanks to a formidable Swastika Mukherjee and a confident debut from Babil Khan.

Jan 23, 2024

Full Review

Renuka Vyavahare

The Times of India

Qala is an intoxicating juggernaut of self-doubt, destruction and road to atonement. It looks beyond the obvious to explore the underlying complexities of a mother-daughter equation.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 23, 2024

Full Review

Pramit Chatterjee

Digital Mafia Talkies

Qala is a sleep-inducing movie that looks spectacular. Anvita Dutt evidently wants to talk about a lot of things because she is aware that those topics exist. But she fails to unpack them through her characters.

Rated: 1/5

Jul 20, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Haunted by her past, a talented singer with a rising career copes with the pressure of success, a mother's disdain and the voices of doubt within her.

Director: Anvita Dutt
Executive Producer: Harish Iyer
Screenwriter: Anvita Dutt
Production Co: Clean Slate Films, Netflix
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Hindi
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 1, 2022

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