Nothing’s brewing here

The coffee shops in Mumbai’s are known for attracting strugglers and wannabes who hope to be discovered by a producer or a director over a latte or café mocha. Gurbir Singh Grewal’s Coffee House is nothing like these Mumbai addas, but it sure looks like it was cast at them.

Set in a Delhi coffee house, we meet the characters who occupy their favourite tables on a daily basis. A group of retired men discuss family, children and bicker about nothing in particular. A trio hatches plots to expose corrupt officials and a large group of street theatre actors hangs on every word spoken by a righteous newspaper editor (Ashutosh Rana) and his wife (Saakshi Tanwar). 

A range of social issues are addressed including sexism, live-in relationships, abuse of aging parents, the symbiotic relationship between media and politics, politics of separatism, etc. The tone is confused, oscillating between satire, romance, comment and drama.

A kind of tribute to Safdar Hashmi, Rana’s character leads a theatre troupe to instigate grassroots understanding and protest against a corrupt and unjust political system with tragic results. But the impact is far from dramatic.

However sincere the filmmaker’s intent might be, the writing, acting, poor production values, clumsy filmmaking and astonishing editing are likely to put you off coffee for a long time.

Chowrasta - Crossroads of love
Cast: Victor Banerjee, Atul Kulkarni, Rupa Ganguly, Naved Aslam
Director: Anjan Dutt
Rating: *