This is the story of Sardari Begum who is a popular thumri singer and her life she lives on her terms and the challenges she faced. The movie starts with the scene when Sardari Begum gets killed in the riot and a young journalist Tehzeeb Abbasi (Rajina Raj Bisaria) comes to cover the news. She is shocked to see her father present during the funeral. Her father the narrates the story about Sardari and Tehzeeb is now on a journey to explore more about Sardari Begum, who she was and what was her life.
The movie touches various subject like the complex relationships, family issues, politics and the women in our society. There are many aspect of Sardari's life which also tells us about that time and our social mindset. Sardari Begum was a woman of many contrasts. She constantly rebelled against men's patriarchal attitudes and lived life on her own term. But when it comes for her daugther Sakina(Rajeshwari), Sardari puts all kind of restriction on her and wants Sakina to devote her life to music. The relationship between Sakina and Sardari was strained one.
Shyam Benegal has done a remarkable job in dealing with such a complex storyline. The credit must also be given to Khalid Mohammed, who has written a great story. It's not easy to portray this kind of story on screen with such ease. There isn't many flaw with the movie and this one is Shyam Benegal's masterpiece. Each character has been written with conviction and each of the characters in the movie tells you the life of Sardari from their own viewpoints.
Kiron Kher as Sardari Begum is just terrific. Maybe this is her best performance and she is extremely convincing as Sardari Begum. It can be said Kiron Kher has put all her talent into this film. Rajeswari Sachdev is just brilliant. She is actually on the screen in the second half and she delivers a great performance as Sakina. Rajat Kapoor and Amrish Puri has done full justice to their role and brilliant in their performances. Newcomer Rajina Raj Bisaria as young jounralist has done a commendable job and adds freshness to the screen. She is not seen much after this movie.
Music of the movie is another very strong point of the movie. Music composed by Vanraj Bhatia and lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar is brilliant, its like the soul of the movie.
Sardari Begum is a beautiful movie overall.
