Inspired by her mother, Sara is an avid biker. Sara (Patralekhaa Paul) proudly rides her Royal Enfield through Indore and dreams of starting a solo travel company for women. Also dreaming in Indore is Heer (Maanvi Gagroo), who wants to expand her clothing boutique into an “international brand”.
Their paths cross, and they find themselves thrown together en route to Pondicherry. There, Sara hopes to connect with her mother Lalita (Shweta Salve), while Heer hopes to meet her boyfriend Tanmay (Nishank Verma). The journey to Pondicherry on the bike should have been the focus of Heer Sara. Instead, it’s relegated to the background.
Kartik Chaudhry’s Hindi film, co-written with Manuj Sharma, gets its sisterly solidarity right. There are touching scenes between the heroines; a solid sense of how they gel, or don’t, during their road trip.
Heer isn’t only wealthier than Sara but also a backseat driver. Heer’s constant chatter irritates Sara, who is short-fused with her father Dharamvir (Arif Zakaria) and is always seeking an excuse to explode.
What Heer Sara sorely lacks is an exploration of the unique ways in which female travellers experience the world, and how that world reacts to them. Except for a trite stay in a seedy hotel, the film gives no sense of what travel means for its intrepid heroines.
The emancipatory image of a woman on a bike is a mere plotting device for redemption and closure. The 136-minute movie is far too modest in its ambitions, running out of road early on.
The lead actors have enough mutual chemistry and conviction to pull the film through. Maanvi Gagroo has the better charted arc, as well as the stronger performance.
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