Barkhaa rains down a rhapsody of drama and romance. A heartwarming at times touching tale of an innocent girl’s journey into the world of deceit, compromise and corruption, it echoes Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Kamal Anrohi’sPakeezah in the way the respectable genteel upper class is shown to exploit women of meager means.

Sara Loren is no Meena Kumari. But she kills the part much better than Mandakiniin Raj Kapoor’s fevered fable.