Farhana, a young married Muslim woman, defies a conservative father to start work at a call centre. Her father and husband make little money from the tiny shoe shop they own in the busy

bylanes of Triplicane in Chennai. Farhana’s job will make life easier, but her father doesn’t believe in women working outside the home. Her husband Karim, on the other hand, is a

soft-spoken, supportive presence, as Farhana steps into a corporate world dazzlingly new to her. She does well on the job, discovering exhilarating new independence. These are rare

portrayals in Kollywood or any other Indian cinema industry—so there is much that director Nelson Venkatesan gets right in _Farhana_, starring Aishwarya Rajesh as the titular character.