I thought I should start writing my reviews of movies on this blog as one of my favorites pass times is to do film analysis. After months of anticipation, I went to see the movie Saawariya last night and let me just tell you that the movie fully lived up to my expectations of being a disappointment. Initially, when the promos were released for this movie about a month or so ago, I was super excited about this. As it is a Sanjay Leela Bansali film, the promos were a visual treat to the eyes. Granted the actors were newcomers in the movie and hence no expectations existed for them, the expectations were still there in terms of the story. Not to mention the little fact, that one of my favorite actors, Salman Khan was in the movie as well but this turned out to be a disappointment as well.
So many things went wrong with this movie; the major being that Russian stories are not meant for Indian Cinema as they are too surreal for us. While those of us who are connoisseurs of Indian cinema enjoy watching make-believe cinema, we also expect some type of realism from the movie. The set designs can be as grandeur and unrealistic as possible and we won’t even make a comment but even we draw the line at seeing the same set for 2+ hours.
This movie also proves that having good actors in a movie will do nothing for its success if the characters of those actors are not developed. For example, let’s take a look at Rani Mukherjee’s character ‘Gulab ji’. She is supposed to be the best of her trade in prostitution, yet one always finds her lurking around the streets by herself. This makes it very hard to swallow, how is she the best in her trade when she is always by herself? Not to mention the fact that there are like 40 + prostitutes in this red light district and one only sees about 4 or 5 men total in that area. How the hell do these women make a living?
Then we have Salman Khan’s character of Imaan. The viewer never gets to know who is Imaan, what he does for a living, why does he leave Sakina, where does he go and why in god’s name is he shown praying namaaz in the rain? Couldn’t he find a place of shelter to pray? Whenever he came on screen, I was distracted with questions/thoughts such as ‘why is he wearing so much eyeliner when she has none? His diamond studs are amazing although a little too big for a guy. He has a gorgeous smile, why wasn’t he given a chance to portray the smile in the movie? The fact that his character is fanatically religious and his mention of the word ‘camp’ made me think he might be a terrorist.’
All of the above combined with the lack of acting /expression by the main lead Sonam Kapoor made for a not worthwhile movie. The girl seriously needs to work on emoting. I also found her laughter to be quite annoying; my companion compared her laughter to that of a witch one sees in Halloween movies and I cannot help but concur.
One character in the movie that I enjoyed immensily was Zohra Sehgal’s character of Lillipop. She did a phenomenal job and her character was purely a treat to the viewer. Speaking of treats, one cannot help but mention Ranbir Kapoor. He shows potential of becoming a good actor although someone should tell him to lay off of imitating his grand father because I didn’t really care for Raj Kapoor acting that way and thus certainly don’t care to see it repeated.
The best part of the movie was the company I had while watching the movie. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves while making fun of the movie and I guess that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
8 comments:
As the member of the "company," I will explain some things.
1. Salman's character, Imaan, was a homosexual - thats why he was wearing eyeliner and diamonds that are too big for straight guys. He began having feelings for Sonam's character and had to leave to clear his head as now he was not sure if he was a homosexual.
2. Gulabji. Gulabji is #1. She was just lurking around so she could stalk Ranbir. Whenever we didn't see her on the screen she was working. Also, the poor economy is really taking a toll on these ladies. :(
3. Sonam also looked blind in many shots.
4. Lillipop was indeed good.
I, also, enjoyed the company - they made this movie, whatever it suppose to be, a comedy.
My conclusion, Ranbir was a ghost - as shown by him disappearing into smoke at the end.
Sonam's character couldn't fall in love with a ghost, he is not Casper.
Lillipop knew that also but just amused herself.
Gulabji also knew thats why she kicks him out of the door.
Yeah, now it all makes sense. Ranbir was a ghost.
I don't agree with your first comment. I don't believe Salman's character, Imaan, was homosexual. There is a simple explanation for the eyeliner. His character is that of a terrorist who like soldiers are used to wearing black lines/marking under their eyes to prevent off the glare of the sun. As he couldn't go around wearing those lest he gives up on his cover, he opts for wearing an eyeliner. The diamond studs can be explained by the simple fact that as of yet he has had no girlfriend so he bought the diamonds with all the terrorist money and is wearing them in safekeeping for his future bride.
Your comment about Gulab ji is believable so I will concede that point.
I completely agree with your assessment of Sonam; she did look blind. The scene with the snow falling reminded me of the movie 'Black' and it fit perfectly with the blind image of Sonam that we had formed by then.
As for Ranbir being a ghost, that could be a possiblilty because at the end it certainly seemed like he was all happy and ready to move on to the next conquest.
As part of the "company" i want to say that i completely agree with Jyoti's comments on the movie. She forgot to mention another really hilarious moment when everyone is staring at the sky looking at the mooon. As soon as Ranbir touches one of the guys, they immediately break out into a dance. I really wanna know where muslims like this exist as I happen to be one and I'd love to experience this kind of Muslim culture.
Another thing Jyoti didn't mention which i had a huge problem with was the scenes between sonam and ranbir. they were so lackluster. they had no passion or fizz in them. There was no chemistry between the two characters. they just looked like two buddies and who wants to see that?
Mahvesh,
I agree with the lack of chemistry, but, if you think about it, its extremely hard to feel for a ghost. Mostly due to the creepy-non-human feeling.
The more I think about it the more I am realizing that the lack of chemistry between Ranbir and Sonam might be due to the fact that Ranbir's feelings for Sonam were not of love but of teenage infatuation. He himself didn't truly understand it; he was just glad to chitchat with a beautiful woman who was not a resident of the red light district.
Yeah but its an indian movie! and aren't u supposed to have chemistry with even a tree in an indian movie???
There is that aspect of it but I suppose Sanjay Leela Bansali is exploring a new era of indian cinema where the actor and the actress lack chemistry thereby making their relationship totally unbelievable to the viewer. If you think about this aspect goes along very well with the rest of the movie's story as that wasn't believalbe either.
LOL @ chemistry with the tree. Its funny because its true.
The characters are suppose to be living in their own world, they are suppose to have chemistry with their imagination of the other person - but not visually apparent chemistry.
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