Yashraj Chopra somehow manages to include Punjabi folk song in his movies. Take any Yashraj movie at random (Daag-1973, Deewar-1975, Kabhi Kabhi-1976, Silsila-1981, Chandni-1989, DDLJ-1995, Veer Zaara-2004) and Fanaa too has one such song which is the reason why Kajol meets Amir. I wonder what he will do if he makes a movie like Jurassic park. I guess the song will be a dream sequence, when the Hero and Heroine fall asleep on the Dinosaur’s back..!
The music of this movie is the kind that grows on you, and you will like it more once you watch the movie. “Chand Sifarish: and “Mere haath mein” remain on your lips at the end of the movie and long after that. But not an earth shattering album as compared to DDLJ, KKHH or Khamoshi by the duo Jatin-Lalit.
I liked the first half of the movie; it has several scenes with light hearted humor as well as some really good cinematography of Qutub Minar in the song "Chand sifarish...” Delhi has been captured beautifully in the camera. Kajol looks beautiful and sexy in those lovely dresses and gives glimpses of her cleavage in few camera angles (Mallika, Celina and co. you do not need to strip to look sexy). She has delivered an effortless performance. Amir’s new getup is unable to hide his age. Surprisingly in second half he looks much younger.
The concept of having "shero-shayari" between Hero and Heroine was nice. The "sher’s" were good and nicely delivered. Humne to puri engineering complete kar li maagar kissi ladaki ko impress naahi kar paaye. Iss pur ek sher aarj hai. Gaur talab farmaye
“Khuda ke chaman ke phool to saare pasand aaye
Humnee laakh koshishein kee, ke koi hamein apanayee
Aur yee janab, shero-shayari karke kamyab ho jaaye!”
It is while watching the Second half of the movie I had a feeling of Deja vu. The second half seems to be lifted/inspired (as bollywood likes to say) from the movie EYE OF THE NEEDLE which I had seen about 15 years ago! Yes the movie is permanently etched in my mind.
’Eye of the Needle’ (1981) is directed by Richard Marquand, adapted from the superb novel of the same name by British Author Ken Follett (1978). This novel was incidentally Ken Follett’s first international best seller.
Donald Sutherland is superb as Heinrich Henry Faber aka ’Needle’, the ruthless WW-II German spy known to the allies as "Der Nadle" - "the Needle" (Terrorist Amir in Fanaa). "The Needle" is known to use his knife to good effect. He discovers vital evidence about the Allies D-Day invasion (In Fanaa Amir has the triggering device). He makes for the Scottish coast to escape in the night on a U-Boat. His boat gets caught in a very violent sea and a raging storm. The small boat capsizes and he is washed ashore the storm island. It is a small Island. He finds that there is cottage and a lighthouse (Amir finds a cottage in the remote location).
The cottage is habituated by a war veteran his lovely wife Lucy played by the sensual Kate Nelligan (kajol in Fanaa) and her cute son (Rehan in Fanaa). The war veteran (similar to Rishi’s role) is a crippled man with both legs amputated and bitter with his life.
’The Needle’ falls in love with Lucy who too reciprocates his feeling and then one things leads to another. The movie has couple of very hot love scenes. ’The Needle’ finds out that the lighthouse has communication equipment and establishes contact with his counterpart (Amir sends the message through Satish Shah’s house). Needle has to wait on this island till his pickup arrives.
Meanwhile the war vet finds out that the person staying with them is non-other than a very dangerous spy. "The Needle" eliminates the war-vet, who falls down from the cliff into the rocky sea coast and dies (Rishi dies the same way in Fanaa). Lucy finds her husband’s body and realizes that Henry is a ruthless spy, but does not reveal to Henry that she has found out his secret, as she has to first come up with a plan to protect herself and her son. That night Henry makes love to Lucy, which turns out to be an ordeal for her with raging emotions going in her mind.
She gets her chance next day but Henry comes to know about this and amidst all the drama and edge of the seat excitement, Lucy manages to call the British Army from the lighthouse giving them the location details. (again the similarity can be noticed with the way Kajol escapes to Satish shah’s house and calls the Indian Army).
In the climax scene, a copter comes to pickup Henry. Henry who is truly in love with Lucy is unable to shoot her resulting in his death (Amir meets his end while running towards the copter).
Eye of the Needle is a stunning and tension filled movie with fantastic locales and superb acting from Donald Sutherland (he is absolutely brilliant in this movie) and Kate Nelligan (beautiful and vulnerable). A MUST SEE movie on War background.
Fanaa fails to generate tension as well as excitement in the second half. Amir’s emotional state of mind does not come out strongly. The movie has not succeeded in highlighting the dual between his terrorist personality and his emotional side to which he finally succumbs.
I have rated the movie as average, but recommend to see it once for Kajol performance.
I hope after reading this review, all those who have seen Fanaa will like to watch Eye of the Needle and vice-versa.