Movies are made to entertain, to charm, to make you cry...His father did that so well for so many years. Still does. The son failed. But then probably it is unfair to compare father and son. Aditya will probably succeed the next time.
Great Script Idea. A good Director. Excellent Actors. Then what went wrong. When one leaves a movie hall, it is with the emotion the last scene leaves one with. One is either happy, sad, angry..but never perplexed. I left the theatre hall perplexed. The film had everything going for it. The best movie making talent in the country..from the actors, the director to the thechnical team. But it just did’nt gell. The Film lacked life.
The most enchanting thing about DDLJ was the gung ho feeling of freshness and youth about the film. Everything just cliked together. The songs, the sets, the outdoors, Europe. It took you into a fantasy world where you knew the end would make you cry. Cry tears of joy for those on the screen who had warmed your heart in the three hours you occupied that seat.
Mohobattein, agreed is a different movie. It is a more mature subject from a director who has matured immensly with success and age since his last movie. If DDLJ was about youth, Mohobattein is about ageless and timeless love. Love for a father, a daughter, a lover.
A great subject. All through the movie Love blooms like flowers in springtime, across all the frames. Unfortunately what stays behind, what you take home are memories of those dry autumn leaves. A sad depressing feeling. About what could have gone right and what went awfully wrong.
The actors act. And act well. Its like a textbook of acting skills. But how many of us like to read textbooks. All through the movie, one does not feel for they are actors...because they are actors...because they act...never do they emote. The cinematography is splendid. Never has the rising son looked more enchanting. Never has a boarding school looked better. But what the camera does not catch is the vision of the story. The music is good, though it does suffer from a DDLJ hangover. Each song is hummable but it does not fit into the movie when it actually comes on.
Amitabh is great. He is a great actor. So is Shahrukh. So is Aishwarya. So are the newcomers. And so is everyone elso who figures on screen even for a brief fleeting moment. All of them have given excellent perpformances. Performances which ultimately don’t register with regard to the entire canvas of this spectacular movie.
The director has got every scene right. They can use the movie as a textbook at any of the acting Schools across the country. They can use it as long as they don’t show the entire movie together. Each Scene by itself is a masterpiece. As a movie they don’t hold together.
What the movie needed was a spot of spontaenity, sharp editors scissors and a few moments for the audience to breathe. The movie crumbles under its own immense weight. Most Indians love a tearjerker. No one likes to cry for three and a half hours straight. The impression right along the movie was that Mr. Chopra along with everyone else involved with the movie was trying too hard, and it shows.
If he had probably relaxed a bit, he would have undoubtedly created the masterpiece he set out to make.