Parineeta is a movie made absolutely beautifully! It is a story that probably can get you so moved that you too yearn to be in love and have a happily ever after ending! But of course cinema is different from real life and in the practical world where you and I slog out probably would end very differently from that in the movie! Yet that movie leaves you with a sense of hope and a feeling that there will be a happily ever after in our lives too
What makes this literary classic of Saratchandra Chatterjee’s work a cinematic classic is that very few film makers can essay justice to a novel whose theme is love and emotions and potray that in a film shorter than 2.5 hrs! Pradeep Sarkar has been able to burst that out those emotions born in the mind of the writer onto the minds of the viewers. He has directed the movie very well, the emotional scenes are brilliantly done and the songs for once are actually in place! It’s a film that gives u all that u expected from it when u went to see it including the unexpecting Rekha in an item song!
Although it focuses itself on a common theme of a triangle love story, rich boy-poor girl, misunderstandings causing rifts, the way it has all been woven into is something that although so simple at first glance is actually quite a complex task to incorporate so effectively. A reason being that a topic that can touch any legions and generations of people, can fail to actually distill those emotions into the hearts as, emotions can be well written but it’s another thing to get it onto a 35 mm screen. Was Erich Seagal’s Love story done justice with when it was made into a feature! NO!! That is what sets Parineeta truly apart…A film that can touch your soul so deeply that you almost forget that it’s only a movie!
It’s a story that I spun around three main protagonists who immediately grab a place in our hearts and you already feel like maybe you should intervene to sort out their lives. Like his other classic Devdas it seems the writer has the lead in this too with the same shades of devdas. Saif’s character (Shekhar) is exactly that intense, well educated, tough minded, strong willed, scared of his father, short tempered, and possessive(well I guess all men are like that) but yet he is kind and humble deep down. He is a La devdas but the deva when he was with Paro and a Das who gives up on music (something that binds him with his love) rather than taking up alcohol. He is madly in love with his childhood friend something he does not realize until another man seems to forge into his domain.
Lolita (Vidya Balan) is an orphan and Shekhar’s childhood friend.Her character is proud yet submissive to the hero at times but the pride is all a smoke screen to defend her self respect. She is a darling of everyone around her.
Girish (Sanjay Dutt), a NRI steel tycoon, falls for Lolita. He is cool and fun loving with a huge heart! Well then u have Koel(Rima sen) who is Lolita’s cousin and is mesmerized by Girish.
In all this is entwirled a fairytale wedding(even Prince Charles cant compete here) in which Shekhar and Lolita are married to each other with only God as their witness. But that is just that a little secret between the two.As every tale has to have the typical villain we have Shekhar’s father a ruthless businessman who wants the bungalow from Parineeta’s foster family and how when he cannot seem to satisfy his greed this time spins a web of deceit, misunderstanding and jealousy between the two lovers(into his son’s mind actually), a situation that suits him as Shekhar is again a la deva character who acts on the spurge of the moment
Here the knight in shining armour has a twist its Girish who rescues Shekhar from marrying another woman(his dad’s partners daughter Dia mirza) by clearing up the misunderstanding and driving him into a sort of a Goliath who breaks down all the walls(literally) to find his way back to his one and only True love but not before he still once again hurts her with a piece of brick though this is a way of showing that probably not all pain is bad!
However dramatic the climax may be yet you can almost jump out of joy in your seat as you urge the hero on to finally meet his soulmate. The picture has its heart riveting moments where u see touching engagements of pure love between both Shekhar and Lolita when they are kids! Also the scene when they actually realize their love without even having to say I LOVE YOU. That’s the most fascinating part of the story not once do the characters tell each other those three words, nor do they need to, their love transcends all that in a way which will definitely make you grab Linda Goodman’s book to see which sun sign u can find ur soul mate in! The suspense is so simple but it still keeps our gullible hearts torn apart till it’s revealed (I am no Sherlock homes but I did not see that coming)
To sum It up Great acting (saif’s best career performance yet and Vidya simply speaks through her eyes), great chemistry, an eternal topic, hummable music make Parineeta a must watch. After all its one of those few movies which I can watch again in a theatre, paying money over n over again in a month in which I don’t even have any of the zeros that are to be on Karisma’ alimony! DDLJ (another classic) read “COME FALL IN LOVE”. Parineeta “WILL ACTUALLY MAKE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THE IDEA OF BEING IN LOVE”. I know I have! All I need is to shift my residence to find my SHEKHAR