Must admit one thing. In all my active film-viewing in the last ten years, this film scores as one of the finest in Bollywood.
But I must admit one thing. When I took my mom to watch it at a multiplex, a majority of those who had come to watch that morning show were women. Again, a first. I hadn’t seen sooooo many women coming first thing in the morning(leaving their jobs and household chores) to watch a Hindi film.
Congrats to director Nagesh Kukunoor for choosing to borrow this script from writer Kamal and making this film with one very good added bonus: introducing the character of Shreyas Talpade. It’s his addition that actually takes the film through and ensures, it’s not one feminist film that’s more whining than food for the soul. What is also new is the extravagant budget at which this movie was made - Kukunoor isn’t known for such charity. And this works. The film was going full house ten weeks after its release and commendably so.
The film rocks. The story rocks. You connect with both the women protagonists who have to go through a lot in that short span of the film. If one has become a widow because of another woman’s husband, the killing question is how can she now pardon her husband’s killer. Though you could argue that the characterisation of Gul Panag could have been more etched out, there isn’t much to worry. The chief protagonist is ofcourse the character played by Ayesha Takia who is a revelation here. With ghunghat always over her face and a terrific body language, she sashays her way into your heart. For once, you don’t lust for an actress but actually respect her for her role in the film.
Shreyas Talpade deserves kudos too. His demeanour, his oh-so-casual approach to life and his various disguises as’behrupiya’ come as a welcome relief in what could have turned into another arty-farty film without him.
At the end of the film, I actually felt like congratulating Kukunoor for a great film. This is unusual, because most times, most filmmakers don’t deserve such respect. Bravo, Kukunoor. Kudos, Takia! You guys rock and make the audience rock with you! That’s the essence of filmmaking. You can’t be self-indulgent. You have to involve the viewer and this film does so amply well.