Director Suneel Darshan has an impressive track record – – but he seems to have gone completely haywire in Barsaat.The fault lies in two aspects and both concern Sunil. One, the story abounds in predictable moments and two, the treatment is absolutely old-fashioned.
The film has Bobby Deol playing Arav, an ambitious man who leaves his family to pursue a career in car designing abroad.
Arav was forced to marry Kajal (Priyanka Chopra) by his parents. But their marriage remains unconsummated as Arav left for the US to make a career.
In the US, Arav meets Anna (Bipasha Basu), a girl of Indian origin but raised in South Africa. A series of coincidences bring the two together on three different occasions. Anna already begins to feel a spark for Arav in her heart, but he is focused on getting a job in BMW.
Arav gets the job, thanks to another remarkable coincidence – Anna’s grandfather (Shakti Kapoor) happens to be the Chairman of the BMW company.
Slowly, Arav and Anna are drawn towards each other. At the launch of a new BMW car model designed by Arav, Anna’s grandfather announces their engagement. The two lovers seem all set to become life partners, but then, Arav gets a call from home. His father is ill.
Arav rushes home, only to encounter the past he had run away from. In his heart, he seeks divorce from Kajal. He tells her his wishes. At first, Kajal laughs Arav’s declaration as a joke, but later realizes the gravity of it. She thenceforth tries to move out of his life.
It is now the Indian traditions of Karva chauth, the importance of sindhoor and mangal sutra etc bring about a slow transformation in Arav’s heart. He begins to understand the importance of marital vows and begins to develop genuine affection for Kajal.
But then, Anna and her grandfather arrive from abroad to set Anna’s marriage with Arav. What happens next?
Let’s begin with the loopholes in the script. The first half of the film is bland, with no exciting moments in the narrative. The story moves on the tried-and-tested path and relies too heavily on sequences that have been witnessed time and again. Actually, the Bobby – Bipasha love story in the first half lacks passion, mainly because of the oft-repeated situations.
The twist in the first half come in the form of when Bobby is forced to marry with bachpan ki dost Priyanka.Sequences such as this reflects on the poor thinking of the screenplay writers of the project, which seems straight out of a 1980s To be honest, there is hardly any sequence in the first half that leaves an indelible impression on the viewer.
One expects the story to gain momentum in the second half, when Priyanka enters the scene. But in this half as well, the screenplay abounds in clich moments and the romance between Priyanka and Bobby looks half-baked.The narrative does gather momentum when Bips re-emerges on the scene. But barring a scene or two, the impact in the latter reels is missing. The climax also leaves much to be desired.
It is difficult to digest the fact that Suneel has come up with a tasteless fare, which offers no novelty whatsoever. The dramatic scenes are just about okay and the emotional ones fall flat. The light moments hardly evoke mirth.Nadeem-Shravan’s music is the only redeeming feature of this enterprise. The songs are tuneful and seeped in melody. The title track is the best of the lot, while ’SAJAN’ comes a close second. The picturisations, however, are ordinary.
cinematography is good in parts. The US locales are superb, but the lighting is just about okay in a few scenes. Dialogues are nice at places.
Priyanka tries her best to salvage the show with a sincere performance and she does succeed in elevating a couple of scenes. Bobby is just about okay, while Bips needs to work on his expressions.
Barsaat has nothing new to offer to the viewer, barring an exciting star cast. But without the backing of a cohesive script, the best of stars pale into insignificance. Below average.