I’m posting what I thought of Bewafaa, which I have seen twice already, because some of the recent reviews have been so down on it. It’s not a bad movie!
GOOD
The songs, specifically the *meaning to the lyrics -- The songs are vital to the movie, lyrically speaking. Each song serves a clearly identifiable purpose in the movie. The songs are not used for escapism, or as sexy ’’item numbers’’. It’s somewhat rare in my experience to see a Bollywood movie where the songs are all so meaningful.
I also think the songs sound good in a low-key way, yet still inject energy to the movie when they come in -- but that’s just a reflection of my preferences, unlike what I said about the songs meaning something. The stuff I said about the songs meaning something is more objective.
Picturizations are ’’old-school’’ and don’t generally involve background dancers (with the exception of the climactic ’’Ek Bewafaa Hai’’) -- but still have a distinguished, timeless quality to them.
The strongest songs for me are the sad ’’Teri Yaad Yaad Yaad’’ in the first half, and all the songs in the second half.
*Kareena -- She portrays her character well in every scene -- from in love, to bored, to haunted, to guilty, indecisive, decisive, defiant, everything ... She also has good, subtle facial expressions in response to what other people are saying -- like in her first scene with Anil Kapoor’s character at the airport, when he is saying some rather presumptuous stuff about his relationship with his wife.
*Manoj Bajpai’s acting, as well as his character Dil -- There is no overacting here, despite what others have claimed. His character is supposed to be an over-the-top character, with a lot of personality and mischief. I don’t think that is annoying. Contrast Manoj’s handling of this character with Nitin Ganatra’s approach to the somewhat similar Mr. Kohli in ’’Bride and Prejudice’’, and Manoj Bajpai is oodles better.
Also, it’s good to see this side of Manoj Bajpai again, which is somewhat reminiscent of his Bhiku Mhatre in ’’Satya’’. No overly serious, gloom-and-doom ’’Pinjar’’, ’’Fiza’’, or ’’Veer-Zaara’’ character for him here!
Basically, Manoj Bajpai’s character is great beucase when Dil and his wife come on, the movie really picks up. They are a much-needed comic and slightly villainous touch.
*A character addressing the audience -- One of the characters addresses the audience at the end of the movie to impart an uplifiting message. It feels right, it gets across a message, it feels different, it and it reminds me favorably of the little segment there used to be at the end of GI Joe cartoons in the US. I loved this.
*The understanding treatment of adultery -- The movie does not condemn Kareena’s character for having an affair. Where ’’Murder’’ had a misogynistic final third, complete with Ashmit Patel slapping Malika Sherawat, there is none of that here. Kareena’s actions are shown to be entirely justified. It’s not giving away too much to say that the movie also does not offer an easy out at the end to reassure the viewer that marriage is always correct. An HDDCS-style ’’Love happens ... after marriage/sacrifice’’ is not what this movie is about.
*Shots of a Delhi subway train -- Neat to see this very modern train. The scene that happens after they get off the train is neat too, with some ’’fan worship’’ that I think many of us can relate to.
NOT SO GOOD
*Not enough comedy -- The first half, in particular, is too serious. Manoj Bajpai’s and Shamita Shetty’s characters eventually come along to liven things up though.
Slow pace -- Until the first big twist in the first half, the movie is too slow. There is nothing particularly interesting happening in most of the initial Canada scenes. It even feels like the characters are *talking in slow motion. It wasn’t until half an hour into the movie that I started getting interested. I never felt let down by the pace in the second half though, unlike some reviewers -- I think probably I like the second half’s pace because of the Aroras coming on and creating mischief.
*Anil Kapoor’s acting -- I don’t know why he is so wooden. The character is not given to emotional display, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be subtle changes in expression. Even when he hears the news about what has happened to his wife, I don’t think his expression changes that much. I could be remembering wrong though.
*In the first half -- Akshay’s appearance, and a little of the acting -- I have to agree with what I read somewhere else --- the facial hair doesn’t work. In the second half though, with the facial hair gone, I was able to focus a lot more on Akshay’s acting, which seemed more aware of what was going on with other characters in the second half than in the first. There are a couple good scenes acting-wise for Akshay in the movie (with Kareena when they reunite, and with both Anil and Kareena near the end) -- and the song picturizations on him are mostly good too (especially the Manoj/Shamita one) -- but Bewafaa is not anywhere near a ’’Khakee’’ and probably not as good as ’’Aitraaz’’ in showing how good Akshay can be. He is still very good though, subtle but passionate. He’s a more than adequate ...
*Picture quality -- Occasionally the color seems wrong, especially for outdoor scenes. I’m not sure why that is.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
*The movie is not that regressive in terms of gender roles. There is a guy who has to sarcrifice a lot too. Also, the woman is shown to have a choice ... She is asked to make up her own mind on big decisions affecting her life ...
It would have been nice to see more career women in the movie though ... The ’’bread-earners’’ are male, and the women characters are taking care of the household or doing hairstyles. Kareena’s loneliness could still have been shown even if she had a career, I think.
*The ending ... I think the ending was fine. The twist was also fine, even with some things not completely explained. Complaints about the final decision feeling a bit tacked on, are valid -- but I think that was the filmmaker’s intent. He didn’t want to come down very hard on one side and send a strong message.
*The kids ... We do see Kareena with the kids, but not that much. Mostly it’s just hugging and picking them up from school. I too felt when I watched the movie that the movie would have been stronger if we saw her doing more with them. But I realize now that I was looking at it from a ’’what will move me, what will bring me to tears, and what makes a coherent movie’’ standpoint ... I don’t think it would have been wise for the filmmaker’s intent, as described in my comments re: the ending, for him to show her with the kids too much. One must not assume that the ending the filmmaker showed was the only ending he wanted to show, or the message he necessarily had for the audience.
*The movie is not: A comedy, a feel-good movie, a Johar-style movie (not that there is anything wrong with a Johar-style movie ... I am not a KJ hater), cheesy, action-y.
*The movie is: Relatively low-key, somewhat relevant to life
SCORE: 8.5/10 -- Worth watching with the correct expectations, ’’Bewafaa’’ is a movie that should be appreciated and liked for several good elements, and for the filmmaker’s social intentions. But it is not a movie that makes you ’’laugh and cry’’ a lot.