I am holding the same rose that Rani brings home which Abhishek thinks is for him. I am ripping it apart, throwing one petal at a time and saying to myself "I will criticize it. I will not. I will. No. ..."
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Case1: I stand with my last petal and I end up saying "Yes!"
209 minutes of endurance of 5700 odd metres of reel (churning out deftly-handled clueless storyline that claims to be the first signs of maturity shown by Karan Johar) made me think. There are too many loose ends but then to some this movie may also appear flawless (in terms of apparent treatement) - it will all depend on sensibilities. Extramarital is nothing new for Hindi film-makers. This movie is nothing close to being a path breaking cinema but it is not toally boring for sure (given the fact that the actors who play their ill written parts are genious).
For the people discussing maturity, If Karan matures anymore he will end up making Jaani Dushman (the new one, the only film of its class; clue no. 2 it starred Sonu Nigam; clue3 it was about naag-naagin; last clue mate- it had those umindful special effects). Is my sense of humor as bad as Dev Saran (played by SRK)?!
Plus: (let me use the sense of humor of Dev Saran and irritate you no ends)
Abhishesk Bacchan has surpassed others in acting department. (Read my review on Naach. I had predicted a couple of years ago that he would be the next superstar. Looks like, I should turn to soothsaying. Sense of humor? Dev Saran?)
Execution (no, not the hanging of Bhagat singh stupid, rather the way a scene unfolds) is good. I am reluctantly praising the direction but then it is actually good in parts.
Cinematography. Good. Wonderful. Breathtaking (Actually, you should not stop breathing:))
Did ths sense of humor attached with every plus point of the movie irritate you? Why? Because it lacks sensibility of a reviewer. For the intelligent, I have said a lot already.
Minuses:
Why the hell are we glorifying infidelity? Karan, any answers? Why can’t they suffer? Doesn’t go with my sensibility and as far as I could sense in the audiotrium, it didn’t go with any viewer’s either. The last scene which glorifies infidelity is a pain in "Chandigarh". (Watch the movie to get the meaning). It might have been a happy end for Karan but doesn’t really make sense to me. Every human has a right to be happy? Yeah, that is what Karan might have thought.
Rani Mukherjee’s character is totally disgusting. It was her who had the problems, who wanted discussion and not love-making but at times the movie says something absolutely opposite. Bad characterization. Abhishek’s and SRK’s characters are well-written though.
SRK fans may not like Dev Saran and his ugly negativity.
Priety Zinta’s body language is a little awkward during emotionalsequences and I believe given the kind of directors she works with, it should be easy to pick these nuances of acting.
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Case2: I stand with my last petal and I end up saying "No! I will not criticize"
Everyone’s sensibility is his/her own. Karan has his and there are many who either share it or don’t really care. He glorifies infidelity, so? There is a kind of true love being shown too where Rani and SRK both want the other to be happy. Infidels don’t have a right to be happy? They may have wronged their partners, there stand point may not be justified but do they lose a right to be happy? (Well, personally, I do not approve of or endorse infidelity)
Having said that, I think the storytelling is entertaining and engrossing in most part. The dialogues are straight out of life. The characters could have been better written but then the acting is superb (and some credit should go to director too). Amitabh, SRK, Abhishek and Kirone Kher are exceptional. Rani is very good and Priety Zinta better than earlier. Abhishek has given the performance of his life. He was outstanding and even this is an understatement. He has been my favourite ever since I saw him in Naach.
A few sequences deserve special mention: SRK and Rani crying and laughing at the same time while hugging each other (it used to come in promos too). The camera angle is perfect and acting spot on.
There is another one where SRK says something on dining table and Amitabh says "Good joke". Observe Amitabh’s eyes and his finger rolling over his lips.
In front of railway station - SRK and Rani joined later by Amitabh and Kirone. The awkwardness is handled so beautifully both from screenplay and acting perspectives.
One scene I believe says a lot about the story to come in a few seconds -- tear drops rolling out of Rani’s eyes due to ecstacy. The camera angle is the main factor adding to impact. Karan Johar knows what looks impactful.
This movie gives you moments - a plenty of those - that you can take home. Fanaa did the same (though it wasn’t as good a movie as KANK) and ran away with lots of moolah.
Music is average and I think SEL(Shankar Ehsaan Loy) have stopped working hard. Boys wake up, competition is hotting up.
There is a sync problem in the song Mitwa. I don’t know if it escaped Karan’s eyes or the editor wanted it that way. There no major goofups and the movie is a nice finished product of high technical standards (good colors, lighting, camera, costumes). Karan Johar has put in effort(copied lots of ideas from English TV series but not from any movies) in making this movie humorous in parts and moving at times.
The fights between couples has not been handled too well. SRK and Rani are unreasonable from the word go. They have their reasons and at least SRK’s partner is not as supportive as Rani’s. In an attempt to put lots of things, the story is a little messy when it comes to couple-fights. Also, there should have been some more emphasis on the SRK and Rani working to make their relationship work. I guess some more footage should have been given. Impact would have changed dramatically. They could have done away with a song in second half.
There is so much to say but I am fast approaching the characters limit on the review. I don’t want to continue in the comments section.
I have written this review in parts over a period of 8 days. There may be a lack of continuity. Please bear with me and write what you liked and spiked in the comments.
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