I start with something very common, very obvious, and very old -
Life is the most precious gift we have got and one life is very short. So don’t waste it over tears and sorrows, live life to the fullest and be happy whatever may be the outcome. The only reality in life is that no one can be 100% sure that he’ll see the next sunrise yet we aspire, perspire, conspire to live, to love and to be loved. Death is the ultimate point in life and it’s death that proves we were living and our lives prove we are not yet dead.
So it’s very important how we live....
The crew
A film under the bandwagon of Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, makers of hits like K3G and KKHH
Director - Nikhil Advani
Music: Shankar Ehsan Loy
Cast - Main
Preity Zinta as Naina Katherine Kapoor
Saif Ali Khan as Rohit Patel
Shahruk Khan as Aman Mathur
Jaya Bachchan as Jennifer Kapoor
and a huge collection of actors in Lilette Dubey, Satish Shah, Sushma Seth, Dara Singh, Reema Lagoo, Sonali Bendre etc etc.. and many others.
The Film: A Gist
Naina Katherine Kapoor, a young woman in New York, indifferent to the pleasures of life, and has been hardened by the problems around her. Naina has forgotten to smile, laugh, and enjoy. Her days begin with family quarrels and end the same way. Her only solace is in her friend from her MBA class Rohit Patel, a cool character who secretly admires her and also loves her. An essence of fresh air is introduced to her life once a new neighbour Aman arrives. Aman changes her life completely, teaches her to believe in herself and to enjoy life setting aside the problems and hardships. But life has its own process, the angel who brought about the changes and happiness’ to the lives of bereaved ones is himself fighting to survive.
Amidst the main story there were a network of several short story-lines. Jennifer, Naina’s mother and her financially grieving restaurant, her daily quarrels with her mother-in-law Lajjo over an illegitimate daughter of her husband, whom she adopted. Sweeto’s unsuccessful affairs, and plenty of unnecessary chaos’s...
A very old and common theme that had been presented quite a number of times before, packaged with fresh colours and in a new and expensive wrapper. Old wine in a new bottle.
Although before watching the film I had read that this had many common things from old classics like Anand, Safar etc. But I could hardly relate to any of these classics they are way ahead in their simplicity and storyline, even today they touch our heart to depth. Only thing that was common was the lively characterization of the protagonist fighting death. Anand, Mili, Safar all portrayed life and death. There was nothing new in this particular film.
Performances: Good - Average - Bad
Jaya Bachchan was very good. Her new getup brought out a new dimension to the mother factor in Hindi films. Mother’s would now scrape out off long white saris and look more dynamic and match to today’s world and generations. No longer the sewing machine would provide the financial assistance but it would come from other sectors of livelihood.
Priety Zinta and Saif Ali were OK I personally feel their performances in Dil Chahta Hai were more powerful and appealing, may be due to that film storyline itself. They were more spontaneous there than in this film.
Shahrukh Khan was Shahrukh Khan, I couldn’t identify him with the character of Aman as I had anticipated before watching the film. Like Anand reminds us of Rajesh Khanna or vice versa but in the years to come Shahrukh Khan won’t be identified with this character of Aman.
Among the rest, some were tolerable rest not, specially the unnecessary junk of characters, who were to loud and over active that negated the pathos of the central theme.
Music: Nothing very special or unique
The title track is very good and hummable, stays with us much after the film is over but the rest are just other Hindi film songs, more of fillers. I had expected the same magic of Dil Chahta Hai from the music department but somehow here something was missing.
Best dialogues - (My choices)
In the Hospital - Rohit to Aman
Rohit: How do you feel?
Aman: Fantastic!!!! (A dialogue of sarcasm and reality that must have touched many).
Last scene: -
Naina: Woman search for a friend in their husbands but I found a good husband in my best friend...
Over all, a movie tied up with relationships, love, friendship, a watchable movie, touching to some extent, relationships expressed in a passionate way. A triangular love without hatred and bloodshed, unimaginable in Hindi films.
Last but not the least - watch this film fast kya pata kal yeh rahe na rahe!!!!