Excuse my title, but now that I have your attention, read my review...! ;-)
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Noon time. I felt something shaking in my shorts...my cell (naughty...what were you thinking?!). Without checking whose number it was, I received the call, and sleepily yawned, ’’Hullo...’’
’’CONGRATULASHINS!!!’’ The shrill voice of the aunty next door scared me out of sleep. Frankly, I’d prefer goats singing at this time in the mornin...er...afternoon actually. Its hard to believe that I have a crush on this very aunty’s daughter! ’’Congratulashins!’’ she repeated in the same irritating voice. Not knowing for what I was being congratulated, I replied with a polite ’’Thank You.’’
’’So, now that the (SSC) results are out, what are you planning to do, beta?’’
’’Karna hai kya mujhko, yeh maine kab hai jaana, Aunty?!’’
’’Arre...kuch toh socha hoga...aage kya karne ka khayal hai?’’
Aapki beti se shaadi karne ka! ’’Ummmm...well, I’m thinking I’ll go out with my friends to Bulls Eye, and then...’’
’’Nooo...I meant, your lakshya. What’s your lakshya in life?’’
’’Lakshya?!’’ Huh!
The conversation slowly faded from my mind, and was replaced by the movie of the same name, which I had seen last week, first day, first show, at Globus.
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For a director whose first film was a huge hit, especially a masterpiece like Dil Chahta Hai, to make a second movie as good as the first can be a real uphill task. Lakshya comes close, but falls a trifle short. This is probably the biggest drawback of the movie, which otherwise, is brilliant. And if you want more reasons to see Lakshya (though I can’t believe you haven’t seen it already), read on...
Let me clarify first of all that Lakshya isn’t really about war. At the heart of Lakshya is Karan Shergill, a guy who’s as confused in life as a 10-year old kid would be in a topless bar! He’s an aimless, good-for-nothing, completely disillusioned youth, whose only goal in life is to get the DVD version of Jurassic Park!
In the first half, the movie focuses on Karan’s directionless life, his gradual maturing, his grilling training at the Academy, and his metamorphosis into a soldier. The army training sessions had me :-D, LOL and ROFL! Though I really felt that the argument between Hrithik and Preity was a damp squib...they fall apart too easily, which makes you wonder whether she really loved him in the first place, or just wanted a reason to dump him!
In the second half, the story moves into the battlefield, into the bunkers and shows the realities of war, the loss of lives and the triumph of the human spirit. The depiction of war in this half is one of the high-points in the film, especially the importance of strategic planning in battle, which other movies happily neglect.
Also, those who feel that the war scenes are taken straight from LoC can go take a hike! What can you possibly show in a war sequence except guns and bullets and bombs and bunkers? Pray, did they expect the soldiers to rip off their clothes, run along the Line of Control, and shout ’’Booga Booga Booga!’’, to scare off the infiltrators! Or maybe unleash a chap called Sunny Deol, whose only idea of acting is shouting at the top of his voice like Tarzan! No doubt, that would surely scare off the enemy, but worse still, it would scare off the audience!
While DCH and Lakshya are completely different movies, Farhan Akhtar’s subtle treatment remains untouched. Introductions are not with fanfare and neither are exits. Its amazing how more is said by what is not said, which is typical of Farhan Akhtar, and the way he uses silence in his movies.
Lakshya flows along smoothly, its scenes interlaced like the verses of a poem. The pace of the narration is pretty slow, making you wonder if Farhan Akhtar is out on a stroll in the park, just like his main character. Javed Akhtar’s dialogues steer clear of the usual jingoism and Pak-bashing seen in other war films (read Border and LOC).
Moving on to the heroes...
The biggest hero of this film, without whom the movie would not have been so beautiful, is Christopher Popp. Where did he pop up from, you ask? Well, he’s the cinematographer. The breathtakingly beautiful scenery of Ladakh, the slickly shot war sequences and the pre-climax rock-climbing scene are captured on camera superbly by this New Zealander.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s music comes to life in the movie with the stunning picturization. For those of you who could not relate with the music so far, watch the film and feel the difference. The title track, Main Aisa Kyon Hoon (brilliantly choreographed by Prabhu Deva) and Agar Main Kahoon (Prabhu Deva goes a little over-the-top in this one) stand out especially. Kitni Baatein has been sung beautifully by Hariharan, but acts as a speed breaker in the movie, and could easily have been excluded.
And of course, the real heroes...
Hrithik Roshan ~ His character may look to be an extension of Aamir Khan’s Akash in DCH, the kind of guy who wakes up at noon, and makes ’important’ decisions on where to freak out in the evening! However, Hrithik adds a new dimension to the aimless youth’s personality, and takes it far beyond where Aamir took it. His acting prowess shines through in depicting the before-and-after effect, which comes out brilliantly.
Check out the scene wherein he stands gazing at Peak 5179, and tells Preity how he’s got a new lakshya in his life. With this performance, the critics (myself included) who said that he can act only in his father’s movies have been left mouthshut!
’’Sab faisle tum nahin kar sakti, Romi. Hum nahin milenge yeh tumhare faisla tha, hum phir kab milenge ya nahin milenge yeh mera faisla hoga!’’
Preity Zinta ~ In-your-face in Dil Se, bubbly in Dil Chahta Hai, cute in Koi Mil Gaya, ravishing in Kal Ho Na Ho, and astonishingly stupid in Lakshya! What’s with the ’a-bird-just-made-its-nest-on-my-head’ hairdo?! It’s good her screen time is less, so we don’t keep getting distracted by that weird hairstyle!
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