Sometimes movies fail because of critics, who write the film off in its first week of release. Taran Adarsh is one such critic who doesn’t even know the meaning of true cinema but hardly does he know that some people take his words and miss some great films. If Swades was one sensitive film which he wrote off, the next film would be RGV’s ’’Naach’’. Without even probing deep into the life of the story, writing odd comments doesn’t suit his image. Well since everybody has discussed about taran adarsh and his trash reviews, let me take you to the world of ’’Naach’’ Which is a sensitive and an intense love story of two individuals with completely different dreams and their episode of love and dreams.
The Story
It is the story of Reva and Abhinav.
Reva (Antra Mali) has a great passion for dance. Dance is everything for her. She forsakes her parents and comes to live in Mumbai to prove her talents. Reva’s dream is to become a choreographer but she wants to be different. She doesn’t want to portray something which normal choreographer do. She wants to bring life and soul in dance. She feels that the film industry is the right platform where she can project her dancing skills using the proper costumes, sets and grandeur. But she doesn’t have any takers because the Hindi Film Industry doesn’t want to experiment anything new and wants to implement tried and tested formulaes of film-making.
Completely Contrary to her ideas is Abhinav (Abhishek Bachan) who wants to make huge money and fame. He dreams of becoming an actor but he doesn’t want to be different like Reva. He wants to be famous and successful and knows very well that he cannot command over the film industry and get what he wants. Quite practical in his approach, he just wants his acting dream to take off.
Coming to the story,
Reva and Abhi meet for the first time in a bus. Abhi recognizes her as the girl whom he had seen in a Film Production company and starts the conversation. Both of them get to know as to what they want to achieve. Abhi gets an assignment quiet quickly through a new director who books him as the Hero for his film. Abhi has one problem.. he can’t dance. When the director asks him if he can dance, Abhi asks for two weeks time. He pleads Reva for help and she agrees in helping him out. She teaches him how to dance and when the audition comes, Abhi impresses the director and at the same time, the director is impressed by Reva’s dancing skills and books her as the Choreographer. Both of them in the same project, Abhi and Reva are excited about this fact. But the movie’s heroine Ayesha insists on having her own choreographer which costs Reva her opportunity. But Reva does console herself and Abhi doesn’t leave her side. The movie becomes a huge hit and Abhi becomes an overnight star.
After a few days, Reva gets a call from a production company but she comes to know that they are interested in having Abhi(coz Reva is close to Abhi) in their film rather than booking her as a choreographer. Reva rejects the offer. Abhi and Reva have a major tiff at this point because Reva tells Abhi that she doesn’t need anybody’s recommendation. Abhi advices Reva that her dreams are inconquerable and that she can never become famous with this kind of attitude. Reva starts thinking that the same Abhi who had been her support in her dreams has changed now after becoming successful and so she leaves him. Reva gets a chance for a music video through Diwakar (Rithesh Deshmukh) and the album becomes a huge hit. Diwakar wants to make a musical with Reva in the lead, and Abhi is chosen to play her hero. During the shootings, the closeness between Diwakar and Reva upsets Abhi and he starts behaving in a weird fashion. Whether they unite or go separate ways forms the climax.
Performances
Abhishek enacts the role with utmost confidence. Anybody who wants to become famous can identify themself with Abhi. He has really portrayed the character effectively. But the film belongs to Antra Mali and she is terrific. She just bowled me over with her flexibility in her dancing though it looked effortless for her. She is natural and does not disappoint at all. A brilliant performance, I should say. Rithesh Deshmukh doesn’t have much to do but his role is completely different than his usual comedy flicks. The others in the cast are apt.
Music by Amar Mohile is okay but not the chartbuster variety. I liked the picturization of ’’Sara Sara’’(Hosh Me Josh hai...) with Antra’s ideas and then the same song choreographed by another director. The song certainly created that josh when Abhishek gives the CD to Antra and when the song plays. Cinematography is good and the locales and the settings are excellently captured. Choreography is fabulous and you wonder how can Antra be so flexible?(Recently the same kind of Naach was performed by Isha Shravani in ’’Kisna’’ and she was mind-blowing too).
RGV has handled the movie sensitively. This is not the first film with the film industry background. If Rangeela had the heroine becoming a star and the hero pining for her, Naach is a different touch. Both are completely different. In the movie ’’Main Madhuri Dixit.....’’, RGV product, shooting to stardom was shown to be difficult. Here Abhishek gets an offer easily because the director is new and probably he is portrayed as a lucky guy. But in Antra’s case, she goes through the casting couch where one producer asks her to come in the night for script discussion. So probably, RGV wanted to justify that some people get the easy path to stardom while some go the hard way. Though the movie moves slowly at times, the climax in which Antra expresses her agony to Abhi is deftly handled again.
Verdict
Naach is a sensitive and a well-crafted film. Though it was discarded off, it is still one of the best movies made by RGV. All the movies of RGV has a different touch and Naach is not an exception.
A definite 8 out of 10 for this love story.