’’And they lived happily ever after’’ is how most Hindi movie love stories end. But what next? A much in love, runaway couple getting married against their parents’ wishes is till where love stories limit their scope. Saathiya goes a step further and explores the tribulations faced by a couple after marriage.
Saathiya conveys that a man-woman relation is like a fragile flower prone to wilting and getting trampled (by each other mostly) at the slightest opportunity. Besides, in tandem understanding a great deal of maturity is required to cement such a relation.
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Saathiya opens with Aditya(Vivek Oberoi arrived big time) frantically searching for his missing wife Dr. Suhani (RaniMukerji in superb form). As he pines for her during his searches, the story is revealed in flashbacks. The couple had married on the sly to resist parental opposition (thankfully the parents’ tiff is portrayed in a restrained, realistic manner, cutting the melodrama). When their clandestine marriage gets exposed, they walk out of their parents’ home and start living in a humble space aided by friends. As honeymoon ends, fights (over deadawful, pointless, wholly avoidable matters) erupt almost everyday, (which Suhani marks on a calendar, rather endearingly) and ever-widening cracks appear. After a bitter squabble one morning, Suhani goes missing and Aditya returns to an empty nest. Where is Suhani?
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The movie is stuffed with cutie-cutie moments ( which are thankfully not cheesy ) like the development of a love affair in Mumbai local trains, and even the petty bickering between the couple.
While Suhani’s parents, played by Tanuja and Sharat Saxena, seem almost heartless; Swarup Sampat and Satish Shah as Aditya’s richie-rich parents lend able support. Adding a button-cute charm to Saathiya is Sandhya Mridul as Suhani’s elder sister Deena.
Rani and Vivek live their roles, bring out the flaws of Suhani and Aditya excellently. They are simple, realistic and very convincing in their portrayals.
Late entry cameos by Shahrukh Khan (congratulations, no prolonged, halting ‘hey’s this time) and Tabu (now will she stop crying?) give no additional value to the movie in any manner. It’s a Vivek and Rani show through and through. And of course, the other star is Mani Ratnam’s killer script and screenplay. It’s a refreshingly easy and straightforward movie, strewn with wonderful songs (All of them! Really!) scored by A.R. Rahman.
Director Shaad Ali does a great job, but a little birdie told me that it’s a 100% faithful replication of his mentor Mani Ratnam’s original Tamil film.
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Saathiya movingly depicts how every woman feels unnecessarily insecure in a relation, and how every man is at his wits’ end on how to tackle such insecurities. (I don’t know how, while the pre-marriage Suhani I wanted to immediately take home to mom, but the post-marriage Suhani I wanted to run miles away from. Girls may feel the same about Adi.)
As in Saathiya, in life too, careless words exchanged in the heat of the moment, the most trivial of incidents can assume Herculean proportions and can rock the boat of the most loving of relations.
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See it with someone you feel true love for, right now.
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