Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya essentially serves a nihilistic notion of romance that is quite the contrary to the usual romances serving the notion of love 14 year olds have, that we usually see on screen.Sakina is a sort of Mirabai, and Krishna(Saawariya is suffused with Krishna imagery) was of course the original saawariya ("dark one"), although Bhansali, in an inversion of the trope of the eternally waiting woman, ultimately makes a Mira out of his saawariya, leaving Sakina and the kohl-rimmed Imaan as Radha and Krishna. The dark deity is manifest in the film’s colors too :the film’s blue-green hues are meant to evoke the peacock (symbolizing Krishna), and the point is driven home by the film’s endless night, Krishna’s own black cloak.
The film is essentially driven through conversations(albeit through some wince worthy dialog).At various points in the film we see the vagabond Raj coloring the dark world(most notably in the Yoon Shabnami sequence) Sakina inhabits, but the pigheaded love that she harbors for Imaan(who in turn tests her Imaan for love)borders on the extent of dementia, blinding her from Raj’s love.Sakina’s devotion is given flesh and blood by the end of the film as Imaan returns. The film leaps over a biographical world, as well as a biographical time through the kind of nuances the characters are given which would hardly fit in anywhere in a ’normal’ world.The problem herein, is the fact that Bhansali indulges in a self appeasing manner on introducing a narrator who sings and dances(The ’Chabeela’ track has essentially no place in either the film, or the soundtrack) and has a life history as well(which somehow blurs the exploitation of crisis time in the film).
The problem for me is not so much of indulgence as much as it is that of a narrative choice. ...The use of the pr*stitute with a heart of gold as a narrator is a rather unsettling one and a rather cold one as well(In fact this almost becomes a sort of theme where reality plays around with the fabular throughout the film)Simply put, the portions of the film featuring Rani Mukerji(how is she spelling her name nowadays?) are wretchedly boring.
But, the biggest problem for me is the fact that the film purportedly being a Dostoevsky adaptation falls flat at handling the emotional core of the story.Sakina at times seems terribly self surprised at her own will, but also keeps distance from Raj, who in turn gives in.The metaphysical realization of the former is never given the right shape, instead we get a token gesture and a stale one at that of a waiting woman.
Ranbir Kapoor’s debut is a gutsy career choice.Its a shame really that he is directed in a manner to evoke the specter of his illustrious forefathers, and in turn overplay his character.His performance is raw at places, but charismatic enough to make me look forward to seeing him in the future.Sonam Kapoor on the other hand is robotically directed.She fails to suggest enough gravitas to do justice to the role, but is impressive in a few sequences when not grinning clueless.The performance of the film though, unsurprisingly, belongs to Zohra Sehga( chewing up scenery as Ranbir’s landlady).
Of course no Saawariya review can be complete without a word on Ravi Chandran’s camera-work and art director Omung Kumar’s art direction.Strangely enough the framing of most shots in Saawariya seemed a bit facile.I could see a lot of cutaways glued to make scenes, even then maintaining the dark texture and giving life to such a claustrophobic reverie is no mean feat.Saawariya undoubtedly stands as a landmark moment in the history of Indian cinema’s art direction.The film deserves a go just for the visuals itself. In the final analysis, even though I don’t think Saawariya is a great film it does herald a new milestone as far as Musicals in Indian cinema are concerned.