(Basically wanted to add, saw Yuva for the second time yesterday (29/05/2004)and probably since this time I knew the story and could focus on enjoying the movie, I ended up loving it and wondernig why I didn’t like it so much first time around. Took a friend who had not seen it yet, and everytime I end getting tickets at the Gaiety counter, I feel really really sick inside - I always land up there expecting tickets to be’ sold out’.
No change to the review below - changed the pros and cons, and moved my ratings up a notch or two)
I must say I am fascinated, awe struck, mesmerised...whatever...by the unwillingness of absolutely any critic to label Yuva as a loser. Given that couched within the ’watch it but don’t expect a Roja or Bombay’ tag seems to be tremendous criticism for a lot of aspects of the movie, the only conclusion I can establish (from the reviews and not the movie) is that Bajaj definitely has one intimidating alumni on their rolls.
Anyway, since enough has already been said of ’Mani Sirs technical brilliance’ , the storyline that wavers between slick and fast paced, to slow and rustic, the engaging camera work and the powerful performances and yet the incomplete, not fully satisfying and meandering script and screenplay I will instead round this up quickly with a lateral take - my Yuva no 1.
A self confessed ’seedha saadha selfish individual’, Arjun is clearly my pick of the Yuvas of Mani’s creative indulgence. Note I do not refer to Vivek or his portrayal of the character which I hasten to add I definitely was impressed with but to Arjun’s character.
->Arjun is a young guy, easily the youngest looking of the lot, who does not have a mother. It may be right to guess he did not have her in those critical days when he was growing up and forming his ideas about life - maybe that’s why he does not really have any concrete ideology and seems content in what seems to be a good balance between what he wants to do and what circumstances make it easy for him to do at any point of time. One can relate to this because one comes across so many Yuvas who are equally at ease with their lack of direction in life and choose to take things as they come in these early days - very often permitted an absence of stern parent supervision (reasons could range from socialite parents too busy to be more attentive, divorced parents or bereaved families like Arjun’s)
-> His dad’s relationship with him is a mix of guilt at never really being able to fill in completely for his mother, to concern about whether this lad’s fickleness may lead him to corners in life that his mother would never have let him, to a sense of relief almost that this boy DOES act on some convictions, no matter how skewed they may be, and at the end of the day, has no real vice or trait that are a sure sign of ending up a loser in life.
-> Arjun’s priority in life, then, is to have fun. As long as it is harmless and does not involve stepping on someone else’s toes or taking undue advantage of someone he revels in guilt-free indulgence. If he is a Casanova he is simultaneously transparent - if Meera is still drawn to his persona then he has no reason not to have a ball he reckons. When he discovers, a trifle too late, that this enigmatic young lass’ frequency is resonating with his own in a way that has him mesmerised like never before he is equally uninhibited and comfortable first confessing his feelings to her and then accepting her rejection and moving on. His ’smiling through the pain’ mention of the fact that he was ’too late’ to Michael in the hospital signifies a ’closure’ and ability to ’move on’ that underlines the stuff this otherwise seemingly indifferent Yuva is made of.
-> True to this, he steps forward and join’s Michael to lead a students movement, not to mention that he did not hesitate for more than a second when saving Michael’s life, only to wonder if he will be able to survive the height he has to leap into water from. I especially noted that he does not do so impulsively (take up politics), immediately after Meera walks out of his life - which would have been far more melodramatic and led me to doubt his motivation. Sitting with his arm in a cast during a students meet, he is a mere spectator to the going ons with his newly found friends till he realises a movement as tremendous as this is suddenly sputtering and running into trouble.
He may not have had any intention till then of taking up any cause other than his own, but Michael’s honesty, integrity and following has always filled him with a sense of inspiration and awe. Seeing this ’Yuva icon’ (poetic license) hitting a roadblock jars him out a selfishness that has in any case let him down recently (Meera’s rejection)and without a seconds hesitations he throws up his plans for the USA etc and dives into politics.
Is that not what todays youth is all about?
Is that not a powerful message to implant in a youths mind as he steps out of the theatre - ’Be good, take care, and don’t worry - as long as you are true to yourself, you will never go wrong’
Contrast all of this then with either Lallan or Michael, whose background and motivation to be what they are has been more articulated by ’Mani Sir’ in interviews than in the script and screenplay, and demonstrate a conviction and lack of doubt I can relate less to Yuvas than Arjun’s constant rediscovery of his own convictions, and you will see why Arjun is an easy winner if portraying youth is the criteria you want me to measure our characters in Yuva against.