Dahleez

Directed by: Ravi Chopra

Starring: Meenakshi Sheshadri, Jackie Shroff, Raj Babbar, Smita Patil, Dalip Tahil

Released: 1986

A fine film about first loves not meant to be and how it´s difficult to realize a marriage can be full of love unspoken. Triangular love stories were, are and always will be in demand and Dahleez follows the suit, with the difference that the loser in this is not forced to die a valiant death and there is nobody fourth found to pacify him.

Meenakshi Sheshadri, who remains unjustly and painfully forgotten by 90% of Bollywood viewers today, is Naini, a beautiful girl catching an eye of Shekar and another of her friends (Jackie Shroff and Dalip Tahil being rather ridiculous trying to pass off as students) and ultimately choosing Shekar. Few songs later the two depart and plan to meet, but due to unexpected issue Shekar cannot make it. He unwisely sends his friend to explain this to Naini, but instead she is told by this rejected and jealous suitor Shekar is not interested in her anymore. Without examining the matter Naini feels insulted and retreats from Shekar´s life completely, leaving him confused and heartbroken.

...I so totally believe you guys are students who came camping.

Friendly advice: full focus on Meenakshi during the early part of the film helps.

The two meet few years later by an accident while skying in Kashmir, but before anything can be said Naini runs away and Shekar is left with his questions and unrequired love again. We are shown he became an army officer, who occasionally pours his heart out in songs he sings on TV (indeed), unknowingly wretching the heart of poor Naini who is made to listen to him – by her music loving and nothing suspecting husband Rahul (Raj Babbar). Indeed, the girl got hurt once, never sought any explanation from the guy she loved and got married, pretty much to show him she can do without him. But Shekar is not one of those who give up easily. Once he and Naini are forced to sing a weepy love song on TV together (ah the awkwardness of the „accidents“!) and her army husband leaves to train troops against terrorists (which requires his celibate apparently), Naini and Shekar start seeing each other again, him still in love and her not completely over him either....

The awkward moment...

..when Jackie is on TV...

...singing about you being a heartless bench...

...and your husband is enjoying it.

Beautiful Meenakshi and young, fit and sexy Raj Babbar were both excellent, Jackie (also young , fit and sexy) however had a rather ungrateful role of a showpiece for most of the movie. Some side characters deserved better treatment – namely Smita Patil, who appears for just a few minutes only to kill and to die in a fit of patriotic fervor. The action and emotional drama was not really well combined, especially by the end the action bits completely took over for the sake of some „dishum dishum“ without which any 80s film just couldn´t exist, plus it was needed for us to understand that Naini has to choose between two really patriotic and righteous and brave and macho men – with them saving each others life without having a clue they both love the same woman (long live the awkward!).

The 80s hold the greatest number of films that are just bad when it comes to Bollywood and it is not completely unjustified to label them the „dark times“ of Hindi film industry, yet Dahleez is one of those movies that could work very well had it not been for over-grown students (Jackie and Dalip at the beggining), some crappy dialogues, not quite engaging action sequences and not good enough development of Shekar´s character. It still has things to offer – like some melodious songs (though none gives us the chance to see Meenakshi´s unquestionable dancing genius), solid performance by Meenakshi Sheshadri and Raj Babbar at his watchable best.

Sirf Tum

Directed by: Agathiyan

Starring: Sanjay Kapoor, Priya Gill, Mohnish Bell, Salman Khan, Jackie Shroff, Sushmita Sen

Released: 1999

There is a guy called Deepak. He is nice, well-mannered, well-dressed, honest, pleasant, honourable, in other words he has not one single flaw. From time to time he meets a new person – for example on a train – and he notes down the person´s name and date of birth. Why? Because he is so, so good and nice that he likes to post birthday cards to these people he´ll probably never meet again. Once he finds a lady´s purse and as a true gentleman sends it by the post to the owner, who obviously had been robbed. Apart from her address he also gets to know her birth date. Which means one more card to be send every year. He doesn´t mind though. The young woman, or rather girl, Aarti who was overjoyed to see her lost purse once again, starts regularly corresponding with him and both fall in love with each other through letters. However they decide (for whatever reason I don´t get) that they will not exchange pictures, because „our love will reach from the heart to eyes“ or some nonsense like that. I would like to note that I am a great romantic and don´t believe that appearance is the most important thing in a relationship, but some beliefs are.... way too naive.

To make sure she recognizes him, when they would finally agree to meet, she makes him a rather ugly sweater (I suspect she is a Rishi Kapoor fan). He is supposed to wear it when the big day comes.

Must say that I for one would not give my address to this guy.

But then Deepak decides to leave his job in... where ever he was... because some workers refused to work and thought they´d beat him instead, and move to Delhi. Here he meets new friends (aka Jackie Shroff being wasted and Mohnish Bell being sleazy) and his beautiful employee (aka Sushmita Sen being annoyingly childish). But when she reveals she has feeling for him some time later he decides to leave his profitable job, because his heart belongs to Aarti. Meanwhile she refuses to marry a handsome, good and rich boy (aka Salman Khan being Prem – literally) and to escape from future suggestions she finds this the best time to meet Deepak. BUT here comes the catch – he didn´t send her his new address (WTF) and neither of them has ever seen each other (I knew this was going to cause some minor problems). So even while she is sobbing at the backseat of a rickshaw, she wouldn´t recognize him even if he was driving it (hint, hint)....

Salman Khan being wasted.

Jackie Shroff being wasted.

Sushmita Sen being pretty much wasted too.

Sirf Tum is a feel good film. If you do not demand a visually pleasing hero, that is. If you do, don´t even try to watch this one. Sanjay Kapoor was not blessed with either looks or charisma. His acting skills too leave much to be desired. However he is one of those actors, that are actually so non-interesting you cannot hate them. The non-existent screen presence gives you a chance to imagine whomever you want to in Sanjay´s place, which at times is almost necessary. The film, however, is taking place in some weird alternative reality, where Sanjay Kapoor is the handsomest and most desirable man alive and women cannot stop themselves from throwing themselves at him at any occassion. From horny co-workers to illiterate Malayam girls and of course beautiful employees. The only one who doesn´t give a damn about him when meeting him is ironically Aarti.

Sorry Sanjay. Only Rishi can pull off a sweater like this.

I´ve never seen Priya Gill before and she was good here, though it is not the same level of „good“ you associate with actresses like Juhi Chawla or Kareena Kapoor. Her character annoyed the heck out of me though. There was nothing likeable about her, no warmth and her tears did not move me. In fact the way she scolded the very much helpful Deepak (of course not knowing who he was till he revealed that hideous sweater) was nothing else but bitchy. On the other hand, much more famous Sushmita Sen did not really take an opportunity to shine either, and ended up looking immature and pathetic.

Best performances are actually given by two cameo artists! Jackie Shroff, having about 5 minutes of screen time, completely overpowered Sanjay. Salman Khan appearing in his favourite avatar of „Prem“ is very good and one wished to see more.

The film moves slowly, has hummable but forgettable songs and gets way too boring at times. A decent watch for the undemanding. In fact, I even wonder how I managed to write a review this long. Most interesting thing about it is that after I have written it I noticed my program automatically changed the title to Sirf Rum.

Why? Why couldn´t he look like Salman?

Devdas (2002)

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya, Rai, Jackie Shroff, Kirron Kher

Released: 2002

The story of Devdas, set in 19^th century India, has first seen the light of day as a short novel by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay in 1917. The author was deeply dissatisfied with his own work and objected strongly against its publication. „It was written in a drunken state,“ he admitted. „I am ashamed of the book now. It is immoral. There is a prostitute in it and God knows what else!“ But the book was published still and it became probably the most popular Indian text of modern time. The journey of a man overpowered by his own weakness has made its way into the world of films more then ten times already, one of the most recent adaptation being the one by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Released in 2002 the movie was a super-hit and already is being labelled as classic. Many people from other countries choose it as their first Indian movie and for many of them it is an all-time favourite. What is the magic here?

The story is not complicated. Devdas and Paro are childhood sweethearts up until the moment Devdas is sent away by his displeased father to study law in London. When he finally returns, he is a grown man and Paro blossomed into a stunningly beautiful girl. The separation did not shatter the closeness between the two, and soon they fall in love. However Paro´s family has a lower social status and hence the marriage is out of the question in the eyes of the young man´s parents. Things are made even worse when Devdas´ mother publicly insults the mother of Paro, after which the latter swears she will wed her daughter to a family even richer then the one of Devdas. After a heated argument with his father Devdas gives into his weakness and instead of standing up to his parents runs away from home, leaving confused and broken-hearted Paro behind. Only after realizing his mistake he comes back only to arrive on the day of Paro´s wedding to a much older man. Half-mad with pain Devdas seeks the company of beautiful courtesan Chandramukhi and for the first time he raises the glass of alcohol to his lips....

Devdas as handsome English gentleman....

Devdas was my first Bollywood experience, and what an experience! The genius of Sanjay Leela Bhansali´s sensitive touch is breathing from every single frame, not one place in the movie is boring, every detail has its meaning. It is udisputable, that Bhansali is way ahead of everyone when it comes the work with colours and materials. His dedication to every aspect of the project in making is admirable. To endow a film with such opulence it is easy to loose the touch with story-telling, but that is not the case with Bhansali´s Devdas. The director changed some aspects of the story, for which some people could not forgive him, but all the changes in the end contributed to the ultimate appeal of the film. Shahrukh Khan did probably described the film best, when he mentioned it as „visual orgasm“. The lavish sets and marvelous costumes leave one brethless and stunned, but in the end the story was what remained in memory the most.

All the characters are wonderfully human. There is Devdas, who is weak-willed and rather spoilt, but all he longs for is in fact appreciation of his father. There is Paro, who is dignified and dutiful, but at the same time she has pride. And the prostitute, that the author of the original novel was in the end horrified of, is a woman supposedly with no valued in life, yet she is the one who sarifices her peace of mind for a man who will never love her. The three main protagonists have done a brilliant job. Devdas is by many (including me) considered Shahrukh Khan´s best role till date. His Devdas, who comes from London, has an air of grandieur and arrogance to him, which melts completely into a self-pity and wallowing in the second part of the movie, only to be reduced to man pursuing his dying wish. Aishwarya Rai gave the role of Paro her glamorous beauty, that perfectly compliments the dignity of the character. Her most powerful scene has to be the final „run for the gate“, where she manages to be absolutely heart-breaking.

Paro and her diya...

And then there is of course Madhuri Dixit. Her Chandramukhi is by far the most convincing and the most interesting character in the film. When she first appears, you feel she is mischievous, level-headed women very much aware of her charm and abilities. You know she is intelligent and sensitive, and very, very much emphatic. And when love happens to her, she gives into it and treasures it, evne though it´s unanswered up until the final parting with Devdas. Madhuri Dixit has always had a gift to portrai a woman completely in love, and this time she combined this quality with tragic passions and devotion. Her Chandramukhi is breathing, thinking, living person, whom everybody would love. That is her magnificent acting power.

Of the supporting characters Kiron Kherr as Paro´s mother and Jackie Shroff as Chunillal are given the most space, and both are making the most of it. Especially Jackie proved his versatility, because the light-headed drunkard with good heart is nowhere near the roles he had done previously. His interaction with both Madhuri and Shahrukh is very natural. The only actress, whose performance was somehow over the top and not pleasant to watch was Ananya Khare, in the role of Kumud, who, I felt, was trying to hard and failed to impress. Some might say she was meant to be annoying, but I don´t think that´s a justification for the over-dramatic acting.

Meet Chandramukhi - woman literally as beautiful as the Moon

Just like he is amazing in his work with visual part of the film, Bhansali is also known as a great lover of music. Songs and dance numbers in his films are not meant just to pass the time, they are the essential part of the storytelling. As a result Devdas has been given a truly outstanding musical score, where every song is a sheer delight. And the picturization is just as satisfactory. The energetic and lively Dola Re Dola is in my oppinion the grandest dance number in the Hindi cinema ever. The purely Indian Kahe Chhed Mohe is an enchanting fairytale and lyrical Maar Daala weaves magic. Silsila Yee Chahat Ka is a golden moment for all lovers of the singer Shreya Goshal.

Looking at this film objectively, seeing it´s splendor and opulence, one has to admit Devdas is not realistic as such. One needs to perceive it as a fairytale or a different world, much more grand and much more colourful. However the emotional impact and love tragedy, that leaves Romeo and Juliet in shame, is wonderfully moving and captivating. It is a splendid movie.

This is the one scene that ALWAYS makes me cry!