Monthly Archives: May 2006

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Few hours away …
Update: First day first show is something special…no matter how the movie is..
Photography is too good. Background score & costume design closely follows. The new kid is cute. And, of course, there is Kads above all
But the final product is anything one can expect a Bollywood-YashRaj to churn out. Can’t believe Kajol believed the script was so out of the world to make it the choice to break the sabbatical…anyways, no one is complaining.
These are the first impressions…now back to work…will be back if time permits…. Subanallah…..

Update: Review

After mulling over it again and after getting over the initial reactions, my views about the film are still unchanged. It is not a superlative film and does not do any better than an average bollywood one.

After the success of the debut directorial effort, Kunal Kohli, falls flat on his face on the second one. His dialogues too were uncanny and he better save it for some experts in his next attempt.

Flaws in script are plenty and are unconvincing. Be it all-prepared-parents for a Shehzada (as if they had already seen the movie), immediatlely falling in love, a tiring second half[just after the screen flashes after 7 years I had guessed the rest of the film], a nagging “trigger”[have begun to hate the word...such a pitiable excuse?...could he not think of a stronger mission/ ideal ?], old book stylish drama, inconsistent flow, not at all impressive dialogues including bad taste supposed-to-be jokes (student biting ?? of teacher, kid choosing to make Rahul Dravid his father), meaningless characters(like wasted Tabu), the length etc etc. [There is advt of LG-Tataindicom phone but that can be noticed only by a clear observer!]

But there are few good things as well. Cinematography by Ravi K Chandran is one. Background score another. Child actor Ali Hajji is fine. I felt the pair of Aamir-Kajol was quite good(I mean to say, not much damage done as SRK fans will claim to…but yes, in one song I almost saw SRK instead of Aamir!). Aamir Khan does well in few parts (but is overshadowed by Kajol in others!). But there are two good reasons to watch the film – Kajol and Kajol.

She, in a role that was easy to make a mess of, breathes life, makes it natural and convincing. Her screen presence is to be seen to belive and easily overshadows Aamir. From a bubbly-jovial-all-happy-blind-girl to a mother-widow and unforgiving wife she carries it off with aplomb and ease. Add to that, her picture-perfect looks, colourful dresses – what more a fan can ask for.[I had just hoped she does not need to cry a lot and Kunal Kohli has oblized! First half is a treat anyways!]

After watching every recent movie of hers, I feel more and more convinced that even if I had entered the hall being a non-fan, there is no way to come out of the hall in the same state. If you dont believe me, check out every other reviews in the town! Her charm, screen presence, beauty and of course acting is mind boggling and it is a pity that she self-imposed a hiatus and that there is no news about her next movie.

After having turned down offers from her close buddies (like Karan Johar), if she had finally accepted the offer, it had to be a good and “different” script. Or so it was told. I entered with curiousity as to see what has made the script so special. But exited with disappointment.

It is getting undue attention due to controversies(1, 2 sorrounding it. It is watchable once. Or twice, if you are like me, a Kajol’s fan

[For all I know, this can become a boxoffice super grosser...for I did not have high views of KKHH or K3G either.]

Khaled reviews here and you can see that my views more and more subscribe to his rather than the sugar coated one at Rediff. But this one is quite ok!

Now let me address few media raised questions. “Can Kajol match Rani”..Of course this was keeping in mind that Rani played blind. Our Kajol’s character gets intelligent and “opens her eyes” (pun unintended) and does away with blindness just before the interval with a surgery! Competition over, ha!! Fun apart, it is highly unfair to compare two different roles. One can compare only if there is a remake. And to compare any contemporary actress with Kajol is unfair…Kajol was/is miles ahead of her closest competitor! And there has not been any role that has managed to do justice to her talent. Rani got lucky.(And that too, she would not have, if Kajol had not quit the arena…SLB had a soft corner for Kajol from beginning and he had apparantely offered Khamoshi to her and for HDDCS as he himself accepted, Kajol was his first choice.)

Another one asked “Can Kajol recreate the magic she created with DDLJ”. Huh! Where is the need to “recreate” it when we havent come out of her magic itself !! Fun apart, to recreate the magic you need a strong script, my friend. And apart from BigB who gets role written “for” him, nobody has been able to “recreate” the magic. But that too after a dark patch during which he appeared “lost”.

But Kajol is as flawless and as easy as if her previous movie was done just yesterday and not 5 years ago. Breathing life into a character that, to be fair, had not much to challenge an actress but was enough to be flawed if left unattended to.

How I wish she gets a completely author backed role written “for” her. SLB, are you listening ?

PS: Looking at previous posts, there has been mostly movie talk…which is not a good sign…I feel I should take a break from watching. Post Da Vinci, I plan to take a sabbatical

Update (Final!):
More thoughts
When I think of the title Fanaa as destroyed in love, I am immediately reminded of Gangster which was better suitable for the title.

On screen Chemistry:
Lot has been talked about SRK-Kads on screen chemistry. So I had naturally expected SRK fans to complain about no-chemistry of Aamir Khan and Kajol in Fanaa.

I personally believe that on screen chemistry is a hyped subjective concept. The great proof is totally contradicting opinions about Aamir-Kads chemistry. Yeah, certain level of comfort between the actors always show on the screen but then the best actors’ job is to make things look natural on screen. In that respect, Kads and Aamir gel completely well and co-operate finely on screen. All those who are whining about no-chemistry between this pair are either SRK fans (who are plain jealous!) or had decided that this pair lacks chemistry even before entering the hall. People see what they want to see!

Traces of other movies:
Dil se / Fiza
And sadly even this did not completely utilise the buildup!

Songs:
Though initially I was not very impressed with the songs, after seeing the movie (greatly due to picturisation) and after repeated hearing of the songs, I liked quite a few songs. Also when I realize that this is going to be the last movie for the “Jatin-Lalit” pair (though they will continue to compose separately), I feel bad to be missing them. One more trivia is that the “whistle” (in Subahnalla song) is from Nagesh Surve – can you believe that he is the only whistler for Bollywood from almost 35 years ? Including Soudagar (Ilu Ilu) to DDLJ,KKHH and what not, he has lent his sound (whistling!) to almost 1400 films!

My favorite songs in Fanaa are (except last, all on same rank) :
Destroyed in Love (Lounge Mix): This is a beautiful musical blend of Dekho Na and Mere Haath Mein. I feel this symbolizes “Jatin-Lalit” blend.
Chand Sifarish (For picturisation, whistle and Kailash Kher’s Subahnalla…)
Des Rangila (Had not liked this before watching movie . Colourful and patriotic !
Mere Haath Mein : Super romantic; Mohabbatein flowers and Kads in red saree!
Chanda Chamke: Playing in snow! By the way, did anyone notice that this is a repeat song from Hum Tum – Yaara yaara (Don’t remember if it was shot in movie or not).

Scenes I liked : (In no particular order)
Antakshari – I felt this singing of Kajol and Aamir are better than they have sung in songs (which was news!)
Rose petal – Oh so sweet… feel like doing to someone
Rehan carrying her … damn sweet… ditto
When Zooni says, “now you are afraid”, the look on Aamir’s face was the best scene from Aamir and is enough evidence of his insuperable talent.
Opening scene – saluting to wrong direction
Opening scene between the lead pair –“Andhi hai kya” “Haan dikta nahin hai kya?”
One tight slap to Rehan from Zooni.
Another lovely scene from Aamir is the look on his face and the way he falls when he knocks on her door years after.

And I liked it everytime when a meaningful old song was played in the background. They were infact better than few filmy shayiris.

Box office collections:
As I predicted earlier (above) (My predictions about box office collections and award winnings have been right most of the times! though I don’t understand the logic behind both of them), it has made quite a good collection on the opening week. And it might as well become biggest grosser of the year (Not to forget the competition from “Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna”). This is the Box Office stats for first week:

Yash Raj Films’ latest offering ‘FANAA’ creates history at the box office. ‘Fanaa’ is the highest grossing film on the first weekend, in the history of Indian films. Fanaa’s magic has spread all around the world. All India collections (4 days): Rs. 22.79 crore – highest ever first 4 days collections (These figures are without the film having released in the entire state of Gujarat) First 4 days Worldwide figures:
USA: US$ 900,000
UK: £ 414,835 (US $ 788,187)
Australia: US$ 94,713 (2nd highest opening ever for an Indian film)
Total OVERSEAS Gross (4 days): US$ 2007688 (INR 9.33 crore approx.)
Total INDIA Gross (4 days): Rs. 22.79 crores

Some reviews

Collection of Media reviews – Sarah – the owner of this site is the one whom I can give away the title as No.1 Kajol fan. Her energy and her time spent is unbelievable.
NaachGaana, A very neutral and somewhat excellent review there

Khaled Mohammed
Subash Jha
Rashmi Bhansal
Megha Murthy
Sudhish Kamath
Great Bong

I read loads of reviews on internet and in the group, when I got free time last week and I must say I had observed most of the points. So I am finally somewhat convinced that I do not write bad reviews .I till now hesitated that there is special qualification required to write good reviews. May be I need to put little time and effort on presentation.

But then, some of the reviews just made me look at it in a totally different view. Wonder how something ticks someone but fails to do that on others and realize that, that is why reviews are what they are – highly subjective

Final Verdict

All said and done, as I said in comments, movie is average except for Kajol and partly Aamir, if you ask me.I repeat, Fanaa is not a bad movie (we already had Veer Zaara) but is not a great movie either. A good chance wasted. But then, as someone said, it has its moments and it might even trigger a financial and awarding success to those involved.

And to end the post and to celebrate, here are the shayiris:

Bul karke bhi humse koi bhul hui ho to,
Bhul samjkar use bhla dena,
Lekin bhulana sirf Bhul ko,
Galti se bhi Hume na Bhulana.

Humse dur jao ge kaise,
Dilse hume bhulaoge kaise,
Hum to khushbu hai jo sanso me baste hai,
khud ki sanso ko rok paonge kaise.

Baithe hai hotho ko si kar,
pachtayengi aap,
Ishq jag uthta hai akshar,
Aisi khamosi ke bad

Dard se aankhe char kar lenge,
Hum odti me imtiha de denge,
Teri dosti ke khatir Ae DOST,
Hum bhi dushman se pyar kar lenge.

Insan ki khwaish ki koi imtiha nahi,
Do guj jamin chahi ye Do guj Kafan ke baad.

Tumhari Khubsurti ne Khuda se eik khata kara di,
kahi khud se nazar na lag jaye, is liye tumhe Nazar na Di.

Tere Dil Me Meri Sanso Ko PANAH Mil Jaye,
Tere Ishq Me Meri Ja FANNA Ho Jaye.

E Khuda Aaj Ye Faisla Karde,
Use Mera ya Mujhe Uska Karde.
Bahut Dukh Sahe He Maine,
Koi Khusi Ab Toh Muqadar Karde.
Bahot Muskil Lagta Hai Usse Duur Rehna,
Judai Ke Safar Ko Kum Karde.
Jitna Duur Chale Gaye Woh Mujhse,
Use Utna Kareeb Karde.
Nahi Likha Agar Nasib Me Uska Naam,
To Khatam Kar Ye Zindagi aur Mujhe FANAA Karde.

Tere Dile mein meri saanson ko panah mil jaaye Tere Ishq mein meri Jaan Fanaa Ho jaayea.

Ankhen to pyar me dilki zuban hoti hai,
sachi chahat to sada bezuban hoti hai,
pyar mai dard bhi mile to kya gabrana,
suna hai dard se chahat aur jawan hoti hai….

Phool hun Gulaab kaa
Chameli ka mat samjhnaa
Aashiq hun aapkaa
Apni Saheli ka mat samjhnaa

Dur Humse Jaa Paoge Kaise,
Humko Bhool Paoge Kaise.
Hum Who Khushbu Jo Saanson Mein Utar Jaye, Khud Apni Saanxon Ko Rok Paoge Kaise..

Bekhudi Ki Zindagi Hum Jiya Nahi Karte,
Yun kisika ka Jaam Hum Piya Nahi Karte.
Unse Kehdo Mohabbat Ka Izhaar Aakar Khud Karein,
Yun Kisika Peecha Hum Nahin Karte

Rone de tu aaj hamako tu aankhe sujane de
Baho me lele aur khud ko bheeg jane de
Hai jo seene me quaid dariya wo chut jayega
Hai itana dard ki tera daman bheeg jayega.

tere dil mein meri saanson ko jagah mil jaaye
tere ishq mein meri jaan fanaa ho jaaye
adhoori saans thi dhadkan adhoori thi adhooren ham
magar ab chaand poora hain falak pe aur ab pooren hain ham