Fanaa tries hard to reach the mark. Review on Fanaa

The title Fanaa means annihilation in Sufi. It also means destruction in Urdu and destroyed in love in Hindi (courtesy IMDB)

First of all, as this is a movie review, I dont believe it would be healthy enough to disclose the whole story of the movie (may be some of my fellow reviewers have already done it). As I purchased the first day second show ticket (sorry couldnot get the first show as it was completely filled up already) I had a lot of expectations on this movie. There were three main reasons for this. Firstly, this was a Aamir Khan starrer, of whom I am an ardent fan, and whom we know as the Mr. Perfectionist. Secondly, this was from the Yash Raj Banner, which probably has the heighest percentage of hits. And thirdly, this comes from Kunal Kohli, who gave us the lajawab movie Hum Tum, couple of years back. Whether, the movie lived up to my expectations, would be clear to you in the paragraphs that follow.

The story in summary:

The movie is about a part of the life of Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol) who is blind in the first seven eighth of the first half of the film (some nerdy maths :p). On a tour to Delhi for a performance on the Republic Day, she meets Rehan Qadri (Aamir), who is a tourist guide and a terrorist in disguise (although we didnt get this unless we almost reach the intermission). Love blossoms, although flirting was the primary intention of Rehan, and through a series of emotions, they agree to marry. Then, as Kajol gets her retina transplanted(simply, gets her eyes operated and gets her vision back), she gets to know that Rehan has died during a terrorist blast. However, everyone can understand that more than half the movie cannot run with a dead hero, and that Kunal Kohli wouldnot do a second Kaho Na Pyar Hai with a lookalike of Rehan or a Viruddh so that Aamir turns up as a ghost. Hence evidently, Aamir doesnot die. I would not like to tell you the story further but only that Rehan and Zooni meets later and a bollywood postulate that a negative protagonist must die. The rest you gotta find out in theatre (do I owe something for promoting the film in this manner :o).

As understood, the storyline is pretty normal to Bollywood, but what is exception is the scripts. Good (and sometimes witty) shayeri's from Rehan during first half is really enjoyable. Dialogues are excellent and shots are taken in highly picturesque locations (ideal for yashraj films). Song and dance sequences are excellent and Chand Sifarish rocks. A little trivia (obtained from imdb - dont blame me if this is incorrect) - The film was shot in Poland, because Kajol refused to shoot in the valleys of Jammu and Kashmir fearing terrorist attacks. I dont know what special kinds of films they use (do they?) but yashraj banner movies always appear more colourful to me in the screen.

Now turning to the acting part. Tabu has an appearance in the film, and is expected from her does it with perfection. She is an intelligence officer in the Anti Terrorist Squad and she appears to be stern in her actions ( with also motherly concerns for her child too). Rishi Kapoor who plays Zooni's father does it well too except I didnot like the scenes in which he was acting to be drunk. Kiron Kher is Kajol's caring mother has a little role too. Now, coming to Kajol - how can one criticize her negatively for her work. She was fantastic and carrying her image of a girl next door which rightly suits her. She is idealistic, and searching for her shehzada in the movie. And her shehzada Aamir Khan proves his acting talents here again. His each and every action looked realistic. Just go and check how he looked just before intermission. Also, his reaction when he turns back towards Kajol with his pistol after he is shot (towards the end of the film - this comes in the banners too ) is awesome. Last but not the least, the child artist who performs is terrific and cute too.

The movie has two periods during which it slows down - and is probably the greatest weaknesses of the movie. One is during the initial romance - during which, one may feel that the story isnt building up well. Second time, is during the rejuvination of the pair (no my mouth will not slip more than these). Both these parts are extremely emotional, however to me doesnot keep up with the pace of the film. Another trivial here (again courtesy IMDB) - Director Kunal Kohli sent Aamir Khan and Kajol a draft of the script, hoping they would agree with each other. His plan backfired - each of them sent back their revised versions of the script, with their own little adjustments, which included more depth and flesh to their own characters and less to the others.

In conclusion, I must say that it was an awesome effort from Kunal Kohli in making this movie, one of the great highlights being the music of the movie. However, it could have been much better with a little bit better (ofcourse this is my personal opinion) with a little pacing up of the story. I cant predict the performance of this film, but we could have expected more than this after the Rang De Basanti phenomenon. Finally, Fanaa couldnot reach the benchmark set by Hum Tum.

Epilogue

(for those like me who dont understand Urdu so well - Courtesy IMDB (again!!))

Tere dil mein meri saanson ko panaah mil jaaye, tere ishq mein meri jaan fanaa ho jaaye

May my breath find shelter in your heart...may my life be destroyed in your love.

--------------------------