Bhansal's admirable comeback. Review on Guzaarish

I am writing a movie review after a long hiatus as a tribute to a fabulous film that I had the fortune of seeing yesterday – Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s – Guzarish. Bhansali started in great style with sensitive films made from the heart – ‘Khamoshi’, ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ & ‘Black’. With ‘Devdas’, his downhill slide started and I must confess that after seeing ‘Sawariya’, I felt Bhansali was had written his epitaph and was finished as a director. But what a comeback ‘Guzarish’ has been for him!

Euthanasia is the subject of this film and the hero of this film is a quadriplegic who requests the Indian legal system to grant him a dignified death. A great magician meets with an accident during one of his performances which renders him paralysed from below his neck. He lives on in this manner for fourteen years but suddenly cannot take it any more and decides to terminate his vegetable-like existence before things get worse. It is really difficult for a handsome, dancing superstar like Hrithik, to play a quadriplegic who cannot use any of his limbs and emote only with facial expressions and dialogues. But Hrithik, with his great looks and flowing locks, pulls it off magically with one of the best performances in history of Indian cinema.

A big part of this credit certainly goes to Bhansali’s deft and masterly handling of a complicated subject. Aishwarya, as his loving nurse for long, looks bewitching and compliments Hrithik perfectly, showing yet again the great chemistry that they share between them. Shernaz Patel as a friend and lawyer and Suhel Seth as Hrithik’s doctor, are flawless and render mature portrayals. Newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor is good too and manages to make a mark.

The setting is an ancient, dilapidated and leaking but stately Goan mansion lined with artifacts and other memorabilia. Antique furniture and cutlery, flowing lace curtains and wooden flooring complete the surroundings. Some scenes are indeed memorable – Hrithik going for an outing at a hotel where Aishwarya breaks into a jig; trying to dodge drops of rain from a leaking roof while sleeping at night; his last magic performance that breaks his spine and the touching climax. The music is in tune with the film’s tempo and ambience.

The film is not really meant to make a case neither for euthanasia, nor for quadriplegics but is just a sensitive and touching portrayal of human feelings and emotions. The film, with many English dialogues, is not for the masses and may not set the box-office on fire, like Dabangg but I am sure it shall sweep the Screen and Filmfare awards for this year. Hrithik, after the disastrous ‘Kites’, certainly deserves the best actor award.