Jan 28, 2005 06:54 PM
7874 Views
(Updated Jan 28, 2005 07:51 PM)
Love happens… just like that. The first time you look into each other’s eyes across a crowded room. You know you are being impractical - you know you may never see each other again. And yet, your heart tells you something else. Your eyes follow your object of affection everywhere - your face lights up when he or she walks in. Hey, look out ! It’s written on your face and everyone can see it. As you follow your star like a lost puppy- wait a minute and answer my question.
Do you know how oldhe or she is ?
Ten years your senior or fifteen years your junior ?
Stumped ?This is called reality check. Come back to the ground state, mate. We shall discuss something important – the age factor in love. Now don’t go about telling me that age does not matter. It always does – sometimes favorably and sometimes very unfavorably.
While you are still vacillating between these extremes, let me pull out another trick – what if she or he is the child of your late sweetheart ?
Stunned ? Staggered ? Fainted ?
Now you know why Lamhe flopped.
That was the bad newsand I did away with that right at the beginning of the review.
Let me share the good newsnow : With all these unpleasant reality checks, this movie is amazingly watchable. It’s almost like a fairy tale where the prince and the princess have to undergo tremendous trials and tribulations to finally get together and live happily ever after. It touches your heart and takes you on an amazing ride on an emotional roller-coaster.
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The story
The central character is a young, idealistic young man, Viren (Anil Kapoor) who falls in love with an older woman Pallavi (Sridevi) who loves another (Deepak Malhotra). Both Pallavi and her husband die in an accident leaving behind their infant daughter, Pooja (Sridevi in a double role). Twenty years pass in a sort of denial and pain while Viren remains a bachelor and Pooja grows up to be a beautiful, young woman and falls in love with a middle aged Viren. The rest of the story is about victory of true love over painful memories and age differences.
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Performances
I cannot remember when all the actors (Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Waheeda Rehman and Anupam Kher) gave such stupendous performances as they gave in Lamhe. Watching Sridevi perform effortlessly whether it was a restrained character (Pallavi) or a effervescent spit fire (Pooja) is a treat. Anil Kapoor was terrific as the restrained, mature Viren who is trying his best to deny his own feelings. And Waheeda Rehman was simply classy as the Dai ma who loves her wards but does not impose on their decisions. Yet, my favourite among them all is Anupam Kher, who outclassed everyone with his comic act which had a serious undercurrent of understanding of the going-ons of the emotional upheaveals around him.
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Music
Morni Baga mein bole (Lata Mangeshkar), Kabhi main kahoon (Lata and Hariharan), Meri Bindiya (Lata Mangeshkar), Ye lamhe (Hariharan) were all chartbusters and what is noteworthy is that they sound very fresh and melodious even today. The music composers wereShiv-Hari (Oh, how I miss them now!) who gave very mellow and beautiful music. Almost every song was superbly picturized and gelled smoothly into the story.
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Direction
Yash Chopra did a commendable job with Lamhe – every scene was a masterpiece. In my opinion, it was his best but unfortunately, this movie was rejected by the masses. The reason being, the theme which was perceived as almost incestuous by many. On the other hand, the overseas audience accepted this movie with great fanfare.
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It’s one of my favourite movies..
Because it reinstates the power of true love. There are no villains in the movie – just circumstantial adversities and prejudices which melt before the incandescent glow of love. Pain seems to be interwoven in the spirit of this movie – pain of separation, pain of rejection and pain of lost destinies. Never before has pain been shown more beautifully on the Bollywood screen.
As the name suggest, ‘Lamhe’ is about moments – precious moments which come once in a lifetime and then are lost forever in the sands of time – but remain alive in your memories forever. Just like this masterpiece of a movie.
