In the history of Bollywood we have had women directors who have made movies concerning different issues and problems faced by women. That was a great thing to do and a novelty in those days. But such issues gradually began to look too clichéd but inexplicably the women directors even today continue to be obsessed with such clichéd subjects.
As a result the audience has this pre-determined notion that these flicks will only be boring, and films like Filhaal, Paap, Sur, Kyon, etc only strengthen that belief. Cinema is also a medium of entertainment and not many will want to see boring subjects said in a boring manner on the celluloid. The rigid mindset of women directors resulted in their movies always laced with messages and feministic views giving an insight into the feminine psyche but whoever told them that this can and should be done only in a clichéd and not in an entertaining manner.
Now it has become imperative for women directors in India to come out of the closet of parallel cinema and start making entertaining films to become successful. The audience has been waiting for the day when women directors start tackling the same genres as the male directors and give those themes a unique & invigorating touch, distinctive perspective and add a dash of humour to it.
Farah Khan has taken up this challenge whose maiden venture MHN is proof of this deviation of a woman director from making serious movies to fun films. But has this deviation been in a right direction and done in a proper manner? In her endeavour to pay tribute to yesteryear directors she has served too many dishes at a go, of which some are palatable and some are bland. So pick up the best dishes and ignore the rest. Simple.
Farha Khan had everything going in her favour. She had a generous producer in SRK, a whopping budget (for a debutant) of 22 crore, super star like SRK as the protagonist, scriptwriter Abbas tyrewala who is fresh from the success of Munnabhai and Maqbool, a fairly successful music, great media hype, some scenes ghost directed by KJ and luckily for her the topic of ''India Pakistan Bhai Bhai'' has become a hot topic today.
Main Hoon Naa is Farha Khan?s tribute to Manmohan Desai kind of entertainers and other entertaining films of eighties. It is a typical masala film, which has action, bhai-bhai, Maa-beta, Judai-Milan, etc. Though directed by a woman, thankfully, Main Hoon Na does not come across as a girlie film nor does it emits feminine vibes.
Initially the movie was titled ''The Outsider''. I think it was changed to Main Hoon Naa keeping in mind the characters played by SRK in most of his movies in which he was a panacea to all the problems.
SYNOPSIS
This is a story of Major Ram Prasad Sharma (Shahrukh khan) whose ambition is to fulfill the last wish of his father, Brigadier Shekhar Sharma (Naseeruddin Shah) - the wish of bringing India and Pakistan together. This ambitious project is aptly titled Mission Milap. But what is a mission if there are no impediments to it. And the obstruction here is in the form of Raghavan (Sunil Shetty), a physics teacher, who is hell bent in sabotaging the mission. He is a serious threat to the life of General Amarjeet Bakshi's daughter Sanjana (Amrita Rao). SRK has to go incognito and has to go back to school to protect Amrita, which is necessary for the successful completion of his mission. Here he encounters Lucky Laxman (Zayed Khan) the love interest of Amrita. There are misunderstandings galore, hatred aplenty, confusions too many and there is the difficulty of assimilating with the modern culture of the students. But SRK manages to overcome all these and wins everyone's hearts. To find out whether SRK completes his mission or not, watch the movie.
PROS
All the fun-filled scenes in the college campus.
The Sputumatrix scene between Satish Shah and SRK.
All the scenes between SRK-Sushmita are hilarious - where SRK breaks into impromptu RD songs whenever he confronts her.
Farha Khan?s way of paying tribute to various directors is praiseworthy. Sample some:
Sushmita?s screen name (Chandni Chopra) and her chiffon sarees are tribute to Yash Chopra
The scene where SRK chases the terrorists in a rickshaw (named Dhanno) is tribute to Ramesh Sippy?s Sholay.
The songs, interspersed with the scenes in the movie, are from Nasir Hussain?s movies (yeh ladka hai allah, chand mera dil, etc)
The ma-beta, bhai bhai angle, milna bichadna, etc are tribute to Manmohan Desai. In fact there is one scene where Sunil reveals SRKs identity to Kiron and Zahed, which is a straight lift from Naseeb.
The college campus scenes are tribute to Karan Johar?s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
The Ram-Lucky jodi (long hairs-short hairs, bhola bhala- chalu type) are tribute to characters of Hrishikesh Mukherjee?s Golmaal.
RD Songs interspersed with scenes of SRK searching for Zahed (Jaane Jaan Dhoondta phir raha), and some other scenes are tribute to RD.
CONS
Why does SRK have to wear old-fashioned bellbottoms while going to college? Army persons are not so oblivious of the modern fashion.
Emotional scenes lack pathos.
The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai effect - where Zayed ignores Amrita because of her tomboyish attire and behaviour and then falling in love with her as soon as she starts wearing sareers, salwar-kameez.
One cannot digest the fact that an Indian ex army man is against Indo-Pak peace process. It is difficult to find such patriotic terrorists in India.
TECHNICAL TEAM
Debutant Director Farha Khan?s foray into this field is not bad at all. She has taken care that though she is a woman the movie does not look like a chick flick. Farha has been inspired by movies of great directors like Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra, Naser Hussain, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and this is apparent when one sees the movie. She deals with some fun scenes with aplomb but falters in emotional scenes.
Cinematographer V. Manikandan has given a glossy look to the movie.
Story and Screenplay Dialogues by Abbas Tyrewala are disappointing though some scenes are well written. One wonders if this is the same Abbas who wrote the script and dialogues for films like Munnabhai and Maqbool.
Editing by Shirish Kunder is erratic.
Choreography by Farah Khan is first rate:
Chale jaise hawayein, featuring Zayed and Amrita, is beautifully picturised and in just two shots without any retakes.
Yeh fizayein song is picturised on the members from the cast, the technical crew and spot boys. I liked this gesture of Farah of giving some importance and screen space to technicians and spot boys who are not given much importance and are confined to backstage all the time. But this song should have been shown at the beginning and not at the end when the audience is in hurry to leave the theatre.
Music by Anu Malik is okay and compliments the mood of the movie. The title song is good (both versions). The qawwali is disappointing. The rest of the songs are okay.
Javed Akhtar?s lyrics are okay.
Action (Allan Amin] combined with the special effects (Rajtaru) has the matrix feel to it, which is looking clichéd nowadays. SRKs chasing sequence in a cycle rickshaw is deftly handled though it may look farfetched considering that he is chasing a fast vehicle.
Continued in comments section.
