Black no match for Paheli. Review on Paheli

Does Paheli deserve an oscar?

Yes.Infact big yes!Paheli represents Indian colour, culture, ethos and myths, and is based on the original work of an Indian writer. It is truly one of the original movie ever made and there is certain rustic feeling to it which connects with each and every Indian . So I feel that it was the right choice by the jury in spite of many other good films under consideration .Paheli will be India's answer to oscar.Paheli solve ho gayi!And I do not think Black was right choice because it was straight lift from Hollywood'c classic Miracle worker and copy cats are strict no no in oscars .As for Page 3 and other films in question ,such films are quite ordinary to western society.

PAHELI is an instant classic with director Amol Palekar handling each ordinary sequence with aplomb! The production values are outstanding — the beautiful medley of colours in Ravi Chandran’s cinematography and Muneesh Sappal’s art direction deserve special mention.

The film takes place many many years ago back in time in the golden desers of Rajasthan...The story takes place around Kishan(Shahrukh Khan) who gets married to the gorgeous Lachchi(Rani Mukherji).

On their way back home after the marriage a ''bhoot'' who lives in a tree spots Lachchi and is instantly in awe of her beauty and falls in love with her at that moment. Lachchi is looking forward to a happily married life with a loving husband but she is in for a shock when her husband turns out to be a gumby workaholic and a daddys boy who is about to embark on a business trip for the next 5 years. Lachchi is shattered!

At that moment the ''bhoot'' decide to take the place of Kishan for the next 5 years just so he can be near Lachchi. He tells Lachchi the truth about who/what he is and Lachchi accepts him....The new slowly starts weaving his magic(literally) on everyone in the family including his money loving father (Anupam Kher), loving Bhabhi(Juhi Chawla) and caring mother(Neena Kulkarni) and life is perfect for Kishan and Lachchi...until Lachchi falls pregnant and the news reaches the real Kishan who returns back home..confusion and chaos runs amok..who is the real Kishan? And who is the impostor? And how will this Paheli be solved?

lthough the characters of Shahrukh Khan(Ghost) and Rani Mukherji are well defined there are others like Shahrukh Khan(real), Suniel Shetty, Juhi Chawla who are poorly defined and appear to be only there as a favour to Shahrukh Khan and add star value. Overall the direction by Palekar is good given the material and the fact it is an attempt at doing something different.NOTE that the film also deserves marks in authenticity. The manner in which Palekar has created this magical world is simply brilliant and right from the language spoken by the characters(Rajasthani dialect) to the dressing to the ambience....PAHELI manages to capture the entire LOOK of the fairytale....

The first half moves at a sluggish pace with not much taking place at all apart from the characters being established. But its after interval point that the film really picks up pace right upto the climax and thats where the film scores. Infact Paheli takes Indian culture to a new level.

There are many subplots in the movie which add to overall brilliance of movie! . Dialogues by Detha are BRILLIANT and the Rajasthani dialect adds to the authenticity of the movie.

As a director Amol Palekar has made many sensitive and critically acclaimed brilliant films in the past but PAHELI is his first attempt at making a out and out commercial film with a decent sized budget. And he creates a magic throughout the film!

The camel race(ABSOLUTEY BREATHTAKING), Shahrukhs interactions with other house members and with Rani(comedy) as well as the climax ensures the viewer is thoroughly entertained, absorbed and amused by the happenings in front of them.

The performances from the lead players are strong ...

Shahrukh Khan delivers a knockout performance in a dual role. Khan has played a dual role earlier in Mahesh Bhatts DUPLICATE and hammed it to a hilt. Here he gives a restrained performance for the most. As Kishan he gives good performance. His slightly gumby, nerdy and weird character comes off well and Khan manages to add his much known touch to it. In the pre-climax(Sequence with Amitabh) Khan overacts slightly with his hamming, maybe its his way of differentiating between the two characters. But it is Shahrukh Khans performance as the ghost that is the real scene stealer. A thoroughly sensitive, nuanced and polished performance which is bound to win accolades all over. There are no signs of the usual mannerisms when Shahrukh is playing the ''ghost'' and he is natural to the core. His delivery is fantastic as always and Khan strikes a chord in the emotional scenes with Rani.After SWADES he yet again delivers a KNOCKOUT performance as the ''ghost''. Its a pity he couldn't do the same for both characters..

Rani is excellent.It is her best performance till date!Anupam Kher as the greedy father plays his part with his usual comic flair .Juhi Chawla looks stunning ..but one wishes she had more of role. Suniel Shetty has a short cameo and barely any dialogues. Neena Kulkarni doesn't have much footage but is natural. illip Prabhvaklar and Rajpal Yadav impress in their comic roles succeed in raising the laughs. Aditi Gorvirkar looks gorgeous, but a role not worth mentioning.

And finally Amitabh Bachchan....Bachchan is here only as a GUEST APPEARENCE in a role that is 10 minutes. Bachchan plays a not-so-wise shepard who actually turns out to be wise and solves the PAHELI.

On the whole ,PAHELI is a novel effort which is outstanding attempt to bring something different to the bigscreen with a genre that is hardly ever(if at all) witnessed in Indian Cinema...

Worth an oscar!