Expect Less!!!!!!!!!. Review on Parineeta

I expected a gem out of Rituparna’s ‘ChokerBali’; but was disappointed after watching the director getting carried away by the sensual aspects. I expected a classic from Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’; but was highly disappointed after watching the director getting carried away by the lavishness. Learning from my previous mistakes, I expected less from Pradeep Sarkar’s ‘Parineeta’. And two days after watching the film, I realize: that is the first reason for me liking the film.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Adaptation: It is the journey of Sekhar’s emotions through his love and possessiveness on his beloved, Lolitha. Whenever he calls her, he wants her to come and he got used to it from childhood. He gets irritated when she responds late to his call. He gets even more irritated when he has just composed a new tune on his piano and she is not there to listen to it. His friends appreciate his compositions with praises; Lolitha appreciates them with her rhyming words and sweet voice. Everything is like a sweet melody until, Girish enters their life.

Life is always easy when the untold love flows along with the melodious tunes of the sweet songs; but when melody suddenly stumbles over an unknown or new chord, possessiveness takes over and the unexpressed love gets desperate to be expressed out. Sekhar gets jealous over Girsh, who is a family-friend to Lolitha. He begins to show his emotional instability towards her. And when the distance between them grows to an extent that both of them could with no longer, they realize their feelings for each other and secretly marry each other.

Fate dooms on Lolitha when, according to elders’ loyalties, she has to marry Girish. Sekhar suspects her feelings and this, in turn, hurts her self-dignity. How the story reaches a happy ending, is well handled by the director Pradeep Sarkar, producer-writer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his talented crew, on and off the screen.

On the Screen: Vidhya Balan was an apt choice of being cast for the role of Parineeta. The various meanings I have read for the word, ‘Parineeta’ are ‘A Married Woman’, ‘A Mature Woman’, etc; and Vidhya Balan’s looks justify all those.

Though Vidhya Balan has got more importance in terms of script and character-elevation, it is Saif Ali Khan, playing Sekhar, who did a tough job. He might not have been able to make it look simple, but his hard work is well evident in every frame he appears. In fact, on repeatedly observing his histrionics, one will surely feel that, he is apt for the role of Sekhar.

Sanjay Dutt as Girsh has done is short role decently. But his heavy physique and dead looks fall short of getting into the groove of the character. Sincerely speaking, he is wrongly cast in the role. Someone like Aamir Khan or Shah Rukh Khan could have been apt as they can easily display the charm which the character demands.

The rest of the cast including Raima Sen and Diya Mirza have done a good job.

Off the Screen: Pradeep Sarkar is well aware of the subtle nuances necessary to handle certain situations in this sensitive story. He did not create any pretentious situation so as to elevate the characters. This is the area where he scores over Bhansali. But for the rest, his direction was adequate enough to present a neat film. He was able to create the Bengali ambience with authentic elements, but was highly unsuccessful in creating any riveting moments in the film. So a normal cine-goer may feel the film like a succession of perfectly shot frames stitched with threads of genuine, but monotonous situations.

Though his script and screenplay didn’t showcase any interesting plots, Vidhu Vinod Chopra has done a decent job to allow smooth frames moving on the screen with utmost sincerity. His production values are good enough to entice a connoisseur of authentic settings.

The music is as beautiful as the story is. It is as melodious as the soft touch between Sekhar and Lolita. It is as mellifluous as the cool breeze over the Ganges. It is as grand as the structure of buildings in Calcutta (Kolkata). Shantanu Moitra has composed wonderful tunes which gently blend into the Bengali ambience of the film.

Cinematography and other technical aspects have been well handled.

Relative to Bhansali’s Devdas: To speak of differences, Devdas is grand, whereas Parineeta is simple. Devdas is intense, whereas Parineeta is subtle. The frames of Devdas bear uncontrollable richness, whereas those of Parineeta are adequately rich. To speak of similarities, both films have exaggerated melodrama. Now, I cannot tell which film is better, because it is for you to decide.

There is a common thing in Sarat Chandra’s Devdas and Parineeta. The one ambiguous trait of mature, intelligent, beautiful women is that, they madly fall in love with foolish (and fatalistic) men. I wish I am foolish enough! And again, you see, I expecting more!!!!