Reality B-I-T-E-S. Review on Saathiya

With big names such as Mani Ratnam, Yash Chopra, AR Rahman and Gulzar associated with saathiya, the movie had generated enough buzz. More-so, was the curiosity associated with director shaad ali's (Muzaffar Ali's son) debut. Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee also besides being a fresh pairing were presented very differently in this film as opposed to thier earlier films. Saathiya hence was a film with gigantic expectations. So the question is does it live upto the expectations or like countless number of recent bollyood films fizzles out?

Well, good news!! Sathiya actually is a very good film. This is not to say that it is a flawless masterpiece. But all in all the film is definately worth a watch and at least has some amount of substance in it.

The story starts of with Aditya (Vivek) and Suhani (Rani), a young married couple living in Mumbai. A buoyent Aditya goes to recive Suhani at the local train station. However trains come and go and by nightfall there is no trace of Suhani. She cannot be traced at the hospital or at her parents house or for that matter at any friend's place. An anguished Aditya helplessly wanders around Mumbai in search for her. The story then unfolds in a flash back of Aditya and Suhani falling in love, getting married secretly owing to the objection of thier parents to thier alliance and then finally moving in together when thier parents get to know of thier marriage and throw them out of the house.

At first things do seem hunky dory for the young couple but as reality sets in the couple find that thier expectations of one another before marriage were unrealistic. Add to that family problems, jelousy and economic hardship and strains began to appear in thier relationship.

The best thing about saathiya is its freshness. It is truly refreshing to see a realistic love story which someone of today's generation can relate to. The first half of the film consisting of the love story is very warm and charming at the same time while the at-first cute fights of the newly married couple which subsequently detiorate into dangerous and destructive issues have been handled very well. Melodrama, crying and long love sonnets of pehla pyar are kept to a minimum which is a welcome change from hindi movies normally of this genre. Also, it shows it is easy to fall in love but more difficult to stay in love and constantly tolerate one another. In this sense saathiya does manage to go places where few hindi films have gone.

It is only in the last 20 minutes of the film that it gets a tad gimmicky. The entire shamitha shetty song is rather abruptly placed and uneccacary. Also one feels that the climax of the film is way to dramatic for this rather simple story. Wouldnt it have been far better to find another way to resolve thier issues? The ending is too filmi and it tends to jar in the context of the rest of the film which is totally realistic.

But even these quibbles make saathiya a very satisfying watch. Shaad Ali captures the Mumbai middle class lifestyle very well and infuses enough energy in the film to keep the viewer spell-bound. In fact it is the honesty of the film that comes through even in the tepid and rather abrupt ending.

The music by AR Rahman is excellent with the title song, o humdum and banjar hai being the pick of the lot. However what really lifts saathiya is the spontaneous performances of the lead players. Vivek Oberoi metomorphasises from the candy floss bubble gum lover into the anguished husband with elan while Rani Mukherjee underplays her rather difficult charector with great subtlelty. This is certainly her best performance to date and is a revelation as far as her talent is concerned. Besides both of them look great together and complement each other very well.

The supporting cast consisting of Sandhya Mrinul, Tanuja and Satish Shah do very well in thier roles.

All in all saathiya inspite of its few shortcomings is a very watchable film. It leaves the viewer feeling contended , satisfied and entertained when leaving the cinema hall which considering the trash that we are fed these days in the name of entertainment is a rarity. Go see it!!!