To be remade --urgently. Review on Saawariya

Just the other day I was at a tv studio visiting a friend and preparations were afoot for a chat with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his team. Later I learnt that among many other interviews he was equally miffed with the line of questioning and also unhappy with the projection of his film as a flop. He is aghast as to how his work is not being understood by the masses and anyway he has indicated that he likes to make his type of movies. Perhaps Sony will not take too kindly to that after having invested money rivalling that of the best budgets ever for Bombay film industry.

I was curious with all the smothering of the telly audiences by tv channels of the promos of this film to the extent that the signature design of the film also very ludicrously stares at us from the logos for the various channels owned by Sony. So is it wrong to cross promote? Well no its their money and their channels. They can do what they like. Perhaps it is counterproductive , is it not? To stem my rising curiosity level and not being a professional critic making it incumbent on me to watch the movie , I ventured into an evening show at the local multiplex.

Post some doubts that I had perhaps ventured into the wrong hall and fears of being kindly evicted for lack of quorum , I braved to stay on and surprise the theatre management actually decided to humour the only occupant of the hall. And so for the first time in personal history which I doubt the denizens of the world will be interested in , I had the honour to have the screen to myself feeling more powerful than Sanjay himself who must have had the honour of such occasions in the private preview theatre.

My first reaction...Honestly this film needs to be remade once again .And only by Sanjay himself.  The first thing that strikes you throughout the movie is the art. Some of the most exquisite set pieces in history of cinema and I mean world cinema, adorn the screen here. Its like walking into a one way art gallery with 10000 of the most outstanding visual orchestration of colours and set pieces and being asked to walk down admiring each of them till you reach the end. You do get tired of beauty after all.

He has composed some of the best scenes in Indian cinema. The music compositions coupled with the graceful  brave new youngster who gives it all he has against wonderful wall hangings are a delight to hear and watch.

But ...it took great strength to walk thru those 10000 odd motion paintings as they drifted across with no mission whatsoever. I am unable to bring myself to say " bad and boring film "  despite it being so. Simply because the director is in a league of his own and with this sort of treatment is capable of some serious international cinema. But Sawariya, my friend, is painful for the paying audiences.

You may dismiss my candour with a view that the director makes his own type of cinema. But the audiences pays thru their noses as did I for the multiplex cinema. And there is nothing to warn us that the director made it for his own professional satisfaction.

The cinema has everything going for it. Outstanding sound, to repeat myself extraordinary art , exuberant newcomers but all without a purpose. I am still clueless as were many others perhaps before me about the demographic challenge that this timeless land poses . What was that steam engine puffing along a Harry Potterish country side doing in a strange sharing of neighbourhoods with a Nukkad come of age sets and reminding us of the cobblestone paths of Bulgaria ( Hum Dil De...) and hold it what are those Venetian waterways doing with Kashmiri boatmen and in such a surrounding where everything seems wet ,nice and clean there the lady beating royal carpets to bring up plumes of dust....oh Yeah they look good you know ...against the beautiful back light which highlights the  asthmatic dust like never before.

And before I forget the hundreds of sex workers who frequent the street without customers just in case they are required for dance sequences. The main lead do look trapped having realised like our 10000 photo gallery that there is no way out of this launch pad and give it all they have. Salman smartly walks in and out within a few seconds. And Rani Mukherjee still walking in from the sets of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag must be wanting to pay back all gratitude for "Black"

There is no competition for this cinema from the other block bluster released the same day. It is cruel enough to defeat itself. Honestly to repeat this premise should be picked up again and with a beautiful script re shot and released and it will undoubtedly make the directors day and name. Mashallah.

warm regards

M.R.Navindutt