Dec 05, 2008 11:57 PM
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I have seen this movie numerous times and everytime I come out admiring the great effort put in this movie. I would say this movie had given fresh life to the otherwise "has-been-dying-for-a-decade" punjabi movie industry.
Gurdaas Mann has really worked hard to portray the great Waris Shah. The time, effort and research done to depict his life shows in the movie.
It starts off a little dodgy with his "guru" teaching his disciples in the wilderness for the fear of persecution, and when caught, sings away to death.
But from the time when Juhi Chawla enters, the movie gets really interesting. Although, I thought she was a bit too old for her role of a young village girl. Maybe I felt that cause i've been watchinh her in movies since I was 3.
Quick plot of the movie; Warish Shah is a student(literature/music) and his teacher wants him to write Heer. But he tells warish shah that he won't be able to understand the true meaning of and write Heer unltill he feels the pain of a broken heart(in love ofcourse). So he sends him off to a village(cant remember the name) to write Heer. There he meets Juhi Chawla and falls for her. And he begins writing Heer. Starts exchanging small excerpts with Juhi via pigeons(enter Ve Kabootra track)
Then the story takes a few turns with another woman in the village, Divya Dutta, trying to win him over. Other people in jealousy trying to do harm to him. A head of the king's army trying to convict warish shah of a false crime, but instead getting memerized by his singing and devotion(allah hooo track). The village heads charging him for adultery and making waarish shah and Juhi walks over a bed of fire. Juhi getting married away to another man. Divya Dutta stealing and destroying his Heer, which he considers next to god and Juhi re-writing it again from what she remembers of it.
The backbone of the movie; its music. I absolutely loved the music. Sufi-punjabi style composition was just mind blowing. even the solo excerpts written by warish shah himself, sung by gurdaas mann were truly amazing.
As far as gurdaas mann's acting is concerned, he did ok in des hoya pardes(although I thought it was a bit overacted, but i'll give him the benefit of the doubt since he's new to the movies. mind you, the stage performance he gives in stage shows is uncomparable. Go see him if you can, you will not regret it.)
There was another movie he did with Tabu, Zindagi Khoobsurat Hai. that movie was ridiculous, lots of bad acting.
But he has outdone himself in Warish Shah. Bravo!
Keep them coming, O great One.
