Black sunday!!!. Review on Yuva - Bollywood

Well for those lucky ones who haven't had the misfortune of having to buy tickets in black and watch Yuva on a lazy sunday evening especially when one's spouse repeatedly tried to oppose any plans of going for this one, I would like to help you out.

Yes I know that was an exaggeration but thats because I am an ardent fan of Mani's movies and Yuva was just a bit of a disappointment. Why? Read on.......

Let me first give you a fair idea of the plot and hopefully there would be some element of suspense left for you by the end of the review. The three main characters -Lallan played exceedingly well by Abhishek Bachchan, Michael Mukherjee played by Ajay Devgan and last and definitely the least important of all-Arjun played by Vivek Oberoi. Well in all there are six characters in the movie but out of three female leads, we could do without two of them without changing the storyline or the essence of the movie in any way.I will talk about all three as and when (and if they do) they make their presence felt in the storyline.

The opening visuals show exactly how s rather plausible coincidence makes the three central characters meet on Howrah bridge. Why is it plausible? Well you got towatch the movie to agree with me on this one. Throughout the movie, Mani has managed to get your eyes glued to these visuals. That has been his strength in all his movies so that goes without saying. And then the story of each character unfolds itself.

1) Lallan is an angry young man who chooses to be on the other side of the law. Somehow you dont want to pass a judgement on anything he does in the movie. He seems amazingly real and that beastlike temperament, the feeling of guilt he has for his actions as well as the subtle pride he has for his wife, he breathes life into the movie. Especially in one of the scenes when he talk to his wife(Rani Mukherjee) about bringing up his kid into a better human being, you just dont want to look at the grey shades at all.

He loves his wife but tends to treat her like a doormat. Rani is dead against his getting into the 'dirty world of crime and politics'. He is the only character who does not come up with the corniest of dialogues at the drop of a hat something Michael Mukherjee is proficient at.

2) Micheal Mukerjee is a student of Presidency College who gets a scholarship to go to the US and work under a Nobel Laureate. He comes up with the most cliched dialogues of the 'Saathi haath badhana'kind. Hats off to Mani for choosing a different subject like Bengal violence but please credit the viewers with enough intelligence to understand how elections are fought and won in this country. I found the entire sequence of events preceding Michael's ideological victory abrupt and vague. Moreover Micheal defines love as nothing but a hormonal overdrive and wants his girl friend(Ee(eeks!)sha Deol) to move into his house since he does not believe in the institution of marriage. And she obliges.

Meanwhile we have some frivolous nonsense going on to accomodate those lovely Rahman numbers into the movie. Yeah, who is doing that............

3) Arjun is a yuppie; mechanical engineer whose fish's eye is visa to US and his lovelife revolves/gyrates/rotates/irritates around trees and on beaches. Well he is happy-go-lucky character who wants to enjoy his life-flirt with girls etc. personifies every cliche you could associate with the youth today. Nevertheless, he gets his fair share of limelight later.

Performances :

Abhishek Bachchan has acted very well and he tends to make one think because the rest of the movie is a brainless wonder. His scenes with Rani are wonderful especially when they are yelling at each other. Rani manages to make her presence felt. Be it Saathiya or Yuva, she proves her mettle irrespective of the role assigned to her.

Ajay Devgan despite his corny dialogues does a good job. Eesha deol is passable. Vivek Oberoi has done it again. You admire the way he has made the best of his poorly sketched role and delivers a very good performance. The fun-n-frolic part which he plays along with a thoroughly blank and dumb character is enjoyable provided you are able to focus on him and completely ignore his counterpart.

In a nutshell,

Plus : Movie theme, Music, Abhishek Bahchan, Rani Mukherjee,Vivek And Ajay in certain scenes, art direction, Loveleen Mishra and Vijay Raaz.

Minus : Pace of the movie,Ajay and Eesha's romance part. Eesha's dialogues.

I know I have not talked about one character or her performance, since I had to go through the torture of watching her attempting to act, I am left speechless. The only good thing about her are her dresses. I have to admit that despite all the nonsense, the movie is worth watching. Switch your minds off whenever Kareena Kapoor is around and you will have a good time.