Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Amol Palekar's beautiful journey with no destination
Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerjee in Paheli
Paheli (Hindi)
Director: Amol Palekar
Cast: Rani Mukerjee, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachcahan, Juhi Chawla
His work has always had the quality of a river in plains - profound, still, and silent. He has always impressed with the sedateness of his craft; invariably his films are like life in slow motion.
Now it seems the relentless momentum of time has caught up with Amol Palekar, and the man is trying to imitate a river in spate.
The effort shows in this film where he has come up with a starcast he would not have imagined a few years ago - Shah Rukh, Rani Mukerjee, Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, etc.
Mr. Palekar does what every Bollywood director seeks to do when he attempts to make his art a commodity for the market - he adds a few songs, stylised but stylish, he gets his heroine all drenched in rain in the middle of a desert, and in an orthodox village where women wear ghunghats to cover their kaajal, his heroine walks in backless blouses!
Based on the novel Duvidha by Vijayden Detha, "Paheli" is like a swan dressed as a crow. No, it is not ugly to look at. In fact, it is beautiful. Fetching, quite radiant. Every frame stands out, and all the confluence of colours against the backdrop of undulating sand in the desert is riveting. But isn't a film more than a painter's canvas? It is, and that is where Palekar errs. He concentrates so much on visual beauty, on the supposed market demands that he forgets there is something called soul.
Yes, this tale of a woman married to a man, in love with a ghost comes with mind-boggling possibilities. But the way things unfold it is a bit of a dampener.
Simply because Mr. Palekar is trying to ride two horses at the same time - he wants to be faithful to the novel and has a reputation to protect. He also has a star cast, and maybe, little furtive dreams to fulfil. He wants the masses to queue up, to go back smiling.
He wants the connoisseurs to talk of the big break when he was able to bridge the divide. Too sad. He pleases not too many and the film ends up as yet another case of too-much potential, too little realisation.
Yes, try to solve this "Paheli" only if you want to see Shah Rukh in a moustache - he is not too bad though, not a patch on the mischievous guy who has made banter his trademark. Or if you want to see dazzling desert in full bloom. Looking for cinema that pleases the eye, touches the soul? Look elsewhere.
"Paheli" with all its visual beauty is just like a beautiful journey with no destination.
Ziya Us Salam
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
|
