PFC

Suparna Sengupta (Bangalore, India)

This is a viewer’s take and not a reviewer’s take on one of the most awaited/hyped movies of the year. Since PFC allows even viewers to express their opinions about a movie I thought I will send in my views.

I am not a Bhansali fan but I liked “Sawaariya”.
I liked the movie especially the second half. It is based on Dostoevsky’s “White Nights” and is a more or less faithful adaptation of the novella. His story is based in St. Petersburg whereas Bhansali’s tale is based in a nameless town set in the midst of an imaginative mindscape. (Some people in their reviews of the film have questioned this!!! I guess they also ask questions like — Where is Macondo? Why did the general live for 200 years? ) The whole town is painted in different shades of blue with a smattering of red and white (Tribute to Kieslowski?). There are a number of references to some major Hindi and English movies (references to Raj Kapoor, Cinderella and “Romeo and Juliet”).

However, the movie is not without its flaws. I thought that the dialogues in this movie could have been better. The first half hour could have been better written/edited. A couple of songs could have been avoided.

The movie works because of the performance of the “dreamer” Ranbir Raj played by Ranbir Kapoor. I think his effort is doubly commendable because he is not making a debut playing a very “safe” character in a “safely” designed film. He is playing the lead in a movie that more or less depends on his shoulders. With shades of Raj and Shammi Kapoor in him he pulls of the part quite well. Also wonderful is Rani Mukherjee. Her’s is a performance straight from the heart. Technically the film is superb. Scenes which must have been conceived on an artist’s palette are put to perfect execution by the cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran and the art director duo.

Another reason for writing this review is that I don’t agree with most reviews of this film. Why? Because I think most of them haven’t understood the essence of the film at all. The same thing happened with most reviews of “No Smoking”. What most critics have loathed about the film is its opulence. But it is there not without a reason. This is a landscape where Bhansali weaves fantasy and reality and the visual dimension is precisely the instrument with which he can transport the audience to this world. No one can question the director’s eye for details and the colours, the fabrics and the palette stand in their own respective schemes. Blue, green, red play with each other which speaks of the “Saawariya” (originally referred to Lord Krishna). They play of black and white, light and shade is not only a tribute to other greats like Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt but recreates that painful to and fro between hope and loss for its two main protagonists.

Despite all this the audience who do have the taste for it might not like it and everything might appear very fake or artificial but where “Saawariya” resembles “No Smoking” is precisely in the fact that we need to suspend our disbelief for these two films. Everyone has a complaint against the oppressive magnificence, the Venetian waterways, the arterial pathways and a city that doesn’t exist anywhere. But this is precisely the point of the director. In fact the character of Rani clarifies this at the start that this is a dream city suspended in time. That is why it is so poetic to find the Cinderella touch whereby the heroine has to leave as soon as the clock strikes twelve. The city is nowhere and yet it could be an ammalgammation of all those eternal cities of love made famous in history or legend from Venice to Agra. One of the reviewers expressed astonishment that it rained one day and snowed the next. What he did not realize was that while the rains symbolized the incessant downpour of emotions it climaxed with the purity of salvation with the white snow.

The dialogues no doubt do not match up to the conception of the poetry and the actors are often lamed by it. But it is the freshness of the two lead actors which carries the film forward. It is not enough to see the maginificence in its literalness. Bhansali is no fool to do it on such a superficial level.

Some people have even panned the cinematography which I think was excellent. People have questioned the opulence and the detailing that has gone into making this film. I think detailing is an aspect that most Indian film makers pay little or no attention to.
Cinema is a very personal experience. And I thought I will put my personal experience on paper this time.

Bouquets and brickbats welcome!!!