Movie Review: Saawariya

Saawariya, to me, is a mindscape that could have been even more beautifully and authentically projected. It is a director’s endeavour to project on the screen what he sees in his mind’s eye when he reads a beautiful story - not all the way, unfortunately.

Why did Sanjay Leela Bhansali have to give Ranbir’s character deliberate shades of Raj Kapoor? Why would he,a director with his own distinct style of expression and communication need to patronise anybody, and insist on obvious allusions like calling the bar in the film, RK Bar? Why on earth would he borrow an entire sequence from the RK archives? It only mars the authenticity and the timeless feel of the story and adds layers of reference one could very well do without. Ranbir could be any happy hearted yokel who does justice to his role sans the RK lineage context.

Sonam’s been done up a la Waheeda Rehman with hair like Rekha’s. She could have looked good as herself, and one wishes her laughter was not so contrived in so many scenes. Why did they dress her up like Marjina(Ali Baba Chaalis Chor) in some places? Kudos to her for weaving that gorgeous carpet all by herself:)

There is a lyrical quality to the film, but then the “okay bye”'s mar the spirit of the scenes more than once. The blues might be too much to handle at times but then it comes close to how I would ‘feel’ the story in my head as I read it in a book, curled up on a cold winter night, in a room warmly lit, and with a hot mug of coffee close by. One wonders if the characters never did anything in the day, though!

Zohra Sehgal is a treat and inspiration personified. She is an actor par excellence. Her portrayal of her character is the most natural and effortless of the entire cast, but almost a misfit in the social context of the film.

Rani Mukherjee as Gulabji is beautiful in her own way. She tries to add to the “magic” of Saawariya, but ruins the effect with her “I don’t likes….”

Salman Khan as Imaan played the character as directed.

Begum Para and her aide and the safety pin and the asides came across as fairy tale inclusions morphed with scenes out of Rehmaan-Guru Dutt movies?

Apparently, Sanjay Leela Bhansali followed his heart and communicated to his audience his vision of what he read when he read Dostoevsky’s White Nights. The sets try to be surreal and fascinating if you view them from a theatrical perspective, but even more interesting sets are already being used in even better style in Siam Niramit,a brilliantly executed live show one can see in Bangkok,Thailand.

In fact, that’s just where the inspiration for the beautiful Saawariya scroll seems to have come from.

There was ample potential to explore and communicate a contemporary feel of timelessness sans one that that pans across the continents through European hoardings in the backdrop, and I wish his characters could be themselves so they could be celebrated on the merit of their talent, the strength of the story and the director’s calibre to project his own, unadulterated vision on the silverscreen.