Portraying a different world
The first thing that really strikes you as you start watching the film is a scene where Sonam Kapoor suddenly wakes up in the middle of her sleep, screaming on the top of her voice, she just had a nightmare that her father was being killed by extremists. As you go into the slowly paced film, you realise that you are actually more interested about Shahid and Sonam rather than the plot. A healthy diversion from films like Bodyguard which was doused in typical Bollywood masala, this one comes as a breath of fresh air.
The weakest part of the film is the story which progresses like a bullock cart down the muddy roads of a village; while the strongest part is some wonderful acting by Shahid and Sonam. If the nighmare scene is Sonam's best shot in the movie, then there's another one in close competition by Shahid where he attempts to wear a sweater with one hand because the other one is paralysed — watch out for that one too.
The story is about a boy and a girl falling in love in a village and the communal strife in the country that tears them apart and then again brings them back together. But that's not all. The film attempts to bring rustic romance back into Bollywood and in parts you do tend to identify with the lead characters.
But nothing covers up for the obvious, Bollywood's own way of 'suspension of disbelief'. It looks a little far fetched in real life that Shahid and Sonam don't get a way to get in touch with each other for years together and end up pining for each other in spite of coming from the same village and actually knowing where the other one lives (it happens twice in the film). If you are in the Indian Air Force, is it difficult for anybody to find where you are? If people know every common friend of your's and most of your relatives, then is it difficult to track you down? So difficult that you keep crying and pining for two years? So difficult that you end up in depression and almost decide to give up on each other? True there was no Facebook or Twitter but finding a person was not so difficult even fifty years back when the movie is set.
But in Bollywood, you don't need reality, you need the romance. And there you have it.
The first thing that really strikes you as you start watching the film is a scene where Sonam Kapoor suddenly wakes up in the middle of her sleep, screaming on the top of her voice, she just had a nightmare that her father was being killed by extremists. As you go into the slowly paced film, you realise that you are actually more interested about Shahid and Sonam rather than the plot. A healthy diversion from films like Bodyguard which was doused in typical Bollywood masala, this one comes as a breath of fresh air.
The weakest part of the film is the story which progresses like a bullock cart down the muddy roads of a village; while the strongest part is some wonderful acting by Shahid and Sonam. If the nighmare scene is Sonam's best shot in the movie, then there's another one in close competition by Shahid where he attempts to wear a sweater with one hand because the other one is paralysed — watch out for that one too.
The story is about a boy and a girl falling in love in a village and the communal strife in the country that tears them apart and then again brings them back together. But that's not all. The film attempts to bring rustic romance back into Bollywood and in parts you do tend to identify with the lead characters.
But nothing covers up for the obvious, Bollywood's own way of 'suspension of disbelief'. It looks a little far fetched in real life that Shahid and Sonam don't get a way to get in touch with each other for years together and end up pining for each other in spite of coming from the same village and actually knowing where the other one lives (it happens twice in the film). If you are in the Indian Air Force, is it difficult for anybody to find where you are? If people know every common friend of your's and most of your relatives, then is it difficult to track you down? So difficult that you keep crying and pining for two years? So difficult that you end up in depression and almost decide to give up on each other? True there was no Facebook or Twitter but finding a person was not so difficult even fifty years back when the movie is set.
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