Yaadein...

With "Yaadein" Hrithik Roshan delivers his first flop, commercially and artistically. Let's be fair. It's not his fault. On the contrary. If there is anything enjoyable in this film it's some scenes where his talent and screen presence rise above the material and give you an idea how powerful this film could have been in other hands than Mr. Ghai's. Some of his dancing is also quite spectacular as before. To be fair it should also be said that Kareena Kapoor has potential. She and Hrithik waste their talents here. Apart from that the lesser said the better. "Yaadein" is the kind of film everybody involved probably wants to leave behind and forget, despite its title.

Subhash ghai attempts to make a love story which falls flat on its face. This is probably one of those movies which really test your perseverance..(of staying in the hall). I am yet to leave a movie in the middle but if there is one movie which could have broken my unblemished record, yaadein has to be it. The movie is a story of a father trying to become a dost of his three grown-up daughters who have been brought up in London. Now obviously, the father is Indian to the core and there are enough dialogues in the movie about sanskriti etc.

The father(played by Jackie shroff) wobbles between the two extreme views about mohabbat(whether it is good or bad) and there are a lot of sub-plots none of which is allowed to develop. The romance between Hrithik and kareena is pathetic with all the usual fundas thrown in(viz saving the heroine, puppy love etc). Hrithik may have a great following but (this is my personal opinion only)he has yet to show any subtelty in his acting. He tries very hard to show his love which translates to shouting and making faces (a.l.a shahrukh) instead of letting his eyes do the talking. There are twists:) like rich boy-poor girl, love is good/bad, another girl, a dead sweetheart always dressed in white, sacrifice to show gratitude etc which are just ghai's attempts to borrow from the breed of directors who are adept at making love-stories. Ovreall, a forgettable movie.

The thing about 'Yaadein' that people don't seem to like is that it clearly does NOT relate to them. Hindi movie-goers want a sheer love story that is mysterious, and only breathes within your head, and your heart.

'Yaadein' tells you that love can be extreme fickle. Because of this, it probably disappointed many people who expected Hrithik Roshan to TOTALLY score with Kareena Kapoor. It took a lot of doing and understanding, especially from the parents' side.

This film gives the movie-goer a good message: That abandoning family for business changes you, and it weakens your heritage and tradition. Even if it keeps the tradition in the family, some things still wont end up all perfect and wonderful. Money, business, and wealth kill tradition.

One further point of concern: Most Hindi film titles contain the world "Dil," "Prem" (sometimes), "Ishq," "Hai," or even the infamous "Mohabbatein." This is 'Yaadein.' MEMORIES. Try to cherish them, because love is not exploited in this film, like they are in others.

Rating (out of 10): 8.5

Let's look at why I feel that "Yaadein" is a nice, entertaining movie (and justifies a score much higher than the 4.5/10 awarded to it:

1. The songs are really terrific.

2. Everyone has acted quite well when compared to the acting levels that one generally sees in Hindi cinema.

3. The story is credible.

4. The director is very well known.

So why has this movie got such a low score?

My personal belief is that Hindi movies get wild, inconsistent ratings from fans who have not thought the matter sufficiently through. How else can one justify a rating of 9.2/10 for "Dil Chahta Hai" and just 6.0/10 for "Asoka"? Is "Dil Chahta Hai" a better movie than, say, "Shawshank Redemption" which was rated 9.0/10?

"Dil Chata Hai" is good. But 9.2/10? I don't think so. And does "Asoka" deserve the low rating of 6.0/10? I don't think so.

It appears that very few people rate Hindi movies compared to the numbers of reviews that English movies get (45 people rated "Yaadein"; 75,837 people rates "Shawshank Redemption"). This causes distortion in the average especially when the "swing" (as seen in the case of "Yaddein") is so large.

I belive that "Yaadein" should be rated 6.0/10. It's a nice entertaining movie and not the sinking ship that it has been likened to.

See it and decide for yourself.

Though I am not a Hrithik fan, I went to see the movie because of Subhash Ghai. After all he has given some excellent movies to Indian Film Industry. And I had a lot of expectation from this movie too. But unfortunately I'll have to say this was one of the worst movies I saw in recent times. Right from the first scene it seemed like a drowning ship. Throughout the movie audience kept on expecting that now the ship will get itself floating. But with every minute it kept on going down. Audience were laughing in serious moments of the movie. But it seemed like it was trying to save itself (specially during song sequences, dance by Hrithik is only little good thing about the movie). After two hours of movie the movie ship is already drowned. And then it seems the whole crew gives a last attempt of salvage, without understanding that its already underwater. In last half an hour of the movie Jackie has given a credible performance. But at the end it was the biggest disappointment of the year. Sorry to the Hrithik fans.