Rishtey

I'm not Indian but I can claim to have seen about 150 Bollywood-films until today, so I guess that qualifies me as someone with at least a little insight. My insight into the movie at stake, Indra Kumar's "Rishtey", is very brief: It's a bad movie.

I'll dive into the movie a little further. It's the story of a hard working street boxer (Anil Kapoor) who kidnapped his own son because the father of his wife (Karishma Kapoor) wanted the baby and him killed. He raises the boy - and after seven years, he has to face his past and confront the family of his wife again. Standard Bollywood-plot, so to speak. But that's not yet a criticism: Someone like Mani Rathnam could have done a good film out of such a tired story.

I'd also not blame the actors: Anil Kapoor gives a strong performance, the boy does a good job too and Amrish Puri (who plays Karishma's father) acts such roles in his sleep. Karishma herself is less convincing. She stumbles and cries through the scenery and her role is terribly underwritten. She's more a red herring than a character. The better female in the cast is Shilpa Shetty who delivers some humor and a lot of skin.

So who's to blame? Well, where do I start. The music is terrible. It's your typical "angelic Bollywood choir" with its "aaaah aaaaaah" over every emotional scene. Sometimes that works, here it does not. The sound effects are equally bad. Expect sound effects right out of a Batman-cartoon. You can hear all the "swooshs" and "swishs" in the sound track and it's just utterly annoying. The direction: Could this be any more heavy handed? Every event in the movie is forced upon the story (and the viewer) without any ease. The courtroom scenes are cheesy, the divine intervention by Rama is wooden and the final half hour is as fatalistic as possible and results in a unbelievable happy end.

The movie was ruined for me in the first half hour already. After they stole a scene from "Forrest Gump" ("Run Karan, run!"), the boy gives a clumsy speech for his daddy. And it goes on in this direction. The meetings between Anil Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty get equally embarrassing. In one scene, he has to tell her, how beautiful she looks and she cannot believe it. Hellooo? Isn't it, well, obvious that she's very pretty? Ok, I can forgive all that... but then, the movie tries to copy "Over to Top". Why this one? Why perhaps Sly's worst movie? And the title lends itself perfectly for a negative review of this film ... over the top. Well, what I'm trying to say is that once you've seen that it tries to copy that movie, the suspense is gone as well.

I could go on and on. To make it short: It's an embarrassingly heavy handed movie. Nothing flows easily in this film. There are some nice songs (the one after 30 minutes is strangely sexy for a family film) and some nice performances, but that's about it. If you want a "boy wants to live with his daddy"-film, try "Rahul". That one's heavy handed too, but it has more charm than "Rishtey" and comes across less forced. My rating

3/10

When I'm 13en Year Old , i Watch This Flick On Sat Max & Just Cry After Watching The Movie & Now I'm 22 Year Old Still When I Watch The Flick I Just Emotionally Attach To This Flick ! At My Point Of View; One OF The Best Movie Of Family Drama. Enjoy With Popcorn Or Cock Or Both, Its Simply Biggest Entertainer As Its Show , Excellent Performane , Good Music & Of Course The Story Which Emotionally Attach To Us... So,Enjoy With Your Family !

Originally 'Rishtey' was to be made sometime in the late 90s. Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri's production company ABCL was ready to launch the movie while Indra Kumar was to direct. The original cast included Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. However, after ABCL fell apart, the film got shelved. Years later Indra Kumar tries to revive the film with a new cast that included Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Preity Zinta but after the two actresses walked out they were respectively replaced by Karishma Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty. So, that's the history. Now what's the end product like? 'Rishtey' is a pathetic excuse of a movie. The writing is so dreadful. The plot is one of those old fashioned crap about a stupid couple separating due to a misunderstanding created by the girl's father. There's a baby involved and after 10 years or whatever the mom finds out that the baby is alive and wants him back. In the end they live happily ever after, yes, even with the evil father who becomes a good guy after his daughter slaps him across the face and whatever. Indra Kumar is a terrible director. I think his earlier films were more watchable because of the actors and the music. Here all the songs (with the exception of 'Deewana Dil') are garbage. The best song in the soundtrack ('Dilbar' sung by the sensational Asha Bhosle) wasn't even in the movie.

The acting is clichéd and ridiculous to the core (with one exception). Anil Kapoor is miscast and, he whines, he barks, cries like a schoolgirl, is too old for the part, looks pathetic with the 'hey look I'm young' getup, and whatever. Karishma Kapoor is the queen of hamming. Though I must add that her character was awfully written. Deepshika and Sharat Saxena play clichéd characters that give them no scope and Amrish Puri's caricature evil dad is nothing memorable. Jibraan Khan is irritating.

The only good acting, and the only good thing that comes out of this heap of rubbish is Shilpa Shetty. Yes, she looks very sensual but if one can see past that, we do see a character with depth. The character does mildly suffer due to writing and the clichéd dialogues but Shetty moves ahead of that. She displays some impeccable comic timing and is wonderful in the dramatic sequences. One can only feel sympathy for her Vyjanti who is an uneducated fisherwoman hopelessly falling in love (as the definition of love is vague to her) with someone who does not give a damn. She selflessly does all she can to reunite Suraj with Komal knowing that there's nothing to gain and I was moved by the last scene where Karan looks at her and we see her eyes filled with tears of both joy and sadness as she signals him to not say anything.

So that's about it. This is a horrendous film with only one thing going for it and that is Shilpa Shetty.

I like Anil Kapoor, he's really a great actor and just such a wholesome personality. He always gives me positive vibes of someone who'd be perfectly cordial and nice to his surroundings. But man, casting him in the role of a street fighter is really an insult to him, even more than it is to the audience who's expected to buy this weird casting choice. But I wish this was the problem with the film. Rishtey is like a volcanic soap opera, it is highly melodramatic, forced, unrealistic, and just really whiny all through. Heavy violins keep playing through the crucial emotional scenes, while the actors are required to utter some really absurd dialogues and that too, in such theatrical intonations.

The film has some nice music, but most of it is actually unoriginal, with songs copied from different, mostly popular Arabic songs. "Har Taraf", which is beautiful and beautifully sung by Shaan and Mahalkshmi Iyer, is one such example. Asha Bhosle gives a perfect rendition (better than the original Arabic song, obviously - no offense but it's Asha Bhosle after all) of a number called "Dilbar" which didn't even make it to the film. Sunidhi Chauhan soulfully performs "Yeh Dil" (also performed by the great Udit Narayan), perhaps my favourite number in this copied soundtrack. I have no doubt the good soundtrack makes many viewers experience the film differently.

As mentioned above, the actors are forced to act out some embarrassing situations. Anil Kapoor tried his best in a role he is clearly miscast for. Karisma Kapoor's charismatic presence is undeniable, but sometimes I can't believe she really thinks some of the things she does are any good. Some badly written scenes are made even worse by her high-strung overacting. She is better than that (see Fiza, Zubeidaa, Shakti for evidence). Amrish Puri is the typical villain, and he is always good even in roles which strain credulity. Now the boy is cute and smart but acting-wise not very good, partly because of bad writing and direction, and partly because he's probably not good enough.

The saving grace in this film is obviously Shilpa Shetty who is almost unaffected by the bad writing in a wonderful comic performance as the illiterate, sultry but innocent fisherwoman. First, obviously her sensual physical appearance makes her awfully attractive and just a delight to look at in this regard; then her accent and crude delivery seem spot on for the part she plays. But above all, she brings soul and a sort of layering to her portrayal of selfless love and by the end it is her character you end up feeling for. In many ways she reminded me of a young Sridevi. Shetty is by far the main redeeming quality of an otherwise poor, poor film.

Rishtey review :

There are a few instances when a supporting actor steals the show from the films main leads. Indra Kumar directed Rishtey is a classic example of this where the super hottie Shilpa Shetty impressed as the kind hearted fisherwomen falling for the single parent Anil Kapoor and even willing to sacrifice her motherhood to take care of his son. Later, she learns Anil's ex wifey Karisma Kapoor is very much alive and returns back to claim her son. The film is filled with needless melodrama and unconvincing situations like a polio affected kiddo winning a school running race. Anil Kapoor, always sincere, is miscast as the free style boxer while Karisma still seems to be in her Raja Hindustani (1996) mode. Shucks!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.