Phir Milenge

'Life is a moment. For a moment it's there and in a moment it's gone'

What would you do if you find out that you are HIV positive, you are infected by the only person you ever loved, you cannot trace that person for answers and the worst of all your boss throws you out of your job for which you have given everything, just because he fears you would infect him and the other employees ? Sit and Sulk or ………..fight !

Coming from a director of the beautiful movie 'Mitr', the movie 'Phir Milenge' has lived, lived to it's expectations, lived to tell a tale, lived to spread a message that otherwise one would have dared of. The movie is sensitive and touching, and even though it may have been written off by critics as commercially unacceptable, in my opinion it is one of the most beautiful movie ever made in mainstream Bollywood cinema. Truly the Hindi film industry has grown up, matured and come of age.

The plot is largely based on the classic movie 'Philadelphia'. In fact many scenes are directly picked up from that movie, but at the end of the day , this movie is different, may not be as hard hitting as the former, but it is good enough none the less. In fact even people like me who have already seen Philadelphia would easily find contrast from that movie. The former tells about an 'AIDS' infected homosexual, who sues his firm for discrimination for not only being infected, but mind you for being homosexual, years ago in USA, but 'Phir Milenge' , note carefully is the story of an heterosexual woman, who is 'HIV Positive' (Note: She still hasn't got full blown AIDS), who is discriminated by her firm for having HIV, in today's world, in India ! If it still sounds similar read the fine print again.

As far as the performances go, Salman Khan is excellent in his little cameo especially in the scenes in which he is shown to die. Abhsheik Bachaan is outstanding. He almost does as Good as Denzel in the original. Nasser as the heartless defense lawyer is great. The music is soothing and touching.

But clearly the entire credit of the movie goes to two women. Revathy, who brings forward one of the best direction ever seen in Hindi cinema and Shilpa Shetty for one of the best performance ever in a mainstream role. Though these may seem exaggerations, but once you see the movie you would realize that it's not.

The best part of the movie, is it's ending, it is conspicuous by it's absence ! The movie doesn't end in a conventional way. The director has intelligently implanted loose ends to it , first to signify that there are absolutely no laws in India to help the victims of HIV, and second to show that even and HIV patient can live, and live long.

For those who complained India lacked realistic cinema, it's time for you to stop complaining. Bye for now, Phir Milenge on IMDb.com

The thing which I universally found in the various offices I remained associated with is the hypocrisy in the office culture. Your bosses / seniors may be having some reasons to punish / harass you but when they actually do it, upon asking the reasons, they seldom furnish the genuine reasons. Once the issue of injustice / harassment is raised by the victimized one, the oppressors cook up stories to justify what they've (unjustly) done without admitting the truth behind that. Shilpa Shetty, Salmaan Khan and Abhishek Bachchan starrer Phir Milenge (2004) made with the backdrop of the curse of the relatively modern disease - AIDS, highlights this phenomena only.

Phir Milenge (we'll meet again) is the story of Tamanna Saahni (Shilpa Shetty) who is a committed career woman, always giving her best shot to her work in the company and contributing significantly to her employer organization's growth. Her boss (Raja Krishnamoorthy) is very happy with her (due to her astounding performance in the company). However destiny lands Tamanna into trouble when she happens to meet her boyfriend Rohit Manchanda (Salmaan Khan) after many years and gets intimate with him.

After a few days, she comes to know that she is HIV positive. Supposedly she has been caught by AIDS because of her sexual intimacy with Rohit only who himself must be an AIDS patient. Once this fact is known to others, Tamanna finds herself as expelled from her employer company and almost lonely in the world. The people from her erstwhile employers, mainly her ex-boss, are not speaking out the real reason behind her dismissal which is her being AIDS patient. Instead, they cook up false stories regarding her inefficiency and negligence to work to justify their action.

When Tamanna decides to fight against this injustice in the court, almost everybody discourages her terming her case as a very weak one and bound to lose the legal battle. However a young advocate Tarun Anand (Abhishek Bachchan) takes up her case upon getting encouragement from his senior and mentor (Nasser) and then starts the prolonged courtroom drama in which advocate Kalyaani (Meeta Vashisht) is the counsel of her opponents, i.e., the company. Finally, the courage and conviction of Tamanna and her counsel Tarun triumphs and she gets her social respect back by winning the case against the company. However Rohit dies after apologizing to Tamanna.

This movie has been publicized and talked about as a movie making people aware of AIDS and its disastrous consequences for the affected individual plus being human to the patients. However while watching this movie, I was able to relate to it time and again not on account of the AIDS issue but on account of the hypocritical Indian work culture in which a committed, dedicated and hard-working employee is victimized on account of false reasons. How ungrateful ! How ungrateful it is on the part of the senior officials of an organization when they victimize the person who has shed perspiration, who has burnt midnight oil and who has given his / her 100% to take the organization to the heights of success.

In the courtroom drama too, it is very emphatically and realistically shown that on one hand, the lawyer of the company (Meeta Vashisht) is trying to trap the aggrieved plaintiff, i.e., Tamanna in her web of words in order to get something from her mouth which may go against her (as is always expected of shrewd and cunning lawyers), on the other, her ex-boss and other associates (being the flatterers of the boss) speak a bunch of lies (under oath) to the court telling stories about Tamanna's negligence to her duties (because the real reason for her dismissal that she's got AIDS, cannot be admitted). How hurting it is for a hard-working, sincere and committed person when his / her toil is negated in this way ! Appears strange ? But true ! Very true in the context of the work culture (unfortunately) prevailing in India.

And now for the issue of AIDS. The movie very correctly underscores the fact that the AIDS patients are also human-beings only and just because someone has caught this virus, he / she should not be considered as characterless and treated like a leper. Just like the cases of the transgenders, gays and lesbians; the case of HIV positives also needs to be treated on humanitarian grounds. Everybody has a right to live and his / her rights as a human-being cannot be denied just because he / she is an AIDS patient or having a biological gender abnormality or having offbeat sexual preferences. An employee who was being considered an invaluable asset to the organization till yesterday, is suddenly being considered a burden just because of her disease and since this reason is totally unjustified and unacceptable (especially in the court of law), false reasons are created to be given for her dismissal; this is how our organizations function and strengthen the prejudices of the society towards those who are worthy of sympathy and support in their crisis time.

The erstwhile heroine of Tamil movies as well as a few Bollywood movies - Revathy, has directed this movie very well However Tamanna's victory in the court case in the climax sounded a bit unconvincing to me but perhaps it was essential to end the movie on a positive note and render an air of hope for future.

Shilpa Shetty has delivered the performance of a lifetime in this movie. This actress mainly known for her item numbers, has finally showed in Phir Milenge that she has come of age as an actress. A splendid show from her. Abhishek Bachchan and Salmaan Khan have not shared screen space. Salmaan is in a guest appearance whereas Abhishek has got a meaty role. Both of them have done well.

Despite not being a masterpiece, Phir Milenge deserves a watch by all the sensitive viewers.

Revathy's 'Phir Milenge' is a film about a young woman who tragically finds out that she is an HIV positive, a result of a one-time affair she had had with an old friend a few months before. Now she has to cope with the cruel society and its prejudice. This young woman is played by Shilpa Shetty, an actress who sadly never was flooded with great film offers before, but here was given a splendid chance to showcase her talent in a role that was not only one of her best, but one of the best of the year.

This film, inspired by the American picture Philadelphia, is made by Revathy in her own different and convincing style. India is not America, and the prejudice can go to any extents in there. Some may say it goes over the top with a stereotyped depiction of prejudice. But if we have to be honest, we got to admit that it's the real situation, not only in India but in all over the world, caused by the ongoing lack of awareness of AIDS and of what it actually is.

I found the film realistic, intense, powerful and emotionally touching. But one aspect that impressed me the most was Shilpa Shetty's magnificent dramatic performance. Her heartfelt, sensitive portrayal of the optimistic, stubborn and strong career woman Tamanna Sahni was both heartbreaking and inspiring. She was natural, moving and believable all through, performing the most difficult emotional moments with amazing depth and conviction. Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan provide great support. Bachchan is particularly impressive as the simple, humorous lawyer who supports Tamanna throughout the film.

Towards the end, the film includes several scenes, some of which are heart-warming, and others are simply heart-rending. The first is Shilpa and Salman's first meeting when he is already at the advanced stages of his illness, when the two start crying as he asks her to forgive him. The following scene of Shilpa's breakdown when she visits Abhishek, is even more powerful, showing Shetty's acting at its deepest expressive level. Phir Milenge is a wonderful dramatic feature which shows us how unexpected life can be. Despite a somewhat slow and dark development, the film remains steadily interesting and compelling and ultimately leaves a mark. I highly recommend.

Phir Milenge deals with the issue of AIDS. But within it is hidden a more critical issue of how we deal in our relations.Are most of the relations which seems so powerful on top, doesn't have a hollow base ? And a slight shock ,rather a small fear ( even if it's misplaced) crumbles the entire building. There is a general psychology prevailing in our mind which attach's AIDS only with sexual relation .And instead of taking it as a disease, we start taking the person himself as a disease for society. We start believing that he is a curse to society and in turn we make a disease which was physical in nature to mental forcing the patient to bear with mental trauma of social boycott.

Coming to the movie, I must admit that before this movie I never take Shilpa shetty seriously considering her only as a item girl .But believe me, this movie has transcended her from a heroine to a good actress. Excellent acting done by her under the able hands of a sensitive director.As for the rest of cast , Abhishek Bachchan needs a special mention for his acting as well as selection of film. He is one actor to watch out in future who dares to go again formula cinema of bollywood and do meaningful films.

After all these years, Shilpa Shetty has finally accepted a role with depth to prove her worth, which she definitely did! Shilpa carries this film on her shoulders and gives a marvelous performance. In my opinion, she should be given the Best Actress award for 2004. Revathi, as always, has a made a film with genuine sentiments. Her style of film-making is very unique in that the audience feels as if they are a part of the movie. Salman Khan didn't have a long role but did a good job in his short time. Abhishek also did a great job. He has improved dramatically from his Refugee/TJCG days. Songs are very melodic. At first, it seems as if this is another ditsy Shilpa movie, but a shocking event that brings characters' worlds crashing down changes the entire feel of the movie. One of the best flicks of 2004.