Saathiya

This film -- which I had heard almost nothing about before seeing it -- turned out to be a powerful, moving, and important love story. Rani Mukherjee's performance as Suhani -- the young M.D. and wife struggling to reach out to her husband after they elope -- is top notch and clearly deserving of an Oscar. Likewise, Vivek Oberoi does a wonderful job portraying her husband Aditya as he oscillates between playfulness and workaholism. Ali and Rathnam's story is superb -- combining drama and social commentary in a complex and satisfying tapestry. As always, Anil Mehta does a fabulous job lensing the story -- his cinematography captures a wide range of urban landscapes that subtly adds depth and context to the story (and be on the lookout for an in-joke concerning his name in the film). And, of course, A. R. Rahman's score is terrific -- particularly when pouring out of a theater's surround-sound system! Not to be missed!

Aditya (Vivek Oberoi) falls in love with Suhani (Rani Mukerji) and, after some time, wins her. Both of their fathers are against the match, but they choose to marry anyway, sure that love will overcome all problems. Instead, they discover that marriage is a difficult game of give and take, and they struggle to keep faith with each other.

This romantic drama is a remake of the 2000 Tamil film, Alaipayuthey, which gives a realistic view of marriage. Oberoi and Mukerji have generally good chemistry, and make an attractive couple. Mukerji gives a convincing performance throughout, but Oberoi's emotions are not convincing in the end scenes. Shah Rukh Khan and Tabu give an extended cameo appearance, but their chemistry is decided lacking, and what should have been some of the most moving scenes fell rather flat. However, Tanuja, who plays Suhani's difficult mother, gave an excellent performance. The songs were mostly beautiful, with the incidental music being used quite effectively. Overall, I found the movie to be entertaining, but with an ending too abrupt to be fully satisfying.

With Mani Rathnam and A R Rehman linked to a project, one cannot be in to much doubt that if nothing else the music is going to be mind blowing.

But that was not the case with Saathiya. It not only had mind-blowing music and score it was one of the best movies of 2002.

The music and the respective picturisations are excellent, especially in the case of the title song ‘Saathiya'. My other favorite song is the tongue in cheek song ‘Choori pe Choori'. However all the other songs are very pleasurable as well. The main question was how would first time director Shaad Ali perform on this story, that would be a remake of Mani Rathnam South-Indian movie be as good as the original? Would he produce an art movie piece as his father (Muzaffar Ali) has done with movies like Umrao Jaan, or would he deliver a commercial piece? What one can be sure of is that Shaad has taken the craftsman of his fathers art movies and put them to commercial use, and delivered a movie that is unique, professional, modern and outstanding.

The acting is excellent as is the story line. Having liked Rani from Ghulam to K3G, is wonderful to see her finally taking the lead in a role that does her justice. Her realistic portrayal of Suhani, a modern genre women dealing with the trials and tribulations of married life is excellent. Having not seen anything of Viveks before, is was a surprise to see an actor of his young caliber holding such presence on screen, that it overshadowed SRK. It is evident that this actor will reach high strides in his coming career.

For a change this movie actually delivers a subconscious message, something not commonly done in bollywood movies. The message is ‘lifes to short, tell those around you how much they really mean to you'. Taking this to heart, I can truly say that I loved Saathiya.

All same old stuff...love love and hell lot of songs.. Pata nahi kab sudhrenge yeh loooooog.. Now a days all the love stories are the remake of the movies from south india.

Saathiya, a movie that i wanted to see because of its beautiful songs. I never expected that the story would be as enjoyable as the songs. This movie is made as simple as they could and yet made it look nice without any huge sets, or without of having characters in the story who are like supposely equivalent to Bill Gates. This is a movie which most of the people could relate to especially considering most of the indian population living in india lives through middle class values which is addressed in the movie. The romance is not overexaggerated. Basically, talking about the movie a viewer would not be disappointed. The direction was very veteran like considering it was Shaad Ali's first film. He did a fabulous job at the climax point. To bring out the performances worthy of awards and praises from the leading actors, Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee. Rani Mukherjee has done her part better then her male counterpart but I would not dare take anything away from Vivek Oberoi. Vivek lends a good support but it is clear that movie's driving force was Rani Mukherjee, movie belonged to Rani Mukherjee arguably her best performance ever till date. Overall, it is a good heartwarming experience with good tunes to hummm in isolation. Characters will easily relate to you, it is that beautifully played out.