Taal

I just watched the movie, after 11 years of its release; got totally involved in the movie. It was stunning, especially considering the fact that I already knew the story. Although any bollywood fan can predict the story, but interesting part is its execution, its flow. One thing that may disappoint you is one of the metaphor used for love(sharing cold drink). I am not a great fan of love at first sight, but in this case simplicity of characters and naturalism of dialogues/thoughts will force you to digest that. Apart from being wonderfully musical it seems to me the most romantic movie of the decade, rich in family values, close to reality in many aspects. I would say it is must watch for any romantic musical person. I am gonna buy the DVD as soon as my pocket allows me.

It's an okay Bollywood flick. Cliché story line. What sets it apart from other is the music. After almost 18 years it still one of the master class of a musical that Bollywood ever produced. A R Rahman was at his best. The lyric and sound engineering was almost unparalleled to other Hindi movies.

a fresh feel, a fresh look, a fresh concept

Taal is a great movie. Great story, great performances, great songs and great look & feel. It should be the utopia of modern Indian cinema and it should represent what all movies should aspire to be like. This can be classed as one of the best, if not the best movie ever made by Subhash Ghai.

The cast is great, including the supporting cast. The star of the show is Ashwaria, whose portrayal of a simple village girl coming to terms with love, hurt and pressures of modern life is excellent. It was probably the role that helped her to shed her Barbie doll image and her acting was very natural, full of character and spot on. It was good to see the transformation from the first half where she is the small town girl, to the second half where she is a reputable icon. Akshaye was great in his role as Manav, a determined, strong headed, love bitten guy. Akshaye always gives sound performances and never lets you down as in this case. Anil Kapoor is fab in this role. His comedic side always hit the right note (best part being the rules of life!!). Alok Nath & Amrish Puri gave good performances and really do support the movie.

The story is simple, to the point and not extra bits added in. Manav sees Mansi and is smitten by her and slowly she develops feelings for him (through some fab songs like Taal and Ishq Bina) and then he goes back to the big city. She follows him and is cast aside by his family. Becoming more determined she pursues a sing job, becomes really good. Her career is helped by Vikrant who also has feelings for her and proposes to her. The climax helps to bring things together.

If one was to think of something bad to say about Taal, then they will be thinking for a long, long time.

Early in the film, Akshaye Khanna is shown basically stalking Aishwaria Rai and secretly taking photos of her while she's bathing and undressing, and then hangs all the photos on his wall and sits there and looks at them. So I thought this movie was going to be a "psycho-stalking" movie. But then my wife explained to me that in Indian movies, the standard way of developing a romantic story is to show the man stalking the woman and obsessing over her in a fashion which might, in other cultures, be considered criminal behavior. Armed with this new found knowledge, I was able to enjoy the movie. The music of A.R. Rahman, who appears to carry the burden of creating the music for every one of the 400 movies to come out of Bombay every year, is catchy and the stars look good.

My first introduction to a Hindi movie in the cinema and it certainly won't be my last. This film is lush in its use of colour, music, location and good acting. The cinematography is breathtaking in many areas not least being a wonderful tracking/crane shot over treetops apparently made without the use of a helicopter(the leaves are perfectly still). The story is predictable but welcome and the musical segments hold your attention like a vice. The use of Dolby surround is perfect and the actors make leaving your seat impossible. Even if you don't speak Hindi (as I don't) this movie is well worth the price of admission.