Paheli, le fantôme de l'amour

I went to see this title purely out of curiosity - amol palekar, being more than a revered god in our household and srk's grand charisma covering all promos from head to toe. Also, rani mukherjee and big b in the cast certainly added to the shimmer.

What i found was something more......

The child in me arose as I no longer remained in the theater but, moved to my childhood room with grandma telling me an exquisite tale - of a land far far away. A land where the arid, parched environs sharply contrast with the rich color of the people and melody flowing with the air.

The tale is simple. The narration; funny and colorful.

A childish princess(rani) comes to her groom's (shahrukh) household with hopes of bliss and true love - finding a true-to-bone abacus instead. He leaves her the next day to set up a business in a distant town. As fate would have it, someone who truly loves the bride now enters her life - a ghost! This ghost takes on her husband's appearance (though confessing to her) and lives with her for a few years.

The real groom now returns and everyone is baffled. The bride however faces the real paheli - should her husband be the one who took marital vows with her or the one who loved her?

Though the movie looks like another glitzy tale from lala land, there is much more to it. Beyond the exotic tanishq( the jewel sponsor for the film) stones, CGI effects and tall Khan tales lies a true gem, that brings back a twinkle in the eyes, of a memory long forgotten.

This film is absolutely excellent. The film was well-made. Great script and there was plenty of time to build relationships. Unlike the recent Indian movies that seem to be pointless and fast-paced and songs placed right-left and centre. This film is much better than Devdas. The colours, the songs, the acting, directing, producing and the cinematography are just brilliant. However you should not watch this film if you are a sceptic of folk tales and myths because this story is a Rajasthani folk tale so the people who will find this 'UTTERLY STUPID' are people who hate folktales or hate Bollywood films. This will go in the classics, I hope this gets the international recognition it deserves.

A veteran short story writer once said about one of his stories that adults may not understand his story but children will. this film is a delightful romance. it is no use asking how can a ghost impregnate a woman. While reading some stories or viewing some films we suspend our sense of reality. there are no gruesome or handsome villains who invent new forms of coldest cruelty . There are no impossible and bloody fight scenes. True the story is mythical but quite allegorical. In one scene the ghost says that he is "love" every woman yearns for. In this film the sexuality of woman is described as something holy. In traditional societies normally the sexuality of women is suppressed on the plea of need for social stability. But in myths and folktales this taboo is transcended. The songs and dances mostly based on Rajasthani folk idioms are delightful. Rani Mukerjee acted superbly and there is a delightful cameo role by Amitab Bachan There is humor, joys and sorrows in this film. credos to Amol Palekar.

We always talk about the great Indian treasure we have in the form of literature but when it comes to adapting them for films for mass consumption, everybody for some strange reason adopted a ridiculous view that this cannot be commercially viable proposition. Paheli, here not only comes as a whiff of fresh air by being original but also as a tight slap on the face of all such advocates of escapist, masala cinema. Also its not an easy cake-walk for those "Hollywood (now even other world cinema) DVDs-inspired fools". Three cheers to Shahrukh for he took a great leap by lending his hands to this film by not just acting in it but also producing it. (Never mind if he is competing with fellow actor Aamir who produced "Lagaan'). Based on book by Vijay Dan Detha, (it was adapted way back in 1973 by Director Mani Kaul for his film-Duvidha) it has captured everything with grandeur. Is it superfluous or sumptuous? May be to an extent but definitely it did not look like a patch as in cases of our Devdases and Blacks. The mind blowing Art Direction (Munish Sappel), Exotic Locations, Costumes (Shalini Sarna), Jewellery (Tanishq), everything falls seamlessly into place. Cinematography (Ravi K. Chandran) and Visual Efx (Eagle Video Films-Prime Focus) is first rate. The sequence where a ghost morphs into a Crow and then to a Squirrel, followed by a bird and finally a Man is mesmerizing. Rani Mukherji and Mr. Bachchan (in Cameo) are competent as usual. Amol Palekar, the director always delivers, never disappoints and same is the case here in his Ninth Film To top it not only he crafted an aesthetic, wonderful fairy-tale looking folklore but also manages his lead actor to perform wisely within the periphery of character, without going over the top. Look at the different number of expressions Shahrukh has given every time while mumbling same line-"Phal..Phool Gulabjal". No doubt a rare achievement. . It has some minus points too; the camel race is not shot well. May be it is difficult to capture and is also redundant. Sequence could have been shorter. Rajpal Yadav's Character is completely unnecessary and could have been avoided. Also can somebody please tell him not to play to the gallery for 'N'th time? Sub plot of Juhi Chawla and Suneil Shetty also has nothing to contribute to the narrative. Songs are too many and mostly out of situation. Also the drama quotient in climax is low, it could have been treated with more impact. Narrative of whole film would be more interesting if they played on subtle humor throughout the film. Nevertheless, all these come across as minor flaws. A word of advice for Shahrukh, stick to such cinema rather than doing those mindless NRI romances, as you will gradually find a rather larger audience never mind if it takes another 2-3 attempts. All in all, in one word the whole viewing experience can be described as "Phenomenal".

I came to see Pehali just to see two of my favourite actors displaying their wonderful talents on the screen. At the same token, i wished that the slightly strange storyline wouldn't falter anywhere. It didn't, but really, the film wasn't as good as it looked.

The story is different no doubt, but there wasn't any serious core to it naturally (its about the 'eternal love story' of a ghost!). This kind of prevented me from taking the film seriously.However, a very nice set design and simply superb colours made the film not entirely a joke.

The cast, as expected, was superb. Shah Rukh brought his unique and mature attitude to the screen once again and Rani just looked amazing. Anupum Kher was also excellent and performed the most subtle comic role i have ever seen in Hindi cinema. This was really what made the film enjoyable. The special appearances were also much appreciated; Juhi making a now rare appearance in mainstream films! The music is great, and Shah Rukh is successful in bringing another cinematic surprise to the silver screen. All in all, the film is fun to watch, although I feel 'Parineeta' was much better. But finally, Hindi films are starting to feel more original!