Guzaarish

GUZAARISH Once again, and after a long time according to my standards, we got an opportunity to be amongst the first few to have watched the first public screening of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's newest venture, GUZAARISH. And two hours later, when I came out of the theatre with a lump in the throat, I couldn't but marvel at this outstanding creation on celluloid. Co-produced by UTV along with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, this clearly is Bhansali's best directorial effort till date. The theme is novel, at least in the Indian film scene and beautifully portrays a wide range of emotions. Love and caring; frustration and angst; helplessness and joy; anger and exhilaration are all presented with such finesse and perfection that it is difficult, well, nigh impossible to visualize as to how these emotions could have been better depicted on the screen. The other primary reason for the movie's powerful impact is that the ensembles of actors deliver their finest performances. Hritik Roshan, excels in his role of the magician performer turned quadriplegic and his eyes speak tomes of his inner feelings. Aishwarya Rai reveals that she can act, and wonderfully well, provided the script calls for it and if she has an able director to direct her efforts. The rest of the cast including the versatile Shernaz Patel, the debutante Aditya Roy Kapoor, the theatre personality Vijay Crishna (who is an Executive Director in one of the Godrej companies) and the graceful Nafisa Ali put in stellar performances. I will be most surprised if the cast members do not pick up more than a handful of awards. The music is also by Bhansali and while the few songs may not be chart busters, the background score is operatic in its expanse and adds to the mood of the various scenes. The dialogues are pithy and meaningful and couched in them are a number of philosophical statements. Bhansali's skill lies in making these not sound like drab monologues. I was reminded of the Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed and Amitabh-Rajesh Khanna starrer Anand whenever there were pathos tainted expressions of philosophy being mouthed on the screen. And just like it happened to me when I first saw Anand about three decades back, I was moved to tears in a few scenes; tears of a kind which do not cause uncontrollable sobbing, but which moisten one's eyes and leave you with a feeling of restrained, and quietly dignified expressions which speak louder than a thousand words. Bhansali's treatment of Euthanasia is without any melodrama whatsoever and this heightens the impact. Even the last scene is reminiscent of another Hrishikesh Mukerjee film: MILI; you know what is to follow, but still are left with the faint trickle of wishful optimism. Bhansali has proved that he can recover and recover well from his earlier blue themed disaster Saawariya, although the abundance of blue hues in a few scenes leave us with no doubt about the director's favourite color. Aishwarya looks stunning as well, and although her low cut dress is not what I have seen any nurse wearing, perhaps Bhansali intended it so as to provide some relief to the bed-chained hero! Ram Gopal Verma, who apparently has commented about his not liking her washing Hritik's hair needs to be reminded that Aishwarya looks more sensuous than all his pouting and pelvic thrusting heroines! Although GUZAARISH in the movie refers to the hero's deep desire to be freed from his state, it could also convey the GUZAARISH of every sick person to be nursed by a person like Aishwarya!!

A memorable movie that follows the daily emotional, and mental, anguishes of a quadriplegic dealing with the deterioration of his internal organs. With the love of his mother, he inspired to strive above all else, just by being content that he survived an awful accident ten years before. Now, after several years, the state of his body is declining and Ethan is no longer feeling the contentment of being alive, or of being free from all restraints (physical or otherwise). He seeks the assistance of his best friend, Devyani, to petition the courts for the rights of euthanasia. Due to cultural beliefs, he is denied that individual basic right. With the love of friends and his beloved Sofia, he continues to battle the struggles. Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (whom once again excels in a highly compelling film). Brilliant portrayal of a character that is dealing with not only moral, and social, issues and aspects, but is dealing with a human being's right to his own free choices, and own will power. Powerful story plot that follows with an array of amazing character performances. Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shernaz Patel, Suhel Seth, Aditya Roy Kapoor, and Nafisa Ali. Definitely worthy! "Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love deeply. Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile." ~Ethan Mascarenhas.

Finally, we have a movie to appreciate by heart. I was so much satisfied when i came out of the cinema hall. With no unpractical things happening out there, the movie deserves only one word, marvelous..!! By Heart i would like to thank Sanjay Bhansali For delivering a movie like this, and Hritik and aishwarya For their delightful work, which deserves standing applause..!! the movie is so well crafted that you cannot take your eyes of the screen,and in case you do,you gotta be missing something.. With superb cinematography, songs, story and every thing related, this film is simply a class apart..! if you are in a habit of watching class movies, go just watch it... full thumbs up to the movie!!!!

This is one of the best performance by Hrithik, wonderfully woven, every frame by frame, by Sanjay. Aishwarya is good, much better than her previous performances this year, Shernaz Patel and Suhel Seth performed brilliantly in their roles. Aditya Roy Kapoor needs special mention too. He is also outstanding and shows good promises as a forthcoming good actor to watch out for. Overall the movie is excellent. Hrithik once again proves why he is in the top league of actors today, excelling in all fields, be it acting, dancing emoting....just about everything. I am just too amazed by the movie and especially by the performance of Hrithik. He is totally a magician, both in the movie as well as in his acting.....My GUZAARISH.........please go and watch this movie guys and gals.....u will love it.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali returns with Guzaarish, a dramatic musical feature which tells the story Ethan Mascarenhas, a former successful magician who has been entirely paralysed since a tragic stage accident. After 14 years of immobility, a highly cynical and humorous Ethan, who has found success as a radio anchor and as an author, is exhausted and he willingly files an appeal to the court for mercy killing, also known as euthanasia. There begins a true moral dilemma which provokes many contradicting thoughts among those who surround Ethan, which include his devoted nurse for the last 14 years, Sofia D'Souza, a beautiful, serious and yet caring woman who first takes Ethan's decision as an insult to her long-standing selflessness, and of course among the viewers themselves.

Guzaarish is without a doubt an interesting film to watch, it is generally restrained in its portrayal of emotions, but at times -- the complete opposite. In a way it is a lot like Bhansali's pre-previous venture Black. It revolves around Anglo-Indian people, it is mostly in English, it is aided by lavish sets and costumes, the cinematography is stupendous, and the entire atmosphere is dark, dim and beautiful, filled with fantastic songs and a wonderful background score. In that sense, the movie is a true visual and musical treat. With the exception of Khamoshi, all of Bhansali's films have been glossy and extravagant, a style which was very appreciated by some, but many have considered it pretentious, snobbish, and a little hard to get into and relate to.

Guzaarish can be looked at from different angles. From one side, it can be accused of supporting mercy killing, which is unacceptable, but from the other, it's deeply devastating to know that a person cannot even move to end his life when he wants to. Both sides give the film a rather depressing feel despite the fact that Bhansali tries hard to lift the viewers' spirit by building a narrative that is full of positive and hopeful songs about the beauty of life and some breathtaking nature landscapes. The courtroom scenes are well portrayed, with one scene in which Ethan tries to illustrate the level of his agony through one 60-second "trick", being one of the film's most impressive. At the same time, the film's final scene is extremely manipulative, long and over-dramatised, being one of the film's biggest flaws.

Where the film scores big time except for its artistic portrayal of the rich cultural lifestyle of Portuguese-influenced Goa, it is definitely in the acting department. Though not perfect, a sincere Hrithik Roshan plays Ethan's hidden pain, his sense of irony, his great good-humour, and his love for those surrounding him, exceedingly well. Bhansali has once said that he is the only director who knows how to use Aishwarya Rai's beauty in his films and the one capable of extracting the best out of her acting skills. He once again proves to be right, as Rai delivers what in my book is the performance of the film. Through a brilliant, elegant and graceful portrayal of Sofia, she effectively creates a rather tough screen persona, and yet consistently lets the viewer sense her very soft inside, her love, goodwill and kindness. Those of you looking for the pick of her artistic expression, watch her "Udi" dance performance - it is simply astonishing.

The supporting cast includes the fantastic Shernaz Patel, who once again delivers an impressive act after her performance as a loving mother in Black. Nafisa Ali is still beautiful as Ethan's mother, and her monologue in court in support of her son is very touching. Rajit Kapoor is good as the prosecutor and boy has he changed since his appearances in Shyam Benegal's movies such as Mammo and The Making of The Mahatma. Aditya Roy Kapur is okay as Ethan's fan. All said and done, Guzaarish is a watchable movie which is generally moving, well scripted and very well acted. It is an extremely eye and ear-pleasing picture thanks to its cinematographic excellence and great musical numbers composed by Bhansali himself, but it has its share of minuses, and the film's final scene is example to that.