Daraar

This was the first Bollywood movie I saw and, frankly, it disappointed me. It has all the cliches of indian musicals and a very lame plot. If you are thinking about renting it, pick something else.

3 out of 10.

Thanks to italian sat television we have been watching Bollywood movies for an entire week. Frankly this is not the one we like most. We preferred, for instance, Ghatak, or the much more coherent "Josh". In "Daraar" so many genres are mixed, and the movie is nice when the director makes the love story go on, with a beautiful indian ballet (played by lots of people who were crowding a bus just a second before!) and lovely songs. But then, it turns suddenly to a thriller, whose plot is completely inspired by the american movie "Sleeping with the enemy". What a pity! Besides being a "déja vu", fascination of hindi movies lacks completely in the second half.

Director duo Abbas-Mustan who gave us decent thrillers like Khiladi and Baazigar failed to deliver this time They tried to make a trashy remake of the Hollywood thriller 'Sleeping with the Enemy'. After all, this movie was already remade two times in Bollywood as 'Agnisakshi' and 'Yaraana' which flopped badly.

Juhi Chawla was the only star who shined throughout the movie. Rishi Kapoor should STOP acting like a romantic nut and that is. Arbaaz Khan is totally unconvincing as the abusive husband. His dialogue delivery is horrible and he must do something about his menacing voice. Johnny Lever, again, is a total bore. His comedy routine doesn't go well with the plot which is otherwise serious.

Music is average. Editing is okay. Cinematography could've been better. At the box-office, a total no-go.

Ouch! I paid how much for this on DVD???

I didn't want to bother writing this review, but the movie was so horrible that the memorable parts really got trashed by the rest of the movie.

The plotline is quite similar to that of "Sleeping With The Enemy". The opening scene was quite good, and had given me hopes that the rest of the movie would be equally enthralling. Arbaz Khan, in particular, I think ruined the movie. He is not a good fit for the role of the estranged husband. Though he can deadpan quite well, he does not have the menacing presence that is a must for this role. I had more of an urge to burst out laughing than to be cowed in his "psycho" scenes. Juhi Chawla is the acting/presence highlight of the movie. Rishi Kapoor, well, he's in it. He can still show us some moves, but don't look at anything else.

If you are a fan of experiments with animation/live cinematography, you will like one of the song sequences with Juhi and Rishi. It was done very well and was a treat to watch.

Overall, a 5 out of 10.

Daraar got off to a pretty good start. The first scene really left me at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. Other than that, the first half of the movie is a total BORE. All the first half of the movie is about is Rishi Kapoor falling head over heels in love with Juhi Chawla. By the way, don't you think he's a little old for her???

Things finally start to spice up towards the middle of the film when Juhi tells us about her previous husband; and wow what a lunatic is he! He was an over-protective, neat-freak with a really HOT TEMPER! He used to beat up poor Juhi for no good reason! One of the reasons I really don't like this movie is because I can't stand to see Juhi (my favorite actress) get so abused. This film in general has WAY too much abuse and bloodshed; I find it so sickening!!!

Anyway, all I'm trying to say is if you're thinking about renting Daraar, you should put it right back on the shelf where you found it and pick something else!