Ankahee

I went to watch Ankahee with zero expectations. Vikram Bhatt is a director who hardly ever did a good film, and barring a few exceptions, most of his films are poor and unoriginal. But somehow I found Ankahee watchable despite the poor writing. The film deals with such issues as adultery and depression, and it might not be convincing, but somewhat enjoyable. Esha Deol stars as a beauty pageant who has an affair with a married man played by Aftab Shivdasani. First, with all due respect, Deol is far from having the looks of a beauty pageant. In fact, she is not half as beautiful as her mother Hema Malini. Having said that, she performed passionately throughout the film and her wide eyes conveyed the emptiness and the frustration of a woman suffering from manic depression. Aftab Shivdasani was decent as the confused man who lacks character. Amisha Patel was convincing and played the wronged but strong wife with sincerity and depth. This may be her most (or should I say only) solid performance since Gaddar. Technically, Ankahee is well-made. The story was quite good and the proceedings were dark and serious, albeit a bit confused and slow. The ending is strange and funny, but nevertheless, this is a decent fare which can be watched with family and friends.

Yes, the title stands true. I watched this movie with friends. One of them watched till half-time, and went back to catch up on sleep. The rest of us stayed on. It was painfully slow from around 15%th to the 50%th point. Long dialogue sequences. Overacting. And the most annoying thing -- Aftab's inability to converse (especially arguments) without moving this hands in air as in sword-fighting. If he had a sword in his hands, he'd have cut both Ameesha Patel and Esha into million pieces each.

The second half was a respite. Story picked up pace. But now it went into the well-beaten track of Bollywood (won't reveal that in the review, but it's obvious from film's theme). Very much predictable.

Positives: 1. Ameesha Patel looked nice. 2. The movie starts off with an old-age Aftab lying in bed. The portrayal is funny. All us friends went into a laughter spree.

Negatives: 1. Oft-repeated theme. Too predictable. 2. Aftab's lack of dialogue-delivery abilities. 3. Esha looked horrible in most parts of the movie.

Well the movie seemed boring and dragged at times but it sure is not a total disappointment. I am not proud to say but I was stunned by Esha Deol's work in the movie. She is sure to be nominated for the best actress in negative role award for this year and if I was to decide, ill even give her one. Aftab and Amisha were also not as bad as they usually are. There are few good scenes in the movie and some powerful dialogues make up for the rest of the score I have given the movie. I would agree that it is not that great a movie but it definitely is under-rated. I would recommend watching the movie at least once if u do have the time. Obviously it is not a 'watch again' movie and maybe for some of you, not even worth watching in the cinema halls either, but renting it's VCD on a Saturday afternoon is surely not a bad idea.

Story- weak/ poor/ typical Screenplay- weaker/usual Performance- poor/pioneer/fake Music- Amazing Music wasted in such a movie Dialogue- usual/poor/typical dramatic Direction- weaker/ half left/ unexplained/ Oblogatively made complected.

Descriptions- Direction could be a bit smarter, Things are forcefully made complecated which could have been handled smoothly at certain places in story. Nothing new in story, some overacting ruins the charm, Voice over dubbing of main lead is the worst part of the movie giving a bad impression right from the start. ONLY STABLE PERFORMANCE SEEN BY ESHA DEOL THAT TOO FOR THE OTHERS WHO HAVE RUINED THEIR PARTS.

It has to be Vikram Bhatt's best film, Aftab's & Esha's acting was excellent. I felt really sorry for Esha although she was dangerous & obsessive especially when she was crying in the hospital. The story is about Aftab who is a doctor and is happy with his married life with Amista Patel but unfortunately an actress & miss world came into his hospital after a failed suicide attempt. Aftab was taking care of her and told the media "It was just an accident". Eventually they both fell in love with each other and that's where they all start to have major problems. The film contains every emotion, its low budget and music is very heartfelt.