डोर

Dor is a well crafted post card movie. The movie at many times moves as if the director is flashing postcards one by one. Set in the backdrop of himachal and Rajasthanm, the beauty of nature is captured very well. Nagesk Kukunoor once again manages manages to create the emotional drama with this film. Solid performances by all stars especially by Gul Panag. She surely had shown potential after dhoop and in this movie she is surely a treat to watch. Miss Takia has also done a good job.

Dor is a story of two different woman handle their dor of life differently and how their life intersects due to one incident.

The story is well written and screen play is good. Mr. TalPade manages to provide humour to this movie convincingly. One place where it lacks is in its ending which could have been a "less bollywood" ending.

But with the script, direction and solid performances it is very good movie 8/10.

One of the better movies of recent times.. you hardly get to see a more realistic reflection of the life in rural India. Kudos to cinematography to create such a holistic picture of Rajasthan... and what a breath taking view of the Opening Act.

Nagesh Kukunoor has definitely done his homework before making this film. It touches so many real issues faced by India.. the fiercely independent Zeenat, the overtly coy Mira, the odd jobs a beherupiya has to do, the dependency a family has on a son who's abroad, the young girl who was dumped at birth, the state of mind of the elderly, the list is endless...

Every actor of the film deserves kudos for giving justice to his / her role. Ayesha Takia needs to do some such similar role to repeat the phenomenon; a different take from what she has done so far... She is refreshingly different. Well Shreyas, you are getting better at acting.

One word to summarize.. Gul Panag, awesome !! Look forward to your next film..

I very much enjoyed this movie and thought performances by both females leads were good. I especially liked Zeenat's (Gul Panag) courage, quiet dignity and fortitude in the face of an overwhelming and frightening situation for a young bride. I am of the opinion that she acted better than Ms. Takia, but both were very good. Mr. Talpade is also excellent as the comic foil and does a admirable job of plaing the jester. He is a con man with a heart of gold and proves this in his dedication to the cause at hand. I enjoyed his performance in Iqbal and here as well. It is really worth seeing this movie - the scenery is also breathtaking especially the scenes of Himachal Pradesh! The story line is also a different one - I have not seen such a topic in Hindi films.

Simple movies are the hardest to make in India. Being a traditionally colorful culture that subdues to the varying degrees of pomp and glitz, it is rare that something so simple yet powerful comes across.

'Dor' comes from the able hands of my personal favorite Nagesh Kukunoor. The man who revolutionized the so called 'parallel cinema' by giving it a relatable look with the classic- 'Hyderabad Blues'. With time his understanding of the cinematic life cycle has only matured and this is quite evident in his recent works.

I was on the flight from Frankfurt to Bangalore when I happened to see his brush with India's real religion – Cricket. 'Iqbal' brought to light more than just a story. It brought to me glimpses of an India we all can relate with. An ounce of style with the right amount of emotion made me appreciate this creative genius flying on an unknown land that evening. It was then I realized Nagesh was more than just a movie maker. He was indeed a 'mirror maker' who showed us visions of various parts of our own society. Parts we rarely get to see. Parts that are easily forgotten in the razzmatazz of everything else that surrounds us.

At the risk of trying to avoid this write up from becoming another review, I am attempting to capture the mood of the feature rather than the semantics of it. 'Dor' goes across the nation towards the Northern part of the country. Two stories running parallel to each other but united by one tragic cause. We have a story of a couple from the foothills of a valley in Himachal Pradesh. We have another story of another couple from the dune hills of Rajasthan. People from two completely varying faiths and cultural limitations find each other in the face of a tragedy. Simple people with not so simple challenges. People like you and me.

But then 'Dor' is so much more than just that. It is about the ignored woman section in India. It is about their eternal struggle in a male-dominant world. It is about the anguish a young widow faces in her close minded and medieval society. It is about a friendship that is born out of grief and put to test. A test that can easily make or break it. It is about mending broken hearts and ailing relationships. It is about hope that is so easily lost in the chaotic lives we are part of.

'Dor' is about the delicate threads that bind us as human beings.

Indians have always been fed on a rich diet of fiction and endless melodrama. To escape from reality is the easy way out but to own up to it and reflect takes a bigger individual. 'Dor' attempts at encouraging us starry-eyed scapegoats to pause and look into the mirror we live in.

As I said, simple yet powerful representations like 'Dor' are easy to ignore. But it only adds up to the injustice such genuine pieces of work meet with. I sincerely hope this is not the case with 'Dor'. Do yourself a favor and be a part of this qualitative journey for once.

As for me, I have found my mirror and I acknowledge what I see. I hope you can do the same.

Nagesh Kukunoor narrates a sublime and powerful tale of two women, intertwined by destiny. It is a story of quest- quest of love and the extent to which the protagonist is prepared to go for it. It is a subtle documentary on women subjugation and emancipation- a story of sisterhood. It is a narration of humanity and human relationships. The story moves us, it stirs us. None of the earlier works of Kukunoor prepares us for this marvelous fête of aesthetics and emotions.

It provides a landscape hidden to the eyes of the modern India. It paints a picture of an all together different world. The canvas is unfamiliar, but the characters are so easy to relate to- so easy to empathize with. Their pain is our pain; their jubilations are ours. We laugh for them and cry for them at the same time. They become for once us, and we become them.

The depiction of fiercely independent woman, Zeenat, by Gul Panag is by far her best performance on the celluloid. She essays a very powerful character which would go to any extreme to save her love- her background, religion, and limited resources not withstanding. She inspires respect for the character in the hearts of the audience. She tells us of the revolution which is silently happening in the hinterlands of India, where women are slowly but surely coming out of their traditional roles and becoming more empowered. She conveys this is a subtle way through her convincing and yet underplayed performance.

Meera is played by Ayesha Takia. And what a performance this is. Those who have seen Takia in her earlier roles would never be able to guess the sheer genius this actor is. One is forced to wonder what took her so long to express her real acting talent. Watch out especially for the scene where Meera's husband's battered suitcase is delivered in the veranda and she approaches it. Very few actors have been able to achieve the brilliance in their delivery to the extent she does in this scene.

Through his characterization of funny "behrupiya" Shreyas Talpade introduces an element of spontaneous fun with out disturbing the underlying emotional depth of the movie. He goes one step further from his earlier performance in Iqbal- show-casing a previously huge untapped talent. His appearance in the movie adds an extra zing to this tale of sisterhood.

Screenplay has done justice to all the characters. Secondary characters are also very well formed. Cinematography is awe-inspiring. The parched landscape of Rajasthan adds a kind of mysticism to the story. The juxtaposition of the story against this landscape adds an extra element of poignancy. Background music adds to the story without becoming overbearing. Technical departments have done a marvelous job. It shows in the movie that a lot of love and thought has gone into making of this movie.

All in all this is the best movie that has come out of Bollywood in a long time. It is a definite 9 out of 10. (I hesitate to give it 10 out of 10 because of the character played by Kukunoor himself in the movie that creates disharmony in the storyline.)