Ek Nai Paheli

K. Balachander's Ek Nai Paheli is a beautiful film, both visually and story-wise. As you would expect from a Balachander film, it is visually a great picture to look at - the cinematography, the sets, the costume design, all demonstrate the high production values employed in the making of this film. The script, however, and the later development of the story, are not fully realised. The film narrates the love story of a young man with a woman who is a decade or two his senior, and sadly, the story is never really brave enough to dig into the complexity of this relationship, and everything stays quite on the surface. There is some nice dialogue and there's depth as well in the portrayal of the human relationship, but never to the extent of daring to be less polished and a little more real and matter-of-fact.

Hema Malini is beautiful, very retrained and impressively so, and Kamaal Hasaan is competent as an idealistic and stubborn young man, though at times over-expressive. The two seem to have a good working chemistry, but something is missing there as there is very little intimacy between the two; it's like a very good friendship which lacks, and perhaps is even mistaken as, real romance. Good support is provided by Raaj Kumar and the stunning Padmini Kolhapure. Ek Nai Paheli is a beautiful film in many ways, it is reminiscent of the old classics in its general feel and energy, in its music and culturally rich, elegant setting, but it could have been better if more effort had been made to depict the love story itself. An aesthetic delight, indeed, and well directed by K. Balachander, who could and should have pushed the envelope a little more.

The film released in 1984 when Hema Malini was 36 years old and Kamal Hassan was 30. The film is about an affair between an elder woman and a younger man. Hema plays the role of a famous singer who is beautiful, hot and extremely desirable but vulnerable as she stays alone in her bungalow and feels lonely after being deserted by her husband and daughter. Kamal plays the role of an unemployed, aggressive, hot tempered urban naxal who accidently enters her life and starts romancing her. Both of Hema and Kamal being fine actors, their chemistry could have set the screen on fire but failed to do so due to bad direction. Except for one or two scenes, where they play a game of panja or when Kamal forcibly hugs Hema after he wins a challenge there is nothing else to see in the movie. The director should have added many romantic scenes between Hema and Kamal in the movie to make it a box office success. Characters played by Rajkumar, Padmini Kolhapuri, Suresh Oberoi and Mehmood were unnecessary and could have been avoided. There presence just disturbs audiences who are interested to see the romance between Hema and Kamal.

Ek Nai Paheli review :

After the super success of Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), director K. Balachander made this film repeating Kamal Haasan as the main lead. Ek Nai Paheli was was remake of Bhagyaraj's own award winning 'Apoorva Raagangal (1975) which was based on a riddle in Betal Pachchisi where Vetal asks about a king marrying a daughter while son marrying her mother. This Tamil original is ever memorable for the debut of Superstar Rajinikanth.

Sadly, the magic couldn't be recreated in Hindi. The plot involving Kamal Haasan in love with the older Hema Malini while her daughter Padmini Kolhapure falls for Kamal's dad Raaj Kumar was too much for the '80s audience to digest. The bold and daringly different quadrangle was outright rejected at the box office.

On the performance front, Hema Malini was brilliant as the mature singer Bhairavi. She brought a tremendous dignity to her character. Kamal Haasan, always a super fine actor, reprised his role from the Tamil original perfectly. Raaj Kumar experimented with this film playing a flawed alcoholic character with no histrionics. Padmini looked pretty and graceful as ever.

While the subject itself was bold, Balachander went wrong by not stressing on the intimacy between the lovers. There is no chemistry at all between Hema and Kamal as well as Raaj Kumar and Padmini which at times, confuses you about the nature of their relationship. Is it sexual or just platonic? Why are they marrying then? The tame climax is another downer.

Flaws aside, Ek Nai Paheli is one of the better films from the South entourage. Significantly better than those mindless comedy actioners churned out by Jeetendra in the '80s. This one at least had its heart in the right place. It lacked the guts to be more bolder though...

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.