Silsiilay

3 decent/good actresses, 3 pretty bad actors, 3 somewhat boring vignettes, 1 ever-excellent supporting actress, 1 SRK.

Add a few mediocre songs marinated in some really atrocious music. Let simmer for 134 agonizing minutes.

Is there anything good about the flick? Sure. When it comes to acting, Divya Dutta once again shines in her perpetual supporting role as Bhoomika Chawla's younger sister. As far as content, the flick's been called vulgar, and crass, and completely unnecessary. Is it an effort to eschew our desi moral code and espouse Hollywood's? Hardly. As amateur an effort as it is, Silsilay is still an attempt to look at life as most of the world lives it. Casual sex is simply a fact of life, whether or not we agree with it. By attempting to portray a small slice of reality, Bollywood is acknowledging that we live in less morally restrictive times, not advocating promiscuity. In that regard, Silsilay is to be commended.

Silsilay is a very bad movie about three women trying to cope with broken relationships.

The film's stories are told in parts by Shah Rukh Khan who acts as a sutradhar (narrator).

The first story is about a rising star of Bollywood, Zia (Bhumika Chawla). Zia was in love with a bookie named Neel (Rahul Bose). She gets pregnant and he dumps her. This leads to Zia's nervous breakdown and she finds solace in alcohol and a bullying sister, Dia (Divya Dutta, miscast!) The second story is of Anushka (Riya Sen, miscast too!) who is a receptionist. She loves a playboy named Nikhil (Ashmit Patel) who is only interested in sex. Anushka is unaware of Nikhil's womanizing ways. Her colleague Tarun (Jimmy Shergill) harbors romantic feelings for her but has not found the courage to tell her. Anushka's story is the worst and soulless part of the movie.

The third story is the most touching and without it, the film would've fallen flat on its face. It's about a high society housewife, Rehana (Tabu). She is the second wife to a business magnate, Anwar (Kay Kay Menon). Anwar is a womanizing bastard who has been in rather open affairs with girls. But Rehana decides to turn a blind eye on them. Rehana has a stepson Inayat (Karan Pathanky) who is an incest as he secretly harbors lustful feelings for his step mother.

As mentioned above, the third story and Tabu's performance are the only good thing about Silsilay.

Bhumika Chawla was good in parts but her actions in the climax could've been better explained. She's showing a huge improvement as an actress. Well, about Riya Sen, the less said the better. She's totally miscast in the role of a naive, young, small-town girl. Her facial expression is very stiff and she cannot emote through her eyes. This type of role called for her sister, Raima Sen, who is an actress of substance. Tabu is a magnificent actress. Any doubts about her brilliance will immediately be dispelled after watching this movie. She has the most expressive eyes and her hard-hitting dialogues will hit you right in the heart.

The other supporting casts are not that great. None of them raise above their expectations.

Silsilay is a film you better avoid. Watch this film once for Tabu!

Khalid Mohamed's earlier films Fiza and Tehzeeb were good. Fiza was about search for a brother by a sister, the brother turns out to be an Islamic militant after communal violence that he witnessed as a child. The film had beautiful music by Anu Malik and a guest composition of Rehman AR. Then came Tehzeeb, a tribute to Bergman by Khalid. Tehzeeb is actually Hindi version of Bergman's Autumn Sonata. Bergman is known for his films where relationships take important place. Now, Khalid comes up with Silsilay.

The film is just the opposite of its poetic title. I guess this film does not take any inspiration from any 'good' move/novel/incident. Khalid perhaps was (re)viewing too much the sleaze films that have hit the Indian screen. So, this film turned out to be a mix: of relations as in Tehzeeb and the movies that I suppose Khalid was reviewing. The ideal story line for this film became 'relationship between male and female' Its (re)presentation on the screen turns out to be 'sexual relationships' between partners. Unfortunately, Khalid made the 'relationship' as 'relationship in bed'.

The music is the worst, perhaps, best suits the film!

I would like to end this by recording my sincere regret, disbelief of having seen a film of this type from what I thought a sensitive film maker like Khalid.

I do not recommend this movie to anyone, rather I am happy to suggest watching his other films Fiza and Tehzeeb.