Socha Na Tha

Going by my experiences with the movies which I have seen in a theatre, this movie was not at all what I expected it to be.

I would say, this movie brought a breath of fresh air, to Bollywood, just like QSQT brought in 90s and DCH in 20th century.

This movie is a tale about a boy and girl, who first meet each other in typical arranged marriage meet, but decide not to go ahead. This leads to enemity between the two families, and later fall in love with each other.

Sounds like typical Salman Khan, Govinda, Karishma, Ravinda Tandon kind of masala movie?? Wrong. Even though the plot looks the same, the characters are much more realistic, decent and believable. On top of that, rather than looking like a vulgar drama, looks much closer to you.

In short a must watch! Interestingly, at first I thought I was the only one who found this movie entertaining. Going by the reviews, I feel pleasantly relieved that I am not alone.

This is one of those flicks which plummets at theaters and then hits home with the viewers on DVD. Although that might be because the flick has a very understated urban appeal to it. One can imagine the movie would have been an unwatchable headache generator if it had cast the Govindas and Kareenas of the world and had been made with a high hand of melodrama. Instead, Miss Takia makes us all fall in love with her, Mr Deol included, by just twisting the pencil and being herself. Abhay puts forth a honest performance and the director truly takes us through a breezy ride, pleasant as a walk through the jungle on a windy morning. Buy a barca lounger, uncork the wine, get cozy and enjoy!

Socha Na Tha (2005) is the debut movie of the director Imtiaz Ali and the hero Abhay Deol. This charming movie is just like a gust of fresh air where love is innocent, the lovers are having hearts of gold and even their family members are no stereotyped villains. Troubles are there, confusions are there, indecisiveness is there, misunderstandings and consequential quarrels are there but the most important thing is that everything is realistic and everybody is human. And to err is human, we all know.That's the quality which makes this movie a winner.

Socha Na Tha (not thought of) is the love story of a confused young boy Viren (Abhay Deol) and an orphan girl fostered by her uncles and aunts - Aditi (Ayesha Taakia). Their parents / guardians want them to get married with each other but they have other plans. On one hand, Aditi likes someone else (Shaayan Munshi), on the other, Viren feels infatuated to a Christian girl - Karen (Apoorva Jha). Viren seeks the help of his sister-in-law (Ayesha Zulka) to get out of the proposed matrimonial alliance with Aditi and finally manages not only the consent of Karen but also her parents as well as his parents for their marriage. But meantime, Viren and Aditi have become friends. Now Viren expressively and Aditi silently feel that in fact, they have fallen in love with each other. Innocent Viren with a clean heart does many illogical things to first repel Karen and her parents and then do the repair work in case of Aditi. However the misunderstandings between their families keep on increasing. Finally, they go away from each other. Viren transforms himself into a mature and successful youth but now Aditi who was earlier much more mature and sensible than Viren, approaches him to unite with him. What happens thereafter is the climax.

The theme of this movie reminds me of a very old black and white comedy - Chacha Zindabaad (1959) starring Kishore Kumar and Anita Guha. However this movie does not at all appear to be a copy of that old movie or any other movie. It has an originality of its own, courtesy the fresh style of treating the story idea.

Teenage and just after that is that time of a normal person's life when the heart wants to fly in the air. Let someone become mine. Let myself become someone's. Let's sing love songs. Let's release sighs when not together. But it takes time to realize as to what actually one wants. It cannot be understood within a short span of time as to who is or can be your real soulmate. And that's the message of Socha Na Tha.

Director Imtiaz Ali has been fully successful in his mission of presenting a touching and lovable rom-com. Hilarious moments are there. Laughs are there. Tender feelings are there. Emotions are there. But as I have said earlier, there are no villains. The negatively behaving people are also not wrong from their viewpoint. The late understanding of things as well as the immature actions of the protagonist create misunderstandings that result in negative reactions of those who are in one way or the other, related to the lead pair. In fact, all the characters involved in the script are good by heart. The ending scene evidences it in the most simple and straight manner.

Now I am surprised where this young director has lost his touch and the skill to pick the pulse of the young and educated generation. Socha Na Tha is a movie which you will love like anything if watch with not so high expectations. As far as I am concerned, I felt like flowing with the lead characters and the things happening to (and by) them in the story, empathizing with them. Love is like the fresh cow milk when innocent. And let's not allow its innocence to be tainted by any means.

This movie, produced by Dharmendra, has a good production value and technically perfect. The music of Sandesh Shandilya is completely in sync with the mood of this romantic movie and all the tunes are melodious and lovely. However they do not possess the quality to remain in mind when the movie is over. The beautiful and touching lyrics of the songs (coming from the pens of Irshaad Kaamil and Subrat Sinha), if listened to with attention, are able to strike a chord in the listener's heart.

Abhay Deol has proved in his debut movie itself that he's the horse for a long race. With his long hair and innocent raw face, he not only looks dashing but his performance is so impressive as if he was born before a camera. Ayesha Taakia, with her childish looks, is not far behind. The movie has one more Ayesha - the veteran heroine, Ayesha Zulka as the Bhabhi of the hero and she has done exceedingly well in the meaty role assigned to her. The complete supporting cast has done justice to the respective roles but mainly the movie belongs to the lead pair which has lightened up the screen with its amazing chemistry.

It's painful for me to know that this brilliant romantic movie was a commercial failure. May be due to poor marketing. However true to its title, any viewer of this movie (including me) had not thought of liking it so much. If not for some repetition of things in the later part of the movie and the absence of some memorable songs, I would have awarded it a five star rating. It's virtually a heart-conquerer. If your heart beats for someone special, you can watch it any number of times without getting bored.

I may have despised Imtiaz Ali's overrated 'Love Aaj Kal' but 'Socha Na Tha' is a treat to watch. An offbeat but sincere romantic comedy that stars Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia, 'Socha Na Tha' feels fresh because of its appropriate lack of saccharine and straight forward storytelling. Ali is a talented writer as not only does he have a fresh way of telling stories but the dialogues are also first rate. Abhay Deol already proves what a promising actor he is in his very first role. He is confident as Viren and shares a great chemistry with his cute co-star Ayesha Takia. Takia too is very likable as Aditi. After 'Dor' this is perhaps her best performance. The supporting cast, that includes Ayesha Jhulka as a hot bhabhi, Rati Agnihotri as a hot-headed aunt, Suresh Oberoi as the patriarchal dad, Sandhya Mridul as the supportive sister, Vijay Maurya as the friend in need and Rajendranath Zutshi as the angry but hilarious brother, is very good. The songs are cool and calm and they agree with the pace of the film. I also liked the camera-work. My favourite parts of the movies are the dialogue scenes between Viren and Aditi and between Viren and his sister-in-law (especially when she's confused by Viren's constantly changing decisions). 'Socha Na Tha' is a fun romantic movie that works as a great date movie and an enjoyable rainy day flick.

"Socha Na Tha", it came, it saw and it went away. Like me many of you would have missed it. Post-Jab We Met however rewrites the rules and I was persuaded to retrace my steps and take notice to Imtiaz Ali. Believe me - true to its title "Socha Na Tha" Imtiaz is a fine story teller indeed. Probably it was the timing of the release or perhaps it lacked the star-value owing to which it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

Abhay Deol:: A launch pad and its very much like for a first-timer. Quite confident and who anticipated that this guy would carve a genre for himself. In retrospection the failure of "Socha Na Tha" (read that as "non performance") saved the Indian Cinema of type-casting Abhay as yet another hero in the number game. So its "good riddance...." for him which made him a character actor.

I particularly liked his character which does a proper "Create a problem, solve it and then claim 'Yes I have done it!!!'".

Ayesha Takia:: For her stint in Bollywood perhaps the closest she would be proud of next to "Dor". Quite promising and a matured performance delivering at ease the director backed role.

Apoorva Jha:: Leaves a lasting impression actually - pity she wasn't seen much around after this movie. Managed to pull-off Karen quite realistically.

Ayesha Jhulka:: Wouldn't be wrong to state this Bhabhi as lovable as Renuka Shahane from HAHK. A natural transformation for Ayesha too.

The rest of supporting cast which includes Suresh Oberoi, Rati Agnihotri, Raj Zutshi, Sandhya Mridul were adequate. Nearly forgot - Vijay Maurya as well.

Not many noticed but "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa" heavily borrowed the concept of "So when do you know it's love?" from "Socha Na Tha". On the same note it does bears resemblance to the "Saif-Sonali" track from "Dil Chahta Hain".

Epilogue:: Go for it - to watch the genius trotting his initial steps!