Bas Ek Pal

After running a good trailer and Aatif's intense "Tere Bin" I was kinda curious about Bas Ek Pal. It genuinely sounded like movie which will take a fine look at relationships. This is second film by director Onir whose last 'My Brother Nikhil' was critically acclaimed. While promoting this film I still remember Urmila saying "what I feel is best of this movie is even if characters are complex, situations are complex –but characters are written with clarity", after walking out of the hall I could only give a sarcastic smile to this statement. Only thing I like in this is its central twist which I suspected coming but forgot as time passed, some of its music and one of the relationships that happens after interval. That's the reason two and half stars are given.

We get to know Nikhil (Suri) is back from US to India after five years bumped into Urmila in a disc where she helps him to get into there. They like each other and start to play. Urmila pretends to be hard to get and Suri continue to peruse her. Rahul (Jimmy) and Nikhil are friends, Rahul is friend with Steve who is on down slope of his marriage with Ira(Juhi). Then an incident takes place which turns everything up side down. What happens after that is better left for interested viewers to go and figure out.

Bas EK Pal does wander in the relationship pitfalls - insecurity, paranoia, misunderstandings, jealousy, lust but it would have been effective if it's supported by a strong plot rather than a fate play. Lots of drama goes on screen but it fails to make us care for what is happening on screen. There are many ridiculous scenes when Nikhil only looks like psycho obsessive lover despite a man with so much of bad luck. He is supposed to be lead character but nothing we feel about him. And same is the story for other characters. We never feel for them. They are like born with worst luck in the world, tangled in such complex situation but still no. Why Nikhil is so deeply in love with her we never know. Is love at first sight is not enough to justify such a difficult subject? No. For other it will be revealing too much so I stop here.

Only thing it manages it way up is one of the relationships. Its central twist is good one and justifies its fate plot after first half. Aatif's 'Tere bin' is there when credits are rolling but audience has suffered enough and is too late till then.

When it comes to performances in such movies with such a subject - actors get chance to show what they are capable of but alas! Not even one of five has en-cashed this opportunity. Suri is capable actor and he has shown that in Zankaar Beats but here he is deadpan. Juhi, Jimmy and Rehmaan are OK. And Urmila- God, actress of her caliber who was brilliant in her last outings like Ek Haseena Thi (for me her best so far. Others are Rangeela and Kaun?) and Pinjar is a huge let down. She has made comeback after such a long break but looks like has caught rust.

Sorry to say Mr. Onir, like your characters bad luck for you and for us this time.

People say it's a "complex" movie . Hello if the audience here is not even prepared to watch such films then nothing but the sad plight of Indian cinema is reflected.

This film not only portrays the fact that we are nothing but puppets in the hands of destiny but it also unerringly maps the rival geography of the human heart. So, I feel BEP is a winner and it also scores over MBN.

Most people these days watch movies after hearing the reviews and that too on DVDs. So whether a film is a Box-Office hit or not , today it hardly matters for the reputation of the film.

BEP has a superb cast.I am spellbound to watch Juhi and Jimmy in such roles .Hats-off to Onir to bring out the best in such a talented cast and most importantly because he projected the actors in a way never before.

Bravo Onir .Kuddos to you .Keep up the good work

As has happened so often before, the Indian reaction to this movie doesn't predict my reaction at all. I have to say that Urmila Matondkar makes the most interesting movies! Banaras, Bas Ek Pal, Main Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, Ek Hasina Thi, Tehzeeb. There is a MINUTE number of artists in the India movie trade who can produce on that level over and over. But in this movie, she is matched with a fine cast. I'm not a great Jimmy Shergill fan, but I gotta say that drop him down with Urmila, Juhi, and Sanjay Suri, and he blends into that environment. And when that happens, he's a different guy.

This is a very mixed up but realistic plot about a guy who falls in love with a girl he runs into when he goes out for a good time with his buddy. But he has no idea just what a tangled mess he's stepping into (sorta like Bush in Iraq!) Soon he finds himself charged with attempted murder, caged with the worst scum of Mumbai, his life in tatters. I think this is also one of the SCARIEST movies I've seen because something like this could happen to any of us. It is really the grace of God that saves us, nothing else.

Juhi of course is pure gold. If its possible to be in love with a complete stranger you only see on the screen, them I'm in love with her. I know if I met her in real life, I'd be useless to the world because I'd be able to think of nothing but her.

What I really liked in this movie was the quiet dialogue with mood-setting music in the background. It is so rare in Indian movies, but I hardly wanted to breathe, the mood seemed so fragile.

Anyway, the critics who badmouth this movie are TOTALLY wrong. The fans who shunned it are TOTALLY wrong. This is a 9/10 if there ever was one.

But if your idea of a good movie is Krish or Rang De Basanti, don't see this. You won't like it.

An overwrought movie relying almost entirely upon an implausible plot. And before people go on celebrating this movie's "brave" darkness.. watch for the sequence of clichés: alcoholic, abusive husband who suspects wife of having affairs; intelligent and sincere wife who feels too bad to leave him (wtf?); love at first sight etc. etc. Nauseating.

The characters have little depth, and when they experience emotions it's either jealousy/guilt, or it's unyielding love/sheer cunning/unthinking evil.. usually in predictable sequences. What ridiculous emotional dichotomies.

Weak performances all around, and Juhi Chawla is completely wasted in this movie. So is Sanjay Suri. Both were so promising in Onir's far superior "My Brother Nikhil." Here they stumble around with weakly written characters. Urmila Matondkar is predictably annoying. Jimmy Shergill was kind of okay in his brief romance scenes with his first love interest in the movie, but quickly got much worse in the rest of the movie.

In mid-August, many an unknowing filmi buff was psychologically impaled in the cinema halls during screenings of Karan Johar's hopelessly awful "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" which purported to be a mature examination of extra-marital affairs. It was, of course, nothing of the sort, and despite raking in the moolah, it has found little favor with fans or critics.

About a month later, a comparatively small budget film, Onir's "Bas Ek Pal" (reminiscent of experimental European cinema), released, dealing with a similar theme but without any of the reigning puerility and adolescent conventionality which made Johar's film so utterly absurd. Instead, Onir infuses his film with a complex morality and a matrix of thoroughly realistic characters where there are no heroes and no villains, no glamorized damsels and no bitchy mistresses. It is also impossible to say who is opposite whom- there are no "pairs" as one is universally accustomed to seeing in Indian films. A brief recap of the premise will explain why: The story begins with the reunion of two friends, Nikhil (Sanjay Suri) and Rahul (Jimmy Shergill). Nikhil becomes acquainted with Steve (Rehaan Engineer), a friend of Rahul's who is also an abusive alcoholic. Steve is married to Ira Malhotra, a former beauty queen turned humanitarian (Juhi Chawla) who has suffered a miscarriage, physical battery, and a failed marriage. Nikhil becomes infatuated with a young engineer named Anamika (Urmila Matondkar) who—unfortunately for him—is attached to a trust fund named Rehan. At their second meeting, Nikhil and Rehan scuffle over Anamika, and in the midst of their battle Rahul is shot, resulting in paralysis. Nikhil faces prison for three years, which actually turns out to be the least of his troubles. During those three years Anamika becomes romantically linked with Rahul, who it turns out had a long-standing affair with Ira who was tired of her pathetic husband's emotional and physical torture. Ira helps free Nikhil, whom Steve suspects of having an affair with his wife. Rahul also accuses Anamika of rekindling her "affair" with Nikhil. Ira compels Anamika toward Nikhil in her final attempt at escape. Confused? You should be, because (like real life) it's complex and disturbing, and there are no designer outfits or grandiose dance numbers to numb the pain of the tragedy which unfolds around these five lives. Betrayal turns to Obsession, Helplessness to Hopelessness, and Attraction to Rape in this brilliantly constructed and acted film.

Though the film's title purports it to be about how one incident transforms the lives of all those involved, its final implications are of much more ubiquitous themes: it is basically a filmed series of unending horrors and disappointments which shows life in its most bitter and grotesque form. There is also a shocking twist at the end which makes the film really work. It is a true "Greek" tragedy, which should give you little doubt as to how it ends, but there is more than general catastrophe: there is murder, suicide, betrayal, abuse, deceit, infidelity, jealousy, self-hatred, enmity, violence and whole host of depravities which are too many to be named here. On top of it all, there's a rape which victimizes neither Ira nor Anamika, but one of the male leads. Oh, and the film also takes time to explore the realities of forced oral sex. Suffice is to say, treacly "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun," this film ain't.

Onir's tactfully written screenplay aside, the real mainstay of the film is its performances turned in by a fine cadre of actors led by the peerless Juhi Chawla. She is simply outstanding in a role which makes one sit up and notice the currents of strength and despair in Ira which Juhi expertly etches in Ira's eyes and movements. This is not a character one expects to find in Juhi Chawla's repertoire: Ira is bold, self-loathing, and desperate for affection, which drives her into an affair with Rahul which is both emotionally and sexually satisfying. And yes, she does something truly shocking at the end. But Ira is also something of a mystery whose acquaintance with happiness proves too short. Anamika, conversely, is easy to read, though her lucidity does not translate to simplicity. Matondkar portrays her as the eternal romantic, albeit a somewhat helpless one who frequently cannot tolerate her own circumstances. Less fiery and more vulnerable than her usual characters, Matondkar plays her flawlessly as a little girl with adult ambitions. Love, Success, and Self-Actualization are her goals, but she becomes ensnared in a bizarre and almost inexplicable love for Nikhil. One expects Nikhil to be the centerpiece of the film, but he turns out to be much more of a cipher than the others. Suri is always at the center of Onir's films, but in this collaboration he gets a more supportive role which he carries effortlessly, by turns suave, angry, and desperate. Jimmy Shergill is the surprise packet of the film: one expects great performances from Juhi Chawla and Urmila Matondkar, but the Shergill proves he can match their talents with a brooding and intense portrayal of Rahul. In many ways, he is the character at the center of the film. Rehaan Engineer is somewhat of a mixed bag- his delivery teeters between odd and satisfactory, the main problem being his menace is somewhat flat and benign. In some scenes, particularly those with Juhi, his performance clashes with the finesse of the others.

Unfortunately, films which forgo formula and embrace innovation are too often ignored by the indiscriminate masses who would rather see Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ Part VII (or whichever configuration we're on now) so don't be surprised by the many reviewers who have no idea how to react to it. It will join the league of thoughtful cinema rendered obscure by the very fact that it makes demands on its audience instead of bowing to commercial pressures. "Bas Ek Pal" holds the mirror up to Life and dares to show us that the reflection is sometimes purely shattered.