Guzaarish

Sanjay Leela Bhansali returns with Guzaarish, a dramatic musical feature which tells the story Ethan Mascarenhas, a former successful magician who has been entirely paralysed since a tragic stage accident. After 14 years of immobility, a highly cynical and humorous Ethan, who has found success as a radio anchor and as an author, is exhausted and he willingly files an appeal to the court for mercy killing, also known as euthanasia. There begins a true moral dilemma which provokes many contradicting thoughts among those who surround Ethan, which include his devoted nurse for the last 14 years, Sofia D'Souza, a beautiful, serious and yet caring woman who first takes Ethan's decision as an insult to her long-standing selflessness, and of course among the viewers themselves.

Guzaarish is without a doubt an interesting film to watch, it is generally restrained in its portrayal of emotions, but at times -- the complete opposite. In a way it is a lot like Bhansali's pre-previous venture Black. It revolves around Anglo-Indian people, it is mostly in English, it is aided by lavish sets and costumes, the cinematography is stupendous, and the entire atmosphere is dark, dim and beautiful, filled with fantastic songs and a wonderful background score. In that sense, the movie is a true visual and musical treat. With the exception of Khamoshi, all of Bhansali's films have been glossy and extravagant, a style which was very appreciated by some, but many have considered it pretentious, snobbish, and a little hard to get into and relate to.

Guzaarish can be looked at from different angles. From one side, it can be accused of supporting mercy killing, which is unacceptable, but from the other, it's deeply devastating to know that a person cannot even move to end his life when he wants to. Both sides give the film a rather depressing feel despite the fact that Bhansali tries hard to lift the viewers' spirit by building a narrative that is full of positive and hopeful songs about the beauty of life and some breathtaking nature landscapes. The courtroom scenes are well portrayed, with one scene in which Ethan tries to illustrate the level of his agony through one 60-second "trick", being one of the film's most impressive. At the same time, the film's final scene is extremely manipulative, long and over-dramatised, being one of the film's biggest flaws.

Where the film scores big time except for its artistic portrayal of the rich cultural lifestyle of Portuguese-influenced Goa, it is definitely in the acting department. Though not perfect, a sincere Hrithik Roshan plays Ethan's hidden pain, his sense of irony, his great good-humour, and his love for those surrounding him, exceedingly well. Bhansali has once said that he is the only director who knows how to use Aishwarya Rai's beauty in his films and the one capable of extracting the best out of her acting skills. He once again proves to be right, as Rai delivers what in my book is the performance of the film. Through a brilliant, elegant and graceful portrayal of Sofia, she effectively creates a rather tough screen persona, and yet consistently lets the viewer sense her very soft inside, her love, goodwill and kindness. Those of you looking for the pick of her artistic expression, watch her "Udi" dance performance - it is simply astonishing.

The supporting cast includes the fantastic Shernaz Patel, who once again delivers an impressive act after her performance as a loving mother in Black. Nafisa Ali is still beautiful as Ethan's mother, and her monologue in court in support of her son is very touching. Rajit Kapoor is good as the prosecutor and boy has he changed since his appearances in Shyam Benegal's movies such as Mammo and The Making of The Mahatma. Aditya Roy Kapur is okay as Ethan's fan. All said and done, Guzaarish is a watchable movie which is generally moving, well scripted and very well acted. It is an extremely eye and ear-pleasing picture thanks to its cinematographic excellence and great musical numbers composed by Bhansali himself, but it has its share of minuses, and the film's final scene is example to that.

This is one of the best performance by Hrithik, wonderfully woven, every frame by frame, by Sanjay. Aishwarya is good, much better than her previous performances this year, Shernaz Patel and Suhel Seth performed brilliantly in their roles. Aditya Roy Kapoor needs special mention too. He is also outstanding and shows good promises as a forthcoming good actor to watch out for. Overall the movie is excellent. Hrithik once again proves why he is in the top league of actors today, excelling in all fields, be it acting, dancing emoting....just about everything. I am just too amazed by the movie and especially by the performance of Hrithik. He is totally a magician, both in the movie as well as in his acting.....My GUZAARISH.........please go and watch this movie guys and gals.....u will love it.

Finally, we have a movie to appreciate by heart. I was so much satisfied when i came out of the cinema hall. With no unpractical things happening out there, the movie deserves only one word, marvelous..!! By Heart i would like to thank Sanjay Bhansali For delivering a movie like this, and Hritik and aishwarya For their delightful work, which deserves standing applause..!! the movie is so well crafted that you cannot take your eyes of the screen,and in case you do,you gotta be missing something.. With superb cinematography, songs, story and every thing related, this film is simply a class apart..! if you are in a habit of watching class movies, go just watch it... full thumbs up to the movie!!!!

I watched Guzarish a good 24 hours back and I am still not able to think anything else except the movie. This is a rare piece of art.

Hrithik has raised the bar for himself after this performance.His eyes does all the talking and he has completely gone under the skin of the character. Aishwarya, as usual, does justice to her talent.

Bhansali has woven some wonderful moments together in this rare piece of art, which deserves appreciation. Every frame is beautifully presented and it works like a visual treat to the audience.

Thank you Mr.Bhansali for giving a film which will be remembered for its quality and not the numbers on the box office chart.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone who adores the magic of sensitive cinema.

Hrithik Roshan didn't have much luck at the box office with Kites earlier this year (curiously some attested to Kites containing a lot of English which turned the local Indian audiences off, but this film also featured a fair bit of dialogue in the English language), but I still reckon that he's an actor of his generation to look out for. Ethan Mascarenhas is perhaps his most challenging role to date, as we know Hrithik for his physicality and his gracefulness in dance, but his obvious character condition here limits the former as we see how slight his frame is, clearly allowing his built to be slimmed down to portray the role more convincingly as a man whose muscles are wasted through inaction and atrophy. As for the prerequisite dances, the film allowed some moments in flashbacks where he shows off some graceful moves as a magician with a class act in presentation and packaging his brand of magic, further cementing Hrithik's reputation as one of the heroes of Bollywood who can actually dance.

But what he aced in his role is how he convincingly portrays his immobility, relying very much on his facial expressions to bring across a wide spectrum of emotions. There's an added air of eccentricity and mood swings as expected of a man who gets handed lemons by Fate, so what best than to try and make lemonade from the situation, sharpening his wits in the process, since quick fire repertoire is something he can do, other times the scenarios constantly remind him how helpless he is without his caretaker by his side, and Hrithik shows this vulnerable side of him best. Not only that, Hrithik Roshan too lends his vocals to What a Wonderful World, which will probably delight his legion of fans.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also has Guzaarish to thank in bringing out her best performance for this year, peppered by films such as Raavan, Endhiran and Action Replayy. While Endhiran was essentially Superstar Rajnikanth's starrer and didn't really challenge Aishwarya with the role she had to play, Raavan and Action Replayy were roles that were pushing those boundaries but the box office responses didn't quite match to expectations. I'll put my hand up to say she's back at her best as Sofia De Souza, the nurse who makes tremendous sacrifices in order to ease the suffering of Ethan, who got taken aback by his decision that will of course mean an end to her services and that notion of being emotionally slighted. There's always a touch of tenderness in her care of her patient, and that romantic tension constantly underneath.

Sofia De Souza is typically prim and proper, and has a rather curious, lush wardrobe for a nurse - a point brought up later on by the public prosecutor Vipin Patel (Rajit Kapoor), though Aishwarya provided that tell tale spunk in Sofia with her (also much talked about) experiment with the cigarette, and the letting of her hair down in the song number Udi, sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaul Hada, which stands out as one of my favourites in the film for that unmistakable Spanish influence. Joining her in the film is fellow Action Replayy alumni and Bollywood rookie Aditya Roy Kapoor (lucky him, to have made two debut films side by side with Aishwarya) whose Omar Siddique aspires to be Ethan's protégé, and goes to great lengths to being accepted and inevitably becoming a part of the extended family, which includes Ethan's mom Isabel (Nafisa Ali) and Dr Nayak (Suhei Seth).

But the real hero of the production, has got to be writer director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who has bounced back from what many thought was a disappointment with Saawariya (which I begged to differ), weaving such a beautiful, sensitive tale without relying on melodrama or sensationalizing its main topic of Euthanasia. Flashbacks are used to effectively tell of Ethan's entire backstory leading up to and including a cringe inducing accident scene, and the pacing well done with the non-intrusive use of musical numbers to add to the narrative, without feeling forced. Bhansali has a keen eye to exploit the beautiful sets and through wonderful framing, light and shadow play, elevated Guzaarish into a film that's aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

As the adage goes, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to seek permission, and the main crux of the plot deals with Ethan and friends trying to push through the legal system to allow him to die at his own will. If there's a blip in the film it will be the treatment of the courtroom scenes, which was necessary to allow Ethan outside the confines of his physical prison, but addressed issues more so on the surface and rarely scratched the content deep down. It piques your interest to evaluate circumstances if you were to put yourself in Ethan's shoes, but rarely goes beyond that fleeting thought in the mind.

But as mentioned, at least it didn't degenerate into over the top silliness, keeping itself in check most of the time in seriousness, and allowing the top notch performances to continue to engage, with a number of side characters appearing to reinforce certain aspects of Ethan's life and add an expanded dimension to a man unfortunately cut down at his prime. It reminds us again to live life for what it is and to appreciate it to the max, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali has this beautifully crafted film to tell us just that. Highly recommended, and it goes into my shortlist as a possible addition amongst the best this year has to offer. It looks like the Hrithik-Aishwarya partnership continues its success.