Uma Mulher Casada

I have always been a great fan of sharat chanda's literature and seeing it getting transformed to such magnificent movie like vinod chopra's "Parineeta" gives me a sense of pride for our writers and film makers.I saw the movie last evening with my friends and there was none who did not enjoy it. The cinematography is amazing.the sets look far more natural than they were in "Devdas" which was based on the book by the same author. The spirit of the story has been very wisely conserved and the movie displays the efficiency of the director in handling the topic in the very fashion the author would have liked it to be handled. Where "devdas" was a disappointment to me, "Parineeta" has proved the opposite. The movie is far away from the loudness that could have surrounded it. The lights in the sets are dim and add to the romantic mood. thump's up to the makers.

I was really impressed with the movie. Although the story is (again) built around a relationship triangle but the twist to the story is quite different from the usual plot line that you see in Hindi movies. Vidya Balan definitely stole the show with her natural and subtle acting (most of the Indian actors/actresses are known for their exaggerated expressions, which are more suitable for theater than for movies), kudos to her. Sanjay Dutt was good as usual and Saif is improving with time. Besides the main lead everybody pitched in with pretty good acting, giving the movie an overall balance. In particular Raima Sen and her friend (don't know her name) were very good. One of the surprises were seeing Rekha (yeah!) as a club singer in one of the songs :), she's still able to pull it off. We need more movies like this, and overall, I would recommend others to watch this movie.

Plot Outline: Orphaned at childhood Lolita (Vidya Balan) stays with her uncle. She and neighbor Shekhar (Saif) develop innocent bonding with each other which unknown to them has matured into love. It takes the arrival of Girish (Sanjay Dutt) before the lead pair discovers their love for each other through circumstantial odds and family pressures.

Comment: Parineeta is an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's work, whose works include the immortal Devdas that has been remade over and over again in many languages. Although, it is quite usual to compare Vinod Chopra's Parineeta with Bhansali's Devdas, I would say that Parineeta ranks way above latter in terms of being closer to real life and portraying seemingly real characters as against the recent Devdas was more of a visual treat with stars and extravaganza.

Although Vinod Chopra, in his screenplay has deviated from the novel's portrayal of the 1920's to the film's 1960's, it is seamless and is believably real. The performances are extremely neat with Saif in a mature role and Vidya Balan exceptional for a débutante, both in looks and ease with the camera. Talent spotter Vinod Chopra has her lined up in Munnabhai-2 and Yagna. Sanjay Dutt seemed older than what the role required. Among the songs that are well timed, 'Piyu Bole' has freshness similar to 1942: A Love Story. Although Pradeep Sarkar's direction has made the movie well paced, the closing scenes have been extra-dramatized. Must watch for all audiences.

Rating: 4/5

I have not enjoyed such a wonderful movie in years.

I don't watch very many Hindi movies but decided to watch this one when I watched an interview of Vidhu Vinod Chopra on MTV. The few clips that I saw during the interview convinced me that the movie was one of the best Hindi movies ever made.

Everything about the movie is enchanting- the music, the wonderful shots of Calcutta at dusk, at sunrise, in the winter fog, in autumn, the churches, the old houses with their colonial architecture, the warm portrayal of those exquisite times, the delicate filigree of relationships, the simplicity of the childhood bond that describes the relationship between Lolita and Shekhar, the realism of the story. Everything was absolutely marvelous.

I have never doubted Saif Khan's great talent and my faith in him was vindicated in the movie. He plays his role with great finesse.The heroine may be debuting in this movie but she will definitely go places. She is talented, she is graceful, she is beautiful without having to thrust her body at the camera to capture the audience's attention. I sat enthralled through the love scenes that reminded me of a watercolor painted with a very fine brush.

The music was absolutely wonderful and captured the sound of the 60s. Every song was a treat--not just the music but the picturisation especially "piyuh bole".

All through the movie I sat and marveled at the amount of work that had gone into the making of such a film. The research, the reproduction, the faithful details(even the oven that was used to bake a cake!)

There are only two aspects of the film that jarred. One was the casting of Sanjay Dutt as Girish. I like Sanjay and he was super in Munna Bhai but he looked too old in his role here. The other thing that somehow spoilt things was the Sanjay Leila Bhansali moment that crept into the movie towards the end.

Even so, if the movie were to be compared with(I confess that it is an unfair comparison) Devdas, Pareenita would win hands down. For all the song and dance hoopla of Devdas, the movie failed to tug at one's heart strings.

For me the most wonderful thing was the fact that both my children, young teenagers, enjoyed the movie and loved it.

Thank you, Pradeep Sarkar and Vidhu Vinod Chopra!

I will never forget the first 30 minutes of this film.

Superbly paced, the film has fine, balanced performances from all its actors. Its vision is very difficult to put in words - it is an escapism rooted in realism, simple ideas seen earlier in Hindi cinema are fully realized here, comparable to some of the best personal European/ International films. Its song style is sophisticated, very effortlessly translated into simple, clear imagery. The last ten minutes are mishandled, taking away from what could have been an almost-flawless experience in mainstream Indian cinema - I choose my words very carefully, this is an Indian film in Hindi. Very precious.