Lajja

I had been really apprehensive with all the hype suroounding this flick. I have seen mixed to great reviews and was wondering how it will balance so many actors in 3 hour 5 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised. Every actor had their shining moment. Regardless of the length of their individual roles, every character was well defined and performed well. The movie is definitely flawed especially the climax. What the hell was RKS thinking with ladies throwing chappal sequence at Danny at the end -absolutely cliche and a crap idea. "Back to NewYork" at the end was a terrible idea as well. But I did like Santoshi's handling throughout of drama and comedy blend. He has said the movie he made should entertain - if he hadn't approached the subject as such he would have made a very depressing high budget art movie specially with Ramdulaari portions. I had heard reviews that the first part was slow but I had no problems whatsoever with it. I think the audience in the theatre felt the same. The second half was excellent up until the last 5-7 minutes which I already mentioned. Performances: My pick of the lot: Ajay Devgan was absolutely fantastic. I have never liked this guy and his recent flicks (YRHPK, RC, HKiK, DKK) have made me detest his acting and selection even more. But he reminded me so much of Amitabh in his youger angry young man roles. Not to compare him with Amitabh but to emphasize Devgan's dialogue delivery, his screen presence, his anger, the action - he had the audience memerized. I think he should do more hard hitting roles.Madhuri Dixit looked divine and acted brilliantly. She has come a full circle and stepped into veteran position in my books. This lady is a world-class performer and desrves full marks for her work here. I think she surpassed Mrityudand 10 times in this film because what she has done in Lajja has put her into the all time great actresses list. After the high marks that Madhuri receives for her performance you would think there would be no room to go beyond perfection? right? Well this place is what Rekha has achieved with Lajja. This, in my opinion, is Rekha's glory to cinematic immortality along with Umrao Jaan. Her work in Lajja is as good as the finest performances of legendary female artistes in bollywood or Hollywood. Her breakdown on finding out about her son's relationship and her pleading sequence before being raped and burnt is in one word - eh there is no word to describe it - Superlative, Perfect, Excellent do not do justice. This must be seen to understand. Manisha and Mahima? They are pretty good and have sequences where they both show their talents. They will get more chances in the future to demonstrate their greatness - they definitely are very talented. Anil Kapoor was very funny and very good but any actor will lose in praise in front of high drama. Unfortunately, this is what happens to Anil in Lajja. Anil Kapoor is such a great actor he is taken for granted. He is very cool and performs comedy sequences with aplomb - audiences loved him but he'll not be the first to be remembered in this film. Lagaan is still the perfect movie this year.

I saw Lajja on opening night August 31,2001 at a theatre in nearby Diamond Bar. I was drawn to the movie by Rajkumar Santoshi's name, because generally he makes fairly good movies. Anu Malik's name as the composer was also an attraction. Rajkumar Santoshi did not disappoint me. He presented the subject in a fairly compelling way and did not deviate too much to accommodate "entertainment". Once again he did not use all the songs that featured on the film's audiocassette and CD, which will adversely affect the movie at the box-office.His father,P.L. Santoshi who was himself a famous lyricist before he became a film director, knew the importance of songs in an Indian movie. Rajkumar Santoshi, ever since his Ghayal became a hit without the support of music, has tended to ignore music and not give it the centrality it deserves in the Indian cultural context. He could not take advantage of even Nadeem- Shravan in Damini or of A.R. Rahman in his last movie Pukar. At least in the latter he took eminent lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri and also Javed Akhtar (for one number). Here he relies on overworked and mediocre Sameer.The music department(with even the theme song cut out), therefore,is nothing to write home about. Will someone urge him not to repeat the same mistake over and over again?

But despite these drawbacks, which are quite serious, the movie works because of its laudable theme, Rajkumar Santoshi's good direction and some good writing too. But here too one fails to understand why a good director of Santoshi's calibre should take upon himself the added burden of writing the screenplay and the dialogue. Bollywood has plenty of good writers who would be happy to work for a director like Santoshi.

Overall, it's a good movie.That's why I am giving it an 8 out of 10.

Now a word about the advertising.It is publicised as a movie with three heroes and three heroines whereas the story concerns only one pair played by Manisha Koirala and Jackie Shroff. The rest just come and go.It should have been advertised as just a Manisha Koirala-Jackie Shroff starrer. There should have been no mention of the other famous names who are just guest stars in the movie. Like Salman Khan was not mentioned in the advertising of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and that worked great for the movie.Lajja could have benefited tremendously from the presence of Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Rekha and Ajay Devgan if their names had not been advertised and the public discovered them for the first time in the theatre on opening night.

From the best movies I've ever seen, showing reality in some communities, or at least a fraction of reality, and how women everywhere are oppressed.

Santoshi is one of the few Indian directors who can touch the reality to its core. The story of the character played by Rekha is based on true story, but all the other stories are also very much based on true stories to some extent. Technically the film is great. Scenes to watch out for: Mahima kicking the 'baratis' @$$. Madhuri's (one of her best performances to date) well, her complete part is gripping right from where she's introduced dancing to Madhubala's 'Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya' to where she cries out her heart for loosing her child. Rekha pleading for help while the villains try to rape her (specially whn she mentions that one of the guy was like his son). There are many many scenes in the film worth an applause. all the actors (including character actors) are amazing. Anil Kapoor is worth mentioning. His character gave a little comic relief in this tragic story along with Jonny Lever.

This film about the plight of women in india is indeed deeply disturbing and angry.Shock value and ultra realism have been used to the max. The world needs to wake up and understand the plight of women in more conservative societies, and in general.The film has been well shot and the acting is of a high standard, though right from the scene where Madhuri dixit is shunned by all through to Rekhas brutal rape the film seems to leave a bad taste that sort of leaves you feeling very shaken up indeed. this film is not for the faint hearted or those who want as a close a look as they can at the plight of women in india.This movie wasn't enjoyable and I don't think it was meant to entertain even though there are some lighter moments in the film. I would give this a 7 out of 10. not bad not entirely brilliant either.