Lakshya

Farhan Akthar has to live upto his debut 'Dil Chahta Hain' - a feat which will be difficult to match. FA will carry the DCH label forever, much like Ramesh Sippy was labeled with the Sholay tag. Comparing Lakshya with DCH is inevitable. And FA does score in many places. The story is quite simple. The setting is in late 1990s - just prior to the infamous Kargil. Roshan is Karan Shergill, the younger sibling in a well to do Delhi business family. Karan is a happy-go-lucky naive kid who has nothing to worry about in his life. His lady love, Romila Gutta aka Romy (Zinta), on the other hand, is a career minded young lady who has a clear idea what to do with her life. When placed at crossroads when all his friends are deciding about their future career prospects, Karan is influenced by one of his friends' decision and plans to join the Army. And to his own surprise finds himself in the Army training school. However, this sudden transition from his Bohemian lifestyle to army life proves to be more than he can handle and he quits the course. However, Karan realises that things will never be the same again with Romy, who clearly sees him as a quitter, a loser with no ambitions, no goals(That's Lakshya in Hindi) in life. Hurt and dejected, Karan joins the Army training again and comes out as a hard-boiled Lieutenent.

Karan is posted in the volatile Dras sector, Kashmir. Here meets the stiff, focused Col. Damle (Mr. Bachchan) and his troops who make Karan realize that his Lakshya is to serve the country. Before long, there is a war brewing in the mountains, with Pakistani insurgents blocking out the supplies to various army bases high up in the mountains. Karan suddenly finds himself responsible for his country's safety and plays a key role in winning the battle against the intruders. His Lakshya is met. Technically, the film is brilliant. One of the first army movies made in Bollywood without an overdose of jingoism. German cinematographer Christopher Popp captures the night war sequences beautifully. The natural beauty of the rugged Ladakh has been brought to the screen in its whole. FA is a fine eye for the minor details, e.g., the name plates on the vehicles are in white letters written on black boards, like they were prior to 2001-2. The tense screens between Roshan and his father (played by the inimitable Boman Irani) are excellent. The film was conceived very very well. However, since nothing is perfect, no review is complete without some criticism. Lakshya has its faults - and most of these are because we had expected otherwise from the director of DCH. For one, there is not much of a script, so people watching for killing time will be bored. Unlike most war/army movies, this is more of a drama. Unlike DCH, we hardly have a light-hearted moment in the movie. Javed Akthar has returned to script writing after a long gap BUT I had expected more. Second, there are too many characters. Many actors in "special appearances" prove to be more distractions than integral elements of the story. Amitabh has his moments, but Om Puri, Lillette Dubey and Shushant have been wasted. At points, we feel that FA had a hard time to decide whether to keep pop-patriotism away from the movie. Songs distract and do not fit in the script, unlike DCH. My rating - 6.5/10 - for the sincerity with which the movie was made, for FA's dedication to his work, and for Hritik Roshan's performance.

One of the best Hindi films i have ever seen. I have never heard background music like that in any other Hindi film, at least in the last decade. The special effects in the rock climbing scene were done very well. Farhan has proved to be a good film maker by making two completely different sorts of films and made them both beautifully. The shots were like paintings and everything looked authentic and real, like the uniforms and the helicopters and the camps fitted perfectly with the surroundings and the imagination of it all as a whole is just amazing. Farhan to me is a very promising film maker. Hritiks acting was outstanding, except for a little over acting in the beginning. Overall i must say that i know i can expect great things from farhan and from Hritik. Good luck! and Congratulations!

Absolutely fantastic. Hrithik Roshan is brilliantly understated in this coming-of-age epic. World-class production values and high father-son, soldier-soldier emotional content that's not forced (Like the overdone mess LOC). The war scenes were brilliant. People must remember, this film was NOT BASED ON KARGIL. Akhtar took the war as a backdrop to show Karan's transformation - his path from irresponsible and misguided childhood to manhood. This film was quite an experience. I just can't understand how this flopped (If grossing 22 Crores in India can be termed "poor box office performance"). Man, my countrymen really take the cake. Garbage like Veer Zaara (Stunning locales, beautiful people, and amazing music, but overall POOR in terms of content) and Kal Ho Na Ho are lapped up by audiences, but Yuva and Lakshya are rejected completely. After Shah Rukh Khan murdered Asoka with his obsessive megalomania and J.P. Dutta took jingoism to an all-time low in LOC, Lakshya is an epic motion picture. Somewhat muted and subtle, but never EVER slight. Hrithik's a star.

I'm the kind of guy who enjoys mindless action movies as well as movies that are intelligent,sensitive&thought-provoking.Lakshya falls in the latter category. The promos were slick and the music sounded good.But when i read the box-office report on this movie i was surprised at the lukewarm response this movie got because i thought this movie would be a runaway hit.However what can people like us do when such gifted film-makers like Farhan Akhtar are discouraged because their movies don't spoon-feed facts to the audience.But all said and done,This is among my personal favourites and i'm giving it a 10/10.2004 has produced some mature and intelligent movies like Lakshya,Yuva,Hum Tum,Swades etc and i'm happy that film-makers are growing up.This movie inspired me a lot and has played a role in me realising the truth that we should always have an aim in life because a life without an aim is like a body minus the soul.

+ points-Acting,Music(Background),Sound,Story,Tight Screenplay,Inspiring,Photography,Cinematography(nicely shot) -points-Length,Slow Pace,2nd half songs.

Lakshya is a very well made war, coming of age movie, which can compete with anything from the west.

I personally, feel it ends two debates, other than the fact that it establishes Hrithik as the ultra star-great actor mould (la Kamal Hassan),

a) Farhan Akhtar is the talent to watch for, A Mani Ratnam in the making for Hindi Cinema

b) Prabhu Deva can hand over mantel of the best ever dancer on screen to Hrithik Roshan (you have to see to believe what happens on the screen in the song "Main Asia kyun hoon", which Prabhu Deva himself has choreographed).

Just go and enjoy, this wonderful clean entertainer, which has great music and cinematography to complement the performances from the actors, and the skillful direction of Farhan Akhtar

Badri