Paheli

Paheli is like a beautiful tourism brochure for exotic Rajasthan. Majestic havelis, colourful costumes, dancing puppets. It makes for a sumptuous visual feast. But for any film to work, you need more than pretty pictures, you need a strong emotional connect with the audience which Paheli is unable to make. The problem lies in the dreary screenplay. Amol Palekar hesitates in going fully mainstream, nor does he go wholly alternate—giving us an unsavoury mix of two widely different aesthetics. He should have either stuck to his brand of intimate cinema or given the film the emotional sweep and the larger-than-life drama its huge canvas demands. His penchant for understatements backfires badly in Paheli's context, feelings don't just remain muted, they get badly dwarfed by the sheer opulence of the frames.

Vijay Dan Detha's original story, Duvidha is about a ghost who falls in love with Lachchi (Rani) and takes the form of her husband Kisen (SRk) while he is away on business. Potentially it can make for a delicate portrayal of a ghost's passion for a human being and of a woman caught between her love for a ghost and her commitment to her husband. But these dilemmas are underdone when they needed to be detailed. There could have been great moments: when Lachchi chooses the ghost's love over her husband. Or when she tells her husband about her indiscretion. But these encounters are boringly static. Take the relationship between Lachchi and her sister-in-law (Juhi). Both bond over a similar pain of being separated from their husbands. But their empathy for each other is just hinted at. The comic track with Rajpal Yadav is done as an irritating apology than exploited to its populist hilt. Why have it there at all? srk tries hard to be endearing but his fans are bound to be disappointed. Rani is competent but her role had far more possibilities. And why have Amitabh Bachchan as a token presence in every other film? What stayed with me was the exquisite baoli (water-tank) where the ghost sees Lachchi the first time. Where is it located? Hopefully not at the Film City.

INDIAN Top 5
1. Paheli
2. Parineeta
3. Bunty Aur Babli
4. Kya Kool Hain Hum
5. Waqt: The Race Against Time

US Top 5
1. Batman Begins
2. Bewitched
3. Mr & Mrs Smith
4. Herbie: Fully Loaded
5. Land of the Dead

Courtesy: Film Information