For days i've been thinking about what i should blog on... and then my friend took me and some of my college friends for this movie at sterling (yes we paid rs. 150 per ticket, which reminds me i need to pay her back...) so anyways we go. after the awesome reviews given by ALL the people, expectations are running high...the story is quite simple, srk is autistic and was raised by a very sensible, level-headed mother, whose acting is amazing btw... being autistic did not in any way hamper his intelligence and thus, he grew up to be quite an intelligent guy, just different. in her efforts to appreciate his smaller victories, she ends up neglecting the younger son, (essayed by jimmy shergill) and he ends up feeling left out and resented. he grows up and goes to the US and then starts the process to invite her and srk to the US. just when they're weeks away from immigrating, she dies. thus srk flies alone to the US. joins his brother's company and starts working there.
during his process of working he meets kajol and falls in love with her. she has a 10 year old son from her previous marriage. but in the course of some time, she falls in love with srk and his ways too. so they marry and are living the 'happy family' life... until 9/11. there's a good dialogue, he narrates, "the lives of people were earlier divided into two ages, BC and AD, now there's a third division, 9/11" which is so true... and then the usual strife which led to the people creating rifts against muslims, and sikhs across US. during one of these rifts, her son gets killed... kajol blames srk, and herself for having married him and brought this on to their lives. and in her fit of anger, she tells him, "why don't you go to the president of united states and tell him, that you're a muslim and you're not a terrorist"
struck by those words, that becomes his mission, and he sets off on the journey to meet the american president. this journey (part of which resembles forrest gump) takes him through hurricane tormented people, becoming a part of the news-making top stories of times, becoming a source of inspiration for muslims across the world, spreading messages about the cause of autism, and so many other things.... till he reaches the end and actually says these words to the president and returns to spending his life with kajol.... who by then forgives him...
there were some funny moments, not where you'd roll off your chair with laughter, but just to sort of evoke a small laugh, some smart dialogues, but overall, the story was quite weak... it didn't have enough meat in it to carry the weight. and like a friend of mine pointed out, it didn't make you cry. it attempted hard to do so... but it doesn't move you. although i admit i cried! :D but that i do in most movies!!
srk has done a good job. not as good as chak de. but quite good. i thought his movements and expressions were well portrayed but could've been deeper. it's like the performance that rani mukherjee delivered in 'black' where she completely amazes you with her prowess, this was like 10% of that. srk needs a strong director to bring out that level of skill on the camera. i think with karan it sort of becomes this "this is good enough" but with someone like a task-master, i think he has the potential to churn out much more emotion and expression. there were moments when i was half expecting him to stop that acting and behave like himself... which is sad. because rani mukherjee was never herself in that movie, neither was konkana sen sharma (in 15 park avenue)...
kajol was atrocious. there's no other word for her performance. she tried so hard to be this cool mom, this remake of kabhi khushi kabhi gham performance and she failed miserably! in that movie she was consistently at that role and she did it well, the character was irritating and she played it to the "t" but here, she was half of that, half of what she was in like those dreamy roles, and then going hysterical and quiet in the wake of her son's death. not well done at all!
there's actually nothing more to talk about.
hmm... so all in all, if you haven't seen it, you really don't need to. :)
Comments
Your review was a very pleasant read. And I seriously didn't find it long. :)
i have to quote my friend here... he mentioned that between karan and srk, they have so much money, that they can literally get whatever they want written about them.
also if you notice the subtle branding they've done for NDTV, Barkha Dutt, etc., there's no way those channels are going to spread ill-word about them, because it's probably contractual and paid for anyway! :)
oohh... for the joy of a real movie and some real review!