One is always a bit scared when seeing a movie which has been hyped up like this in case it doesnt live up to expectations , but this one does and at the end people were reluctant to leave the theater .
Its a bit of Ramyana and Mohabbatein mixed and some will complain that there is nothing new but then what matters is the screenplay , and its one of those the whole family can watch and enjoy and so its destined to be a megahit .
Takes about 45mins to get going but then gets hold of you and since it is nearly four hours long its very good value indeed . Yash Chopra is famous for making movies where the dress of the actresses is on the short side -dtph , kkhh, mohabbatein , and its true in parts here , but its cleverly done in a joking manner so that the
rickshawallah crowd is satisfied and the elderly women dont complain .
Dialog is good eg. 'If you see our family from far , you will see a happy together one , but come close and you will glimpse a lot of sorrows ' -wonderfull stuff . Another 'the anger of the elders is part of their love ' and of course they never want to admit they are at fault ! Whenever my mother is at fault in our arguements , which is all the time , she pulls rank 'Am I your mother are you mine ?' . How can you argue with something like that ? So I get annoyed at being left speechless and decide to bash some on the net.
English subtitles work well , some complain that its
distracting and they spend most of their time reading them and miss the action , but that is nonsense . What they should do , like me , is to ignore them and watch the movie and actually for difficult Urdu shairi one can read them and learn some difficult words -for eg I learnt that 'takkaluf' means 'difficulty' . The silliest thing is that the difficult shairi is translated but the relatively straightforward
songs 'I love you , you love me ' stuff is not and why Indian movie makers do this is a great mystery and really foolish because the songs and dances are the best part of Bollywood movies which make them watchable again and again . Non south asians will probably want to see
this one twice -the 'You are my Sonia ' is a very good song .
Half the movie is set in India and half in London but
probably filmed all in UK-Bluewater . SRK , Amitabh and Hritihik are all good but the females Kajol and Kareena are brilliant . Kajol as the Punjabi kudi from Chandni Chowk who loves everything Indian and hates everything western and watches in agony as her own son becomes more and more
English , calling her Mummy instead of Ma , is superb . Kareena who describes herself as a 'wicked bitch' and twists the boys in the college round her fingers is excellent too .Its good to see more and more westerners men and women in the
dances . Some even in the Indian one and they do look very good in Indian dresses .One of the dances takes place at the Pyramids and some salt desert but the size of them has not been brought out clearly .
Background music , mostly Indian , is wondeful and evokes the emotions so one cries a lot in this movie .Comic bits are great fun too , and really every minute is enjoyable . It has been sold out for the next few days .
What did the Afghans want from India ?- videos of the latest films , they miss them so much even though they dont speak Hindi or Urdu. These movies strike an emotional chord and are a brain food . The best gift India can give them , is to build multiplexes in Kabul and Kandahar and Mazar e Sharif .
This has been a superlative year for Indian Bollywood cinema Listed below are In the order which I have enjoyed them , btw do not read reviews on some sites where they think that a movie should be reviewed by revealing the whole story in minutes detail including the ending!

Lajja -wonderful emotional movie
Gadhar - splendid Punjabi flavour
Jody No. 1 - Pooja Batra's song and dance , Govinda's comedy
Lagaan-selected for Oscar
Kyun Ki Main jhoot nahin bolta-Govinda again
Yaadein
Asoka
Dil Chahta hai
Kabi Khushi kabi gham
Yeh tera ghar , ye mera ghar
Chupa Rustum
Ehsaas
Indian
Raju Chacha
Zubeida
Kuch khati kuch mithi
Deewanapan

Plus others . The average person in the west sees three movies a year , and if Bollywood can get westerners to see just two of their movies by putting subtitles on , they will earn a fortune .

Lajja = Ouch

Gadar = Hmmm okay! If only a more competent director had handled this powerful script, ofcourse after reworking the entire climax. Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Jodi No. 1 = Ufff! Can it get any worse than this?

Lagaan = Finally

Kyon Ki Main Jhoot Nahi Bolta = YES! It can get worse than that.

Yaadein = The regular Coke commercials are better than this. Still waiting for the movie to start once the commercial break ends.

Asoka = Aah, so what if 'History' is distorted and sidelined, I most definately enjoyed it. Now, only if someone can put out a decent DVD of this.

Dil Chahta Hai = Just plain & simple "LOVED IT".

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham = What's with these acronyms? If they were going to market it as 'K3G' why bother with the actual title? Comments reserved till I see it for myself.

Ye Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar = Atleast they tried. (inspite of Mahima urf Ritu Choudhry)

Chuppa Rustam = Ab itna bhi wela nahi hoon main.

Ehsaas = Who was it that said 'Mahesh JDMGRH Manjerekar' is a good director? Must be that 'Taran BO Adarsh'.

Indian = Made me actually wish for a moment, that I was not Indian. Did I really say that?

Raju Chacha = Well, atleast it's not as bad as 'Hindustan Ki Kasam'.

Zubeida = Glad that Shyam Benegal is still making films.

Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi = What in the world was Rishi Kapoor thinking.

Deewanapan = Still wondering if I should watch it. Comments reserved.

Hey, everyone has a right to their opinion. But, please tell me your not serious. <--- No offence yaar.

Almost all, so called 'movie critics' in India, are actually worse than the Bollywood crap that they review. If we had even a few decent critics, they might have helped in influencing Bollywood to make better films and viewers in appreciating good cinema.



Edited By Sanjay on Dec. 16 2001 at 06:28