SORRY THIS iS a duplicate...full post below !

=====SPOILER ALERT=====possible plot point giveaway=======

Well absolutely....the story itself has it in dollops !!!! It really is about the choices a rural woman has when left to herself in a town full of chauvinist men folk.....does she have the liberty to cook up her own lover? and if that cooked up lover now becomes a reality visible to other people around her , how do they react towards her and their own predicament......Bachchan is the metaphor for the wizened and sagely amongst a crowd of hypocrites. The premise is great especially for a song-drama rendition of the story....it has all the best elements of folk tradition.....i can imagine it being told in the form of a nautanki where it would have been enjoyable, but ONLY IF the words the characters mouth say the correct stuff. Since the theme is larger than life, they need to say profoundly stuff, that can stay with audiences long after they have heard it.....get them to say things like 'Phal....phool...gulab paani.....' and they start to begin looking idiotic. When they say things like 'Main aurat ke dil mein basa prem hoon' like they were in a Karan Johar movie, it begins to sound a tad corny, killing the moment!

I can point to another play that had a similar theme that conveyed that message simply brilliantly. NAGAMANDALA by Girish Karnad was a breathtaking example of theatre at its best. But it was theatre....it has been made on celluloid as well which I have not caught, but it did not work well with audiences (made in Kannada). I would urge people here to read and catch its staging if they ever get a chance. The one I caught was directed by Vijaya Mehta, had Bhakti Barve as the advisor Kurudavva and Sukanya Kulkarni(Aamir Khan's sis-in-law in SARFAROSH) as the female protagonist......i still get goose pimples when I remember lines from that play!

Coming back to Palekar, personally I think he has lost it poor man...i was talking to my brother just the other day who has seen DUVIDHA by Mani Kaul and he thought that was another wasted opportunity(he is someone that fiercely likes the best of commercial(sic) and artistic elements). He reminded me that Palekar was great earlier in his directorial innings. AKRIET apparently is brilliant(have not seen but have requested VCD if available), ANKAHEE was way above most notches. I have seen KAIRI and that was fairly engaging. Both ANAHAT and PAHELI alas have been wanting in its implementation. Both good stories interpreted badly IMHO.

Sorry for the long vent.....early morning ablution value i guess Bear with me gentle Zulmis.....

Once you get in Sarook/Johar/Chopra camp..you do loose one thing only, that is creativity!



Lakshya was a technically better, but hollow/souless film that ever came out from bollywood .

Nonsense...

This is stopping me from reading any further ..., perhaps after i watch the film (DVD release date anyone ?) i will revisit this post.

Thank you!oops!

I am sorry! I forgot your involvment/affiliation in the film one way or the other! and it was HRITHIK film too!
no doubt you are so posessive!

Arsh bhai I have to agree with 'mhafner' on this one. Although Lakshya was not a great film it was certainly an above average one and most certainly not hollow and soul less.

Well, I respect both of your opinion, but I never found it duly sensitive or engrossing enough to click with me! and I will stay short of calling both of yours views as "NON SENSE or RIDICULOUS or PREPOSTEROUS"

Being above average is not a good criteria for great film imho!

May be it was my perception, not the film.

Witth due respect i did agree that it was one of best technically shot film.

Being a REFERENCE Dvd ? i have my reservations!

I enjoyed Mission kashmir better than Lakshya!! no doubt people perceive different divinities or virtues depicted not in the same manners or same wavelength!

I would not rate Lakshya more than 7/10!!!or milestone film or pathbreaking!

Box-office Report

(The verdict is based on all-India collections and indicates the overall status from the date of release)

Paheli
Director: Amol Palekar
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherji, Amitabh Bachchan (s.a.)
Plus Points: Strong production values, performances and cinematography
Weak Points: Weak script and music; overall unengaging
Box-Office verdict: Flop (despite a strong opening)

Silsiilay
Director: Khalid Mohamed
Cast: Tabu, Bhumika Chawla, Riya Sen, Natassha, Divya Dutta, Celina Jaitly, Ashmit Patel, Jimmy Shergill, Rahul Bose, K.K.
Plus Points: Short, Contemporary, Experimental, Excellent music, Sincere performances
Weak Points: Esoteric, Characters insufficiently developed
Box-Office verdict: Flop

Parineeta
Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Dia Mirza, Rekha (s.a.)
Plus Points: Lilting music, strong production values and cinematography, exemplary performances by Saif and Vidya, short length (2 hr. 10 minutes)
Weak Points: Insufficient character development
Box-Office verdict: Average (strong in multiplexes)

D
Director: Vishram Sawant
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Rukhsar, Ishaa Koppikar, Chunkey Pandey
Plus Points: Crisp, decently shot, a sincere performance by Chunkey
Weak Points: 'Satya' hangover, deja vu - low on novelty factor, Mumbai-centric in appeal
Box-Office verdict: Average

Bunty Aur Babli
Director: Shaad Ali Sehgal
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherji
Plus Points: Well shot and publicized, sincere performance by Rani
Weak Points: Mediocre music, too long, overall unengaging
Box-Office verdict: Average

Nazar
Director: Soni Razdan
Cast: Ashmit Patel, Meera, Koel Purie
Plus Points: Lilting music, decent performances by Ashmit and Koel
Weak Points: Meera not up to the mark, Tacky production values, poor dialogue track
Box-Office verdict: Flop

Naina
Director: Shripal Morakhia
Cast: Urmila Matondkar, Anuj Sawhney
Plus Points: Brilliant special effects, a sincere performance by Urmila
Weak Points: Poor storyline and scripting, based on 'The Eye', not very eerie
Box-Office verdict: Average (Thanks to a good opening)

Jo Bole So Nihaal
Director: Rahul Rawail
Cast: Sunny Deol, Shilpi Sharma, Kamaal Khan
Plus Points: Sunny's spirited performance, humorous first half
Weak Points: Weak second half, character inconsistency
Box-Office verdict: Flop

Bose - The Forgotten Hero
Director: Shyam Benegal
Cast: Sachin Khedekar, Divya Dutta, & others
Plus Points: Authentic, strong dialogues, effective director
Weak Points: Long and documentarish
Box-Office verdict: Flop

Main Aisa Hi Hoon
Director: Harry Baweja
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Sushmita Sen, Esha Deol
Plus Points: None really
Weak Points: Weak performances, music, direction
Box-Office verdict: Disaster

Paheli collected aprox $ 310,000 US over the 2nd weekend. Screen average still a healthy $ 4000 US.
But it was a 4 day weekend and a 53% drop says a lot.
Still thanks to SRK name and 2nd long weekend, Paheli already has crossed the $ 1 Million (US) mark from US theatres. Despite this BO crash, because of excellent start, looks like Paheli will get an Overseas gross similar to Kal Ho Na Ho, which is already in top 7-8 top all time Indian overseas grossers (over Rs 20 crores).

Rs 20 crore overseas gross seems to have come true. So far, it's over Rs 10 crore from US and UK. It may end up with Rs 12 crore from US-UK. Total overseas gross normally is double of (US+UK).

http://www.indiafm.com/boxoffice/overseas/20jul05.shtml

Weekend: July 15 - 17, 2005.

U.K. BOX-OFFICE

PAHELI [last weekend: No. 10, this weekend: No. 15]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected £ 13,448 on 22 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 611. Total: £ 527,467 [approx. Rs. 4 crores].

U.S.A. BOX-OFFICE

PAHELI [last weekend: No. 31, this weekend: No. 35]: In its fourth weekend, the film has collected $ 73,316 on 60 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 1,221. Total: $ 1,409,499 [approx. Rs. 6.14 crores].

Just saw Paheli on DVD last night. Maybe I had very low expectations after the panning this movie has got ... I thought that it was fantastic. For me this is what an Indian movie should be. It was very well made, well paced and very very Indian.

I felt that the songs complemented the continuity of the story, the photography and framing of the images was excellent. Amol Palekar has done an admiral job directing this movie. In short - it was great!