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Saawariya Blues
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya, promised to be a unique love story. What it actually offers is, however, a frustratingly lifeless narrative with affected acting, artificially created emotions, and clichéd scenes & dialogues. There’s nothing distinctive, either positive or negative to make the film unique.
Saawariya is the story of a young singer Ranvir Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) who on arrival in a new town falls in love with a mysterious, dusky girl, Sakina (Sonam Kapoor), from a Muslim carpet weaving family. As it turns out, Sakina has already given her heart to an equally mysterious man-in-black, Imaan (Salman Khan). She knows nothing about Imaan who has disappeared with a promise to return for her on Eid. So while Raj keeps his hopes alive wooing Sakina, a prostitute Gulab (Rani Mukherjee) pines for Raj. In the end, despite everyone’s misgivings, Imaan returns on Eid and Sakina goes away with him. For love’s sake(!), Raj has to let Sakina go just as Gulab decides to turn her back on Raj.
From his first feature film, Khamoshi to his current work, Saawariya, one notices a gradual shift in Bhansali’s treatment of his themes. From telling a complex story in plain but sensitive manner (with a sprinkling of stylized scenes), he has moved to presenting simple stories that are ornately ‘mounted’ with dominant colour schemes and extravagant costumes and sets. Saawariya is a culmination of Bhansali’s near fetishistic obsession with huge, stylized sets (here, so much so that the entire film is claustrophobically shot in a series of an unoriginal mix of sets), colour schemes, and a star cast (in Saawariya, Bhansali himself plays one of the stars and also bills himself as the one ‘introducing’ star children in leading roles).
The film attempts to be a ‘musical fantasy’, unfolding a tale of love and sadness. To lend vibrancy and colour, Bhansali attempts to do an ‘Indian Moulin Rouge’, though by unimaginatively and pointlessly putting together a jumble of sets with Gothic architecture, Parisian Arc d’Triumph and Venetian gondolas as part of the landscape, Noorjahan and Buddha on the walls, Mona Lisa on the curtains, the RK banner as a logo over a shop (possibly as a homage to the late Raj Kapoor), and a long shot of this unnamed town that seems to be borrowed from one of the Hollywood’s fantasy blockbusters (Harry Potter?). The pervasive use of blue might have been ideal for a sad love story, but this film fails to evoke emotions to suit the overbearing colour scheme. The result is a blue cardboard town with characters cut out from various backgrounds and put there without much explanation.
The film’s screenplay and treatment fail miserably and all the mounted pageantry cannot save it. Saawariya’s ‘triangular’ love story is neither convincing nor engaging, and also because the basic plot uses all kinds of Bollywood clichés (if you slip into a nasty mood, it might actually be fun to spot a series of time-tested Bollywood masala traditions): the homeless hero, the motherly Anglo-Indian landlady (Zohra Sehgal), the honest prostitute, Hindu-Muslim lovers and Eid celebrations. The landlady’s character is a blatantly exploitative device to evoke emotions and the prostitute who loves the hero has been done to death in Bollywood cinema. It is not clear why Sakina gives coy looks and is clearly flirtatious with Raj and yet keeps pining for Imaan. Also, Imaan is this mysterious character who appears out of the blue one stormy night and disappears with a promise and a false address. His occupation is kept deliberately suspicious.
The music of Saawariya is uninspiring, especially for a film that is a romance and a musical. The cinematographer has a one point agenda – to make everything look pretty (in a blue-green hue) and he has tried giving his best, even in strange scenes like the heroine taking a dust shower from used carpets and the hero flashing himself from his house’s window!
The Bollywood star-kids, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor have worked hard on their roles and give credible if affected performances (Bhansali is known to extract good performances from his actors). Nonetheless, Ranbir and the director could have avoided the Kapoor-family references in the film; they are all tacky. Rani Mukherjee produces some interesting moments. Zohra Sehgal stands out with an eccentric performance of an old woman full of life and zest. But these performances hang like good-looking but dismembered limbs in a film where nothing else works.
The first signs that the films hasn’t worked with the ‘masses’ will perhaps signal other filmmakers of this ilk to not just look outwards on what would certainly sell and plainly and assuredly keep reinventing the masala features of Bollywood films.
It would be interesting to know the idea that Sanjay Leela Bhansali pitched and sold to Sony/ Columbia Pictures for their first Indian venture. Were they then aware that the film is based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s short story, ‘White Nights’ (and for which there exists an estimable adaptation in the form of the Italian master, Luchino Visconti’s White Nights [Le Notti Bianche; 1957]?). Bhansali, who took more than two years, tens of crores of Rupees and multiple stars to turn a well-known story with a worthy precedent to an uninspiring fare called Saawariya, needs to seriously rethink his aesthetic strategies.
- Padmaja Thakore
18 Responses to “Saawariya Blues”
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couldnt agree with u more…
btw welcome to pfc padmaja
Editor Note (D): Comment partially trolled for personal abuse
saa wariya ,
with a title as such i feel like crapping in my pants , like the old day’s when all of us were probaly three and had no control over our anal muscles , and said go for it baby , it’s ….sanjay leela bhansali .
good lighting , the cameras going crazy, fuck that shit .
content .content .content.content.castetrated…
fuck that shit man .
what i want to say is that saaaa fuckariyaa ….1 star
bhansali :”i suck salmans cock , i would like too suck sharukhs too.ranbir: sir , i liked the way you copied black , could you suck my cock and i could have some fun with the training i got in some acting school i looked up over the internet.bhansali : great sonam: sir me , to sir ….i assisted you in black , i could puke out those extra killos , and fuck my lakhan.
the hindu muslim story was the farthest thing from a bollywood cliche, preciseley BECAUSE it was a non issue..That the boy and girl belonged to different faiths was totally besides the point.
Also what was cliched about celebrating Eid? :-?
Infact the entire movie was an anti-cliche!
A big f- you to demands of crass commercial concerns, this one was straight from the heart. :x
To the minority that this movie spoke to ( like me) its a classic. Am glad bhansali made the choices that he did in the movie.. they totally worked for me:d
2 words for the movie…Sanjay’s BLUE FILM.. huh frustating.. how cud he even think of competing with SRK on this script.. though he was my fav director…
agree with you Maya.
Although I do feel that Saawariya is not completely succesful in achieving what it sets out to but nonetheless its bhansali’s most important, intimate, matured and sensible film, according to me.
I think he will either be remembered for Saawariya or the films that he is going to make now. And I mean that in a good way.
And Amrisha its ok if you find Saawariya frustrating but are you sure you want to compare its script with OSO’s script?
I thought OSO just had fragmented, not well thought out ideas and borrowed jokes.
i don’t agree with this review on a number of counts…this review is quite similar to a number of other reviews that were written….what has happened here is that the personal prejudice of the reviewer has clouded an objective analysis of the film….so the review is more of a tirade and less of an analysis…..this film has appealed to a definite section of the audience (albeit a minority) but same was the case with “no smoking”…and i agree it is bhansali’s most personal work till date though not his most flawless…..a number of items which have been identified as cliches by the reviewer are never even referred to in the film….like the hindu-muslim love angle…i don’t remember it being referenced in the film at all…..the eid-angle was there to emphasize the aspect of waiting…..viewing it as a religious angle is like viewing “no smoking” as an anti-smoking film….:D
right Arijit
The Eid angle was intimately woven into the story because Imaan was returning back after a year on Eid night.And yes, waiting for Eid ka Chaand informed the underlying theme of “waiting” in the movie- Sakina for Imaan, Lillian and Sakina’s grandmother for their sons..
So to call it a cliche is to miss the point!
Oh well, this movie has a dedicated albiet small group of supporters.
I smell a cult classic in 10 years..:d
two good reviews by same author, actually best on these film. this is a good site.
will come again for sure for more.
If 10 people out of a hundred like some movie because they ‘get it’ , that doesn’t make it a cult film. It’s hilarious to when someone claims that Saawariya’s not a huge hit because it’s not very commercial. Lets see - love story, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, debut of two star-kids, huge budget and gazillion songs………not a commercial film you say?
Saawariya’s not surreal it’s fake. Huge difference. Also it is extremely tacky to hammer the Kapoor family references. God forbid you miss the point that Ranbir’s ancestry obligates one to care for him.Clt film my a**!
Yep not a commerical film , because of the character development,the thematic underpinnings ( of loss and yearning), the choice of shooting entirely at night, the blueness, the brooding atmospheric sets..
Definitely not a very commerical venture me thinks, although am sure Bhansali would have liked it to have been successful. That he couldnt see this movie for its underlying non commercialness and releasing it at Diwali was imo his shortsightedness.
Obviously the people who didnt like it dont think it is a classic and the people who did do!There are more than enough people who LOVED the movie with a passion, although the majority didnt.
A cult classic is something that a small percentage of people take to initially, but later , it is considered a classic.
So Saawariya=potential cult classic, till circumstances proove it otherwise (in 10- 15 years).We will reconvene at PFC then.
:”>
Cheers
There is actually no Kapoor family references in the film…..there are references to Raj Kapoor’s cinema….there are references to many films in Saawariya….references to Batman, references to “Blue”….references to V Shantaram….why single out Raj Kapoor?….obviously people single out and emphasize the flaws to drive home a biased viewpoint……if you think it is fake surrealism that is not because it is fake…..it is because you didn’t get it……the elements of commercial cinema that you are talking about are not really elements of commercial cinema….by the same traits that you use to classify commercial cinema one can classify “moulin rouge” as one of most commercial cinemas ever….it had a trillion songs and over the top dance items…was it commercial cinema….it had one of hollywood’s biggest star attractions…..nicole kidman….a much bigger budget than 4 “saawariya”-s put to gether…..
Saawariya is a film that the low-brow find very artsy-fartsy and the high-brow find stupid. No wonder it’s a disaster. Also people who think it’s ’surreal’ should get an education in aesthetics.
i guess the person talking about aesthetics needs to have his/her brow level tested….if the comment bears any correlation with the aesthetic condition of the person then i think i have a better grounding in “surrealism”…..:D
Examples of high-brow:
1. Khalid Mohammed
2. Taran Adarsh
3. Rajeev Masand
Examples of low-brow:
1. Rangan Bharadwaj
2. A number of reviewers on PFC
Data is there for everbody to decide…..:D
Arijit shut ur mouth your catching flies
…you are catching flies
ha ha arijtt!
high brow=raja sen and taran adarsh and komal nahata:d
surreal
merriam dictionary
Main Entry: sur
@shy…oh god!!! i caught those flies that flew out of your mouth…..no wonder they were so desperate….mind your language
Saanwariya was a crappy movie. Sanjay Leela Bansali could not have made a worse movie to launch two newcomers. Or maybe he can, we have to see his next.
That will be all me-lard.