Here he comes to save the day!

I'm sitting there, watching this standard romance, Saathiya, while sorting through some CDs, and I look up and see this silhouette coming out of the shadows, and I gasp. Even in the darkness I can realize, thanks to the profile, who it is. It's Shahrukh! I was thrilled. The nose appears and the movie took a turn for the more interesting and more compelling. (Really. He has a unique nose. You'll grow to love it.)

Something about the lead actor, Vivek Oberoi, had been bothering me for the whole film but I couldn't place my finger on it. Then all of a sudden, when faced with SRK (and Tabu, too, whom I love from Kandukondain Kandukondain!), I realized what it was: he's a child. He seems like a teenager earnestly but not effectively trying to be a mac daddy at the mall. Maybe it's his character here, who is supposed to be good-natured but sort of immature. Plus he has no eyebrows. What's up with that? He seems perfectly capable in the dance department but I have nothing else to say. When SRK arrives, he fills up the screen, he takes over, even in this little cameo that does nothing to forward the plot and seems completely irrelevant. (Maybe bad subtitling? Maybe his character was referred to earlier and I didn't catch it?) I do love Rani Mukherjee, though, being feisty and fun, as I have seen her several times before.

Maybe I have reached some sort of saturation point - say it ain't so! - but I can't think of anything in this movie that I haven't seen before. Young love blooming out of nowhere, between rich lazeabout boy and middle-class hardworking girl? Parents disapproving? Passion-fuelled romance floundering under pressures of work and home? Threats to move out? Reconciliation? All of the above.

What I haven't seen before: this one has a secret marriage, and so far wins the prize for the most outright references to sex, which are notable only because they are unusual - sweetly handled, to be sure, with lots of laughing, embracing, candles, and opaque bedding. Oh, at one point, the female lead starts to do a pole dance with a lamp, but then the character comes to her senses, giggles, and just breaks into goofy running around instead. Mostly these scenes were cute and charming, but they just make the contrast of the "Whose fault is it we never see your parents?"-"Are you saying you're tired of me?"-"Why are your friends coming over tonight?" spats more incongruous.

Comments

I though this film was a rip-off of chatle chalte but I loved the imagery especially in the title song!
Unknown said…
it's actually a remake of alai payuthe.... the very lyrical and poetic mani ratnam film. shaad ali was his assistant there and later remade it in hindi as saathiya, which is not remotely as good as the tamil original, which for me is a ratnam classic... watch it to know how poetic it can get...
Mansi said…
@Beth - Haven't seen the Tamil version but I loved this one to the core (*_*)

@Angela - Saathiya came before Chalte Chalte.

My review here:
http://eatpraylovemovies.blogspot.com/2010/12/saathiya-2002.html
Do share your thoughts!

Cheers!
www.eatpraylovemovies.blogspot.com

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