Fanaa| Good story spoilt by bad direction
“Fanaa” is Kunal Kohli’s third directorial venture. His first one “Mujhse Dosti Karoge” was a flop. If I was his producer I would have dropped him. But Aditya Chopra ka kya jaata hai.. uske baap ka paisa hai! So, second one “Hum Tum” was made. Critically acclaimed and well-handled. It had good performances from Saif and Rani. Aditya’s baap’s paisa came back and Aditya decided to bet it again on Kunal Kohli. Beats me!
It also beats me why Kunal chose to drop Rani in “Fanaa” after having her in his first two films. Rani played a similar but more challenging role in “Black”. Aamir Khan and Rani make a very good pair. So, why was Rani dropped?
With Kajol, Aamir, Kunal, Aditya Chopra, Yash Chopra, Ravi. K. Chandran and Jatin-Lalit (after a long time, but also their last foray together) expectations are sky high. After good publicity through the teasers and trailors, the expectations became almost un”pen”able.
Blind-girl sets out to Delhi to perform on January 26th in front of the President of India at the Red Fort. I need to make a point here about her parents. They ham crazily. Rishi Kapoor sobers down towards the second half, and thankfully Kiron Kher disappears. Anybody knows why she was killed? I will tell you. She was getting back to her “Devdas” hamming mode, so she was shunted out!
Blind-girl meets die-hard-romantic-travel-guide who speaks less in normal words but only keeps reeling out eloquent urdu sher-o-shaayari. Blind-girl falls in love with this shaayar. Shaayar also falls in love. This shaayar is her shehzaada according to her haming-mom. Shaayar doesn’t want to admit his love with Blind-girl, but ends up carrying her from a train to a hospital to cure her of her blindness. Actually they were supposed to get married and they suddenly end up in the hospital. And you are like, “Hey, who’s the editor of this movie?”
Hammers assemble in the hospital around their daughter. Shaayar is missing. Blind-girl regains her eyesight. Blind-girl is no longer blind-girl! And shaayar is no longer shaayar! He is dead and was identified by the not-blind-girl. And you are no longer able to take the crap!
But then wait there’s a twist. Shaayar is the mastermind behind the IKF (Assume whatever full-form you want). He is bigger than the CIA, KGB or the Mosad or even all of these put together. He has the ability to single-handedly destroy the entire Nation of India. A dangerous terrorist. So, blind girl is now normal-girl and shaayar is now terrorist.
Terrorist considers himself to be a soldier in the fight for the freedom of Kashmir. There is a comical “Anti-terrorist bureau” where Tabu does the role of Mrs. Tyagi and there is one other fellow who dons the role of the head of the anti-terrorist bureau. Now this fellow was the villain in “Ghulam”, and that’s my last recall of this guy. The casting director fails miserably in his job. Casting Aamir & Kajol is an easy job, but what about the rest?!
One word more about Mrs. Tyagi. From where does she arrive at those marvellous decisions? She should be at the Mind-Reading and Astrology cell instead of this place. Characterisation apart from the lead pair is not well thought out. No-one looks convincing. And what was Vrijesh Hirjee doing? Apart from Aamir and Kajol, there is no attention paid to anyone else.
Just like the movie, my review also seems to digress at the smallest available opportunity. Let me continue with the story.
The dangerous terrorist now carries on with his mission while the then-blind-now-normal-girl thinks her shaayar is dead and continues her life. What happens in the end? An end, which never comes. You keep waiting for it, but then you come across songs, antaksharis-with-strangers, and many other digressive measures taken to just stretch the climax. I was not very happy waiting for the end to come. But once it ended, I was very happy! Happy that the movie ended.
Kajol, before the rise of Rani, was considered the best of the present lot of actresses. But now, it’s tough to choose between Rani and Kajol. Especially after “Black”. Kajol comes back with a super performance. If she continues being choosy and picks the best scripts, which she is in a position to do, she is bound to get back to where she belongs. The number one actress in India.
Aamir Khan seems to essay any role he wants whenever he wants. Coming back after a powerful role in “Rang De Basanti”, Aamir demonstrates again why he is the country’s top actor. Take a bow Aamir.
Jatin-Lalit might as well split and take rest or take rest even together. Except for “Chaand Sifaarish” nothing else seemed to work! Salim-Sulaiman are turning out to carve their own niche in the world of background music. The “Subaanallah” piece is particularly haunting!
Ravi. K. Chandran makes the movie look slick and extremely good. His close-up shots of Aamir and Kajol are amazing. And the camerawork during the title credits is eye-catching. The helicopter shots and the sweeping shots over the snow-ranges are all works of art.
Kunal Kohli must learn how to hire an editor and work towards a better and tighter screenplay idea. I will not say that the direction was bad, but there’s nothing to write home about either. A director who needs good scripts to run the show. But then, who doesn’t? I don’t rate him highly. You can’t call a good story, bad editing, horrible screenplay and unforgivable casting as good direction.
Apart from Aamir and Kajol, there’s nothing in the movie. Story keeps you a little interested till the end. Whereas everything else tries to throw you out of the theatre.
My rating: ***
Legend:
* Stay at home
** If you have the time to kill, go ahead, but not recommended
*** Can watch on a pirated DVD!
**** Go, watch it on the big screen!
***** Don’t miss watching this one on the big screen! Avoid piracy!
Awesome review Adi :)
i’m glad i watched the movie before reading your review. i liked the movie. gowtham seemed to get irritated with the first half of the movie.but i really enjoyed the movie all through.
the one flaw i thought was that the comedy wasn’t effective.
but i like ur rating scheme :)
Aahh… thanks for saving me ~300 Rs :)
I almost decided to watch it for Aamir but I have this policy of discouraging bad work in my own humble way by not watching/buying them.
Arjuna:
Thanks mate!
Preethi:
Well, I can agree with you. Because Kirthana also liked the movie. That she doesn’t understand hindi much is a different matter altogether!
Sha:
Good policy mate! People like you are my target segment. You guys read every review na! That’s why! ;)
adding you to my blogroll. thanks.
oh right maybe it appeals more to girls becoz of its “sentimental” nature.
more so, i’m a die hard aamir khan fan, even if he acts in the junkest of movies, i can condone all flaws and love the movie.
anything for aamir khan :)
Bombay Addict:
Thanks!
Preethi:
I don’t know about this girl-guy things! But yeah, I am also a die-hard Aamir fan. Anything for him! But I can’t let my idol do wrong things. It’s my duty to crticize him when he needs it! ;) You see I take my job quite seriously! Hehehehe!
hihihi :) take a bow
I read part of your post and then decided not to read it as it will spoil the fun. Let me first watch it. Will do it when I am in India next week. :)
Hey you have been tagged.. by me of course!!!
Look at my blog.