Cine Talk Rekha, Hema, light up the screen

Film: Sadiyaan

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Rekha, introducing Luv Sinha and Ferena Wazeir

Director: Raj Kanwar

It is deliciously ironical that during the same week that our tennis queen Sania Mirza announced she would marry a Pakistani cricketer, comes this film where the young desi pair threatens to get married and move to Pakistan. Life often imitates art. And art is often a close companion of kitsch and melodrama. Kitschy melodrama is attacked by purists. But there’s something to be said about a good oldfashioned melodrama like Sadiyaan where the biological and foster mothers, played by Hema Malini and Rekha respectively, vie for a son’s love and attention and outdo each other in the sacrificial arena.

They don’t make screen-moms like Rekha and Hema any more.

Raj Kanwar induces great dignity into the tussle between the modernday Devaki and Yashodhara. Yup, there’s something to be said in favour of nostalgia. Just see how Hema Malini, Rekha and Rishi Kapoor light up the screen in this surprisingly-watchablein-parts ode to fugitive parenthood.

Cleverly veteran director Raj Kanwar who in the past has made some very successful melodramas, focuses on the older generation in the second-half so that the story of young love gets a strong back-projection.

Exuding scent of goodness, worth a watch

Film: Tum Milo Toh Sahi

Cast: Nana Patekar, Dimple

Kapadia, Suniel Shetty, Vidya Malvade, Rehan Khan, Anjana Sukhani

Director: Kabir Sadanand

Just for the pleasure of watching Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia together, this quaint and sincere look at love across three generations is well worth a dekko Dimple, exuding a warmth that pervades the screen, plays a feisty Parsi woman who

Sadiyaan has its heart in the right place even when it, the heart, rests in callow place. The courtship between the two newcomers in the first-half lacks a virile force. The rituals of romance are rather routine. As a matter of fact, cynics can accuse the scriptwriters of investing too much heart into this tale about the pangs of Partition that tore India into two messy halves more than sixty years ago.

We’ve had some remarkable Hindi films on Partition ranging from the classic Garam Hawa to Gadar Ek Prem Kahani. Sadiyaan is not quite in the same league. It isn’t lacking in emotions. Nor does the narrative miss out on putting the right punctuation marks in every sequence. What prevents the film from taking wings is also the quality that lifts the film above the culture of prevalent puerility.

Sadiyaan has that fast-fading quality called tehzeeb. To get to that core of genteel emotions, one has to forego the fast-food pleasures of contemporary commercial cinema where any shot that lasts more than 5 seconds is considered distracting. Sadiyaan revels in lingering moments and interactive dialogues that speak of mythology in a semi-historical context.

The main actors lead the narrative gracefully into a heartwarming conclusion.

The dialogues by Javed Siddiqui convey a cutting edge touching longforgotten chords and opening wounds of history’s failings that never healed without getting involved in polemics. Anshul Chobey’s camera sweeps over the idyllic innocence of Amritsar with a isn’t deterred, let alone defeated by attempts to dismantle her dream, namely a strategic cafe where Mumbai-wallahs meet like they still do in cafes all over Kolkata for a bit of a brainy pow-wow and buttery pao It all adds up. The feisty Parsi lady and the cranky sullen unhappy-with-life lawyer (Nana Patekar) who helps her keep her property and not-sopromptly falls in love with the lady. You get the picture?

Rajen Makhijani, Sameer Siddiqui and Kabir Sadanand’s screenplay cruises the realm of the known, but still provides elements of freshness in the way the predictable characters are panoramic grace.

The debutant Luv Sinha conveys a rawness and innocence that go well with his character. His dialogue delivery and body language need fine-tuning. Time always takes care of the rough edges. That’s what this film is about.

Trust the strong stalwart cast to steel and steal Raj Kanwar’s engaging screenplay. Rekha and Hema Malini as young Sinha’s two screen moms are a study in contrast. Rekha is exuberant and restless and quite an antithesis to her husky mysterious characters. Hema is dignity and restraint personified. Her arrival after intermission signals the film’s most watchable portion. As for framed and photographed. Pushan Kriplani, director of photography, adds an afterglow to the already seen characters’ lives. You could feel the characters’ feelings, if you care.

There are three sets of people falling in and out of love, stumbling along that path to mutual fulfilment strewn with roses and thorns. This is a film that finally exudes the scent and strength of goodness. The Dimple-Nana relationship is endearing in its nostalgic references. Both are in splendid form. The next generation’s angst is represented by Suniel Shetty, who is restrained in a quiet but forcible way, and the surprise-packet Vidya Malvade.

Rishi Kapoor, has he ever let a film down?

The narrative follows old-world conventions like comic relief (between an Indian and Pakistani domestic help) and a Mujra (performed spiritedly by Neetu Chandra) during the wedding. But it’s the irony at the core of the plot that sweeps us over the glitches and hiccups. A Hindu mother decides to find her adoptive son’s biological Muslim parents so he can marry the girl of his choice.

Sadiyaan appeals at a very basic level. They don’t make too many movies like these any more.

Sadanand gives all his principal actors room to blossom. And that includes the third generation pair Rehaan Khan and Anjana Sukhani who are just discovering life and love. The couple is fresh, eager and raring to articulate their inner world.

The storytelling is moody and leisurely, like a stroll down a beachside on a quiet Sunday afternoon. The narrative has no sharp dips and curves. But director Kabir Sadanand is able to hold all his characters together, giving them a life and sustenance that takes them beyond stereotypes but not far enough to make them memorable creatures of the romantic zone.

Everyone from every generation wants a piece of that shimmering sky where love is more than just a Valentine’s Day slogan. Tum Milo Toh Sahi is not as sharp in its sensitivities on love as could have been.

Lekin tum dekho to sahi

Hen’s night ideas

Dear Auntyji

My best friend is getting married and there is a lot of pressure on me as I am planning her hen’s night and people are making all sorts of silly suggestions. Some friends think that it is her last night of freedom and so we should go wild. Others are saying that a quiet dinner will be better, an occasion to reflect on all the beautiful moments of celebration of the institution of marriage. Please advise me Auntyji: down and dirty, or upright and moral?

Auntyji says

Both darling, both! There is no reason why you can’t do both. Life is always a mix of badmashi and good behaviour. As long as it does not lead to badnaami we are all fine. On my hen’s night party, we all sat around the farmyard and looked at hens laying eggs. My 70-year-old grandmother (god bless her) then embarked on a big lecture of the birds and bees. Now, while that was embarrassing, it became even more so when Dadiji used to forget midway through the sentence that my Mataji would jump in to help. Eeeek, that almost turned me away from the whole idea of marriage… but then once I got to know Uncleji, it was all ok! Go organise a girl’s night out at a top restaurant, get a private room and have lots of fun. But take along with you some of the older women in the family like the mother and the aunts who with their presence, will keep the decorum. All will be fun and under control. Remember to toast the bride and wish her all the best for the