Send up a silent prayer for rediscovering that old lost pleasure of a
powerful plot that "Fanaa" retrieves so affectionately for us.
Also send up a prayer for an actor like Kajol who fills up the screen
with feelings and thoughts that go way beyond the tears, fears and jeers
of a workaday movie.
Shibani Bathija's powerful drama about the tumultuous romance and tragedy
between a blind Kashmiri girl Zooni (Kajol) and her guide, mentor and
tormentor Rehaan (Aamir Khan) is suffused in the silken sounds of a
heart feeling the first stirrings of love and hurt.
Kajol expresses the delicate fragrance of a blind girl's romantic and
sexual awakening in the hustle bustle of Delhi with a sure-fire sensitivity
that energises the plot and gives the narrative the edge of excitement
that cinematic romance captures once in a while.
Cinematographer Ravi Chandran shoots in places that the camera seldom
visits. But Jatin-Lalit's songs, though well shot leave little lingering
impact.
The romantic interludes are beautifully written. The shayari between
Zooni and Rehaan flows out of the script to create an insouciant intimacy
between the couple.
Just when the romance builds to a quiet crescendo, director Kunal Kohli
brings in huge dollops of drama. In quick succession, Zooni regains
her eyesight (a medical miracle straight out of the cinema of the 1970s),
loses love, returns to be with her parents in the wilderness of Kashmir
(actually Poland), becomes a mother and shelters Rehaan without knowing
who he is.
Speed attack? More like a flurry of dramatic activity created to convey
a sense of urgent doom.
Oddly, the mid-section of the narrative looks like a poor version of
"Mission Impossible". Even the background score by Salim-Sulaiman
echoes "Mission Impossible", making us wonder why the old-world
charm of a tender romance had to be compounded by contemporary corruptibility.
Aamir Khan is certainly more at home playing the eternal romantic than
the hardened terrorist. Jehad is topical but only when the director
can bring headlines into the plot without bumping into the footnotes.
Aamir's romantic scenes with Kajol convey a kaleidoscopic chemistry.
A major portion of the second-half is shot in a snow-swept cottage.
Director Kohli uses the restricted space to great advantage creating
a domestic warmth among the four confined characters played by Aamir,
Kajol, Rishi and the delightful child actor who gets to mouth some of
the most naturally endearing lines to have escaped young unschooled
lips on screen.
The narrative exudes a warm glow of glamour and substance. That silly
self-conscious emptiness that had crept into recent romantic films is
gone, as we are swept into a stylish yet substantial kingdom of courtship
and damnation.
Yet you cannot escape the web of improbabilities that creep willy-nilly
into the otherwise well-ordered plot.
Critical bits of the
story where the female protagonist with newly-restored eyesight encounters
her lost paramour in a new surrounding echo the recent flop Amisha Patel-starrer
"Humko Tumse Pyar Hai".
Aamir Khan is extremely effective in some sequences, though not consistently
compelling in his various transitions and disguises.
Kajol steals a march over her co-star. She goes from romantic awakening
to tragedy and motherhood with skilled smoothness without ever letting
her craft shine through.
But what is the astonishing Tabu doing in this film? As a government
agent tracking down a dangerous Kashmiri militant she looks as lost
and anorexic as a model on the wrong ramp. Among the supporting actors
Rishi Kapoor as Kajol's father is delightful.
As in his earlier film "Mujhse Dosti Karoge", the director
here makes endearing use of old film songs to bring the couple closer
together. The sound of Lata Mangeshkar's "Lag jaa gale se"
in the background raises the emotional level considerably.
Star-crossed love never seemed more dramatic in recent times. For this
we need to thank the stars.
