Sunday, May 10, 2009

Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke


Quite a nice romantic movie by Raj Kanwar that if you have seen A Walk in the Clouds you will notice very early in the movie that is a sort of remake and I say “sort of” as to me is an adaptation of the same story to India’s culture and that makes it quite different not only because the songs and dancing but also because there are no vineyards in India, as far as I know (lol!). Seriously, this is an adaptation more than a remake and from the moment you notice that is Alfonso Arau’s A Walk in the Clouds story your mind starts to try guessing how they will do everything that happens in the story and most of the time I’m sure that you will not guess right as western cultures are so different to eastern cultures and this movie clearly reflects some of the differences.

In case you haven’t seen Arau’s film the story goes like this: a lady in distress, Sahiba, gets help from an army man, Karan; they go to Sahiba’s family pretending to be husband and wife; the family welcomes them, but Karan wants to tell the truth and no one lets him. As all the family lives together sharing with all comes easy and Sahiba falls in love with Karan, but he’s in love with another woman and after lots of happiness and bliss he leaves, not before Sahiba telling him that she’s in love with him. Now is the intermission and tragedy follows (always the same structure in Bollywood movies) only to have a happy ending more typical of Hollywood than Bollywood.

By the way I am not sure if is the story or the movie title that is inspired in a Kabir couplet. I tend to believe that is the movie title. Also the original story on which the two movies mentioned are based is called “Quattro passi fra le nuvole” and was a 1942 movie.

Extremely beautiful Aishwarya Rai (Sahiba) does her always-great performance with great expressions and dramatics eastern-style, plus some very nice dances, especially one that she does in full traditional sari that is simply put, beautiful, amazing and outstanding to watch. I found that this movie has a lot more songs and dances than many others that I have seen and even if some are a little tiring, in general all are so happy that makes you feel like dancing. Have to say that Abhishek Bacharan (Karan) does a good performance and the chemistry with Aish is great, after all they’re husband and wife now if not in 2000 when they did this movie.

Cinematography is spectacular –as always- and perhaps special effects are a little below good; but well, the movie is a romantic drama that had no real need of many scenes with special effects.

Not for all audiences as is the normal 167 minutes Bollywood movie and not many are used to the suddenly eruption into song and/or dancing, but that’s exactly what makes many Bollywood movies fascinating to watch and this is no exception. A must be seen for those –like me- that are huge fans of Aish.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

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