Movie: Paheli

Actors: Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerjee, Amithab Bacchan, Juhi Chawla, Suneil Shetty
Director: Amol Palekar, Producer:

The lure of seeing some splendid shots of Rajasthan and its unbridled colour to brighten up a grey, rainy day was what took me to see this movie. That impulse was satisfied in full by the beautiful cinematography, carefully coordinated costumes and fabulous jewellery rampant throughout the movie. Even the make-money-forget-sentiment male characters in it were strung around with ornaments that one would give an arm and a leg to possess. Having said that, Shah Rukh was Shah Rukh as always. He seems to have allowed himself to be restricted by mannerisms and constrictive dialogue delivery, stifling his immense acting abilities that were amply displayed in his older movies. Sad to see this sacrifice at the altar of box office success. He is completely over-shadowed in the comedy scene where the little messenger has us in splits with his angry accusations of delivering the message and not being asked to eat or drink. Rani Mukerjee on the other hand, seems to have blended just the right amount of naturalness and starry 'adas' to twirl her way through the movie without grating on the nerves even if her voice sometimes does. Juhi is delicate and there is just enough of her to make one wish there was more. Suneil Shetty could have appeared in a few more scenes, maybe via the well-worn gimmick of flash backs? Amithab Bachchan`s slightly eerie and menacing goat herd made one suspect if he was also a 'mayavi' who had swept down from that tree. I could`nt help wondering if there would be a pack shot of the latest product he was endorsing tacked on somewhere, as well. There seems to be a little too much of AB around these days. Over exposure of even the most powerful or popular actor is just that, over exposure, like it or not.Where is Amol Palekar`s deft originality in all this, maybe swept away by the overwhelming super star status of the actors he was dealing with? He probably had his way with the puppets who did a good job of popping up to give the audience a few fly-on-the-wall explanations and observations. There are worse ways to spend a rainy day than watching 'Paheli' but definitely not to be preferred to a trip to Lonavla`s waterfalls and clean air if the weather permits.