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Film
Review: Taal
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Reviewer:
Sapna Chhaya
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Taal
Cast
: Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Anil Kapoor
Director : Subhash Ghai
Sapna.Chhaya's Rating: 3/5
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About
Movie:
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The film begins with the "Kariye na" song sung by Tara Babu
(Alok Nath) for Aakashwani Jullandhar. He lives in Chamba
(HP) with his daughter Mansi (Aishwarya Rai) and runs Tara
Babu Sangeet Vidyalaya. Mansi has also two cousin sisters,
Ila and Shanno all very pretty (-8. A rich family (Mehtas)
with a wicked aunt from England lands in Chamba for some vague
business venture worth hundreds of crores. The head of the
family is Amrish Puri in a 'normal' role with a mother-less
son Manav (Akshaye Khanna). The second song soon follows -
the title son "Taal se taal mila" picturised on Mansi, Ila
and Shanno and rain. Eye-catching Himachal Pradesh in rains,
it looks so beautiful! Manav sees Mansi there. The love between
Manav and Mansi blossoms in the valley. The rain (plus a Sony
Mavica digital camera) plays important part. Amrish befriends
Tara Babu by presenting A Sarswati idol and gets his (vaguely
defined) work done. At Mania's (Mansi's friend) wedding, the
fire between Manav and Mansi is fully ignited with the sensuous
melody of "Ishq beena kya". The first of the many 'Coke' sponsored
scenes occurs. Soon after, Manav has to leave for Mumbai.
Before that though the lovers have another tryst in rain and
mist, leaving a 'Did they or didn't they?' doubt in the viewer's
minds. Before Manav leaves, Mansi gifts him a red scarf with
the word 'Manavsi' written on it, explaining that it stands
for "Manav jaisi Mansi". This is just one of many things in
the movie that don't make any sense and makes you wonder if
the director did not have enough time to explain.
Tara Babu finds out about the affair soon after Manav leaves.
The phone scene between Manav and Ila is good. Manav being
the hero of the film handles things well and with a few minutes
of convincing talk with Tara Babu, the phone is with Mansi.
Now story becomes the usual rich v/s poor. Tara Babu and Mansi
land in Mumbai to meet the Mehtas and talk about marriage.
They get insulted by the Mehtas (I guess everyone except Mansi
and Tara Babu expected this) and Mansi decides to end the
relationship. Enter Kappu - Vikrant Kapoor (Anil K., looking
better than ever) with a jazzy version of the tittle song.
Kappu runs an entertainment company and offers Mansi the chance
to be his lead singer. Mansi, persuaded by Prabha (Tara Babu's
cousin, played very well by Mita Vashishth) takes the offer
and launches her career.
Meanwhile Manav clears his own 'galat fehmi' and starts working
on winning back Mansi. Mansi rebuffs him. In one such moment
is the beautiful "nahi saamne" by Hariharan. A male 'virah
geet'. And since rain who plays role of a friend or enemy
depending on if lovers are together or away from each other
- it has to be there with Manav at Marine Lines for this song.
Mansi and Kappu have a spat over Kappu continuously asking
whether she loves Manav and she leaves his group. When they
meet again (after Mansi realises her mistake), we get to enjoy
another rhythmic song ("Ramta jogi") with Sukhvinder batting
on front foot with Alka Yagnik. Soon after, Kappu gets full
'ehsaas' that he is in love with Mansi and he proposes.
While at the MTV International competition in Toronto, Mansi
reads about Manav's daredevil effort to save the red scarf
(with the strange word) from a fire.
Another Coke sponsored scene here. Mansi decides to sing with
'dil' as per Kappu's suggestion and we hear the BEST SONG
OF TAAL - Kavita K's 'ishq bina kya'. The rest of the film
is melodrama until hero gets the heroine.
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| Review:
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Aishwarya
Rai adds another feather to her cap after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
She has less dialogues and only few of them hard. She looks
very beautiful as usual. It seems that stars are lucky for her.
After HDDCS this is the second good role for Aishwarya and she
doesn't disappoint. As the village girl who is groomed to perfection
by a street-smart music director she plays her part to perfection.
Akshaye is utterly endearing both as the dashing city slicker
and later as the poignantly vulnerable yet hopeful lover. One
just hopes that he did not repeat the 'mere dil mein eeshwar'
line so often. Anil Kapoor infuses the character of Vikrant
with the right amount of complexity and buoyancy, playing the
role of a composer who steals and remixes tunes to make fast
bucks. He is THE ramta jogi. The futuristic beats of A.R. Rahman
coupled with the some of good singers makes for great music.
Sukhwinder is excellent in his renditions of 'Ni Main Samajh
Gaya', 'Kariye Na', and 'Ramta Jogi'. A. R. Rahman's score will
take time to grow on you but one can always be sure of his genuine
efforts, which are a class apart. Kavita Krishnamoorthy is also
at her peak.
On to Subhash Ghai: he needs to have better story/screenplay
next time with someone else doing the editing. He promoted the
movie as the first Bollywood movie with a website which is patently
absurd! However, this salesmanship has paid off: Taal is in
US top 20 films bagging millions of dollars. It has already
created records in the first week of its release.
In the end, 'Taal' stands out for it's glossy look, beautiful
compositions and Aishwarya Rai! Nothing new in the movie but
you can see it once for Aishwarya, Anil Kapoor and excellent
songs.
Corporate sponsors for movie : coke ( although we see pepsi,
mirinda too), MTV, Kenstar, BPL, Filmfare, Manikchand Gutkha
etc. |
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>>>>>>>>End
of Taal review
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