Paheli (2005)
I'm a sucker for fairy tales, which is why Disney cartoons held my loyalty for so long... Even though the ending seriously irked me, Paheli is one movie with most of my favorite things: a fairy tale, singing, dancing, romance, killer costumes, settings & cinematography, tastefully applied special effects--supplying two sets of SRK's eyebrows--and last but not least, a happy(?) ending.
At any rate, what can I say about SRK being so unShahrukh like? It was fabulous! There were fewer opportunities than usual for him to go about hamming it up for the camera and that was remarkably refreshing. As a ghost at least, he behaved more like a man and less like an overgrown obsessive child. *fingers crossed that the same is true of SRK in Don* Rani looked convincingly cute throughout. Seriously, other than the ending--note to producers: ghost babies & body sharing are NOT ok--I have no beef with the film. (It's a first, I know.)
My Notes:
The visuals are remarkably lush and the choreography was engaging. Hello, there's more colors than two bags of skittles! There were also some moves I haven't seen before. They were subtle yet added a sense of newness to the obligatory "100 women dancing in the courtyard" scene.
Ridiculously large bright orange turban speaks for itself...For the ladies (or similarly afflicted men) there was a gratuitously unnecessary shower scene.
Did I mention the special effects were flawless? 
Now true, it would have been a lot more fun if SRK had a fist fight with his evil twin but I guess the story didn't really call for it. I'm also really curious as to whether or not the shadows were heightened for either of these two shots.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Big B as the shepherd. It was cool to see him "pop in" like that. Very cool. (Maja, please note, the pink scarf has been replaced with a red headcovering.) Nor can I hate on 4 of those tilde-like eyebrows!
Um, I LUUURVE the puppet dance at the end. I need a reason to learn that choreography. And in general, I love the puppets. Interesting choice for narration. Thumbs up!
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8 comments:
i didn't realize homosexuality is an affliction.
Would 'similarly afflicted' have been the better word choice? That was my first thought.
For the record, SRK barely holds a candle to Hrithik--no shower scenes needed...
Oh wow, amazing screencaps! And great review, this movie is really high on my list. Is it one to rent or should I just buy the DVD, what do you think?
I say buy! It's a fun viewing and definitely one I want to watch again.
Maja: I agree - you should buy the DVD! Mine came in a really cool case (did yours, t-hype?)
I was crazy about the songs in this film, and when I finally watched it...(well, I don't think I was in the right mood to watch it, so I split it over two days) but I really enjoyed it! It was so different...I loved the village-y feel of everything.
And wow - the colours! Absolutely breathtaking! Rani was good, and SRK was yummy :>
Maja, buy it. You'll be so happy. I bought mine without even having seen it and am so glad I did.
And t-hype, the only reason you need to learn the puppet dance is that it is inspiringly awesome. Learn it because you can, because it was there. I'll learn it too! We can puppet together! Oh man, that would be a great Halloween costume, but nobody would get it.
ok something about the pink scarf and orange turban (not trying to spoil your "some underground scoiety" angle) I think this has to do with, well, dyes. Dyes are made of raw material and orange in rajasthan and pink for scarfs in bombay are probably easy/cheap colours to produce or obtain.
You maybe did not notice, but paheli had some authenticity to it too. The story is based on a Rajasthan folk tale and some attention is given to producing the rajasthan feel in dance, language, architecture and landscape. The sceen with Amitabh is shot inside studio not in Rajasthan. The special effects were done by Sharukh's own effects studio. The story is about people of Marwar मारवाड (no you won't be able to pronounce it) they are generally rich and religious and money minded (sterotype) and the ending in there society (rajasthani folk tale) probably would have been with the ghost inside the goatskin water bag. So - bad ending, fabulous movie.
I thought this was an impressive movie. I was surprised to see SRK toned it down quite a bit. In an interview, he says that he took the opportunity to learn some acting skills from Rani, so I suppose we should thank her for his performance!
Besides the ending being a bit disappointing, my only other complaint is that the puppet dance at the end was not full screen. (it ran half screen with the end credits) 2 big movie stars playing at being marionettes? How odd! How *cool*!
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