Parineeta (2005)
May be the Indians are very sentimental people. They like to reenact events of the past and reminisce it again and again. This, is quite evident in this film. More of these later.
This love story was penned by a contemporary of Ravindranath Tagore, Bengal's another favourite son, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1914. It made its entry into the Indian silver screen in 1953 through its namesake acted out by Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari. It boasts of being a classic with memorable dialogues.
Like in most romantic dramas, especially an Indian one, it revolves around what appears like a love triangle but within the confines of Indians' one man one woman tradition! A woman or a man who have accepted the other as life partner stays like that till death do them apart, may be in not so dramatic way.
It is a story of a the main characters Sekhar (Saif Ali Khan) and Lalita (Vidya Balan, debutant) growing together as neighbours and close friends. Lalita's name here is made to sound Anglicised, Lolita, to keep it fresh and mysterious to keep with times, perhaps to lure the sex crazed Indian public to the theatres as the name Lolita gained notoriety through Stanley Kubrik's 1962 film! Lolita also sounds Bengali, as Calcutta is the location of the movie.
Sekhar is the son to a ruthless industrialist. Lalita is an orphan who grew up with her uncle in the house next door. The uncle, in dire straits, mortgaged the house cheap to Sekhar's house. Sekhar's father tries all his tricks to take over the neighbour's property to build a hotel there. That is the root of the crisis in the movie. Sekhar and Lalita's love life came to an abrupt halt when a deep pocketed relative from UK, Giresh, (Sanjay Dutt) bails them out.
In frustration, Sekhar's father bad mouths Lalita and cajoles Sekhar to marry a fellow industrialist friend's daughter. Sekhar thinks Giresh is doing all that to woo Lalita.
In the end, all turns out well.
The thing about living in the past, reminiscing the glorious past...
Even though the present generation have left the pre-Independence and have embraced head long into the future, I cannot help but imagine that this film is romanticising the past. The music score is reminiscent of 1942 Love Story. There are a few scenes that remind me of Satyjit Ray's 'Charulatha'. If I am not wrong, a song from that movie is also in the song list. Rekha makes a cameo appearance as a cabaret singer in a sing that sounds strangely familiar!
Of course, no movie shot in Calcutta is complete without Howrah Bridge and the submerging of the diety during Durga Pooja!
May be the Indians are very sentimental people. They like to reenact events of the past and reminisce it again and again. This, is quite evident in this film. More of these later.
This love story was penned by a contemporary of Ravindranath Tagore, Bengal's another favourite son, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1914. It made its entry into the Indian silver screen in 1953 through its namesake acted out by Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari. It boasts of being a classic with memorable dialogues.Like in most romantic dramas, especially an Indian one, it revolves around what appears like a love triangle but within the confines of Indians' one man one woman tradition! A woman or a man who have accepted the other as life partner stays like that till death do them apart, may be in not so dramatic way.
It is a story of a the main characters Sekhar (Saif Ali Khan) and Lalita (Vidya Balan, debutant) growing together as neighbours and close friends. Lalita's name here is made to sound Anglicised, Lolita, to keep it fresh and mysterious to keep with times, perhaps to lure the sex crazed Indian public to the theatres as the name Lolita gained notoriety through Stanley Kubrik's 1962 film! Lolita also sounds Bengali, as Calcutta is the location of the movie.
Sekhar is the son to a ruthless industrialist. Lalita is an orphan who grew up with her uncle in the house next door. The uncle, in dire straits, mortgaged the house cheap to Sekhar's house. Sekhar's father tries all his tricks to take over the neighbour's property to build a hotel there. That is the root of the crisis in the movie. Sekhar and Lalita's love life came to an abrupt halt when a deep pocketed relative from UK, Giresh, (Sanjay Dutt) bails them out.
In frustration, Sekhar's father bad mouths Lalita and cajoles Sekhar to marry a fellow industrialist friend's daughter. Sekhar thinks Giresh is doing all that to woo Lalita.
In the end, all turns out well.
The thing about living in the past, reminiscing the glorious past...
Even though the present generation have left the pre-Independence and have embraced head long into the future, I cannot help but imagine that this film is romanticising the past. The music score is reminiscent of 1942 Love Story. There are a few scenes that remind me of Satyjit Ray's 'Charulatha'. If I am not wrong, a song from that movie is also in the song list. Rekha makes a cameo appearance as a cabaret singer in a sing that sounds strangely familiar!
Of course, no movie shot in Calcutta is complete without Howrah Bridge and the submerging of the diety during Durga Pooja!
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