Filmi Review

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao
Director: Shyam Benegal




Welcome to Shyam Benegal's world of enchanting social comment. Every character in this village of the damned, the doomed and remarkably redeemed is a stereotype. And yet, miraculously, every character is an individual, eccentric, quirky, blemished and yet so full of vitality vigour and energy that you wonder which came first...life, or life as seen through the eyes of Benegal's camera of innocence, candour and credibility.

This isn't Benegal's first broadly-designed, warmly-panoramic ensemble film. Earlier, the prolific director excelled in depicting the life of a specific community in "Mandi" and "Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda" as a microcosm of a larger reality.

"Welcome To Sajjanpur" is enormously high on simplicity. To be simple in cinema is the most difficult thing in the world - especially when you attempt a film that subsumes an entire ethos of socio-political and cultural ideas on a rural society in tricky, torrential transition from blind faith to globalisation.

So, here in an exceptionally well-scripted film (Ashok Mishra), there's Ila Arun (deftly effective) as a woman determined to marry off her spunky daughter (Divya Dutta) to a dog to fob off a bad horoscope.

Bad karma nudges delicious satire in "Welome To Sajjanpur" as a closet-author whiles away his time writing letters for the illiterate, misguided villagers in a sleepy village that comes alive only at election time when a spirited eunuch takes on a local gangster at the elections.

The spirit of the missives, some sad, some satirical, others a bewildering Benegalesque blend of both, comes across in episodic overtures that lead us gently but persuasively from one issue - of widow remarriage (Ravi Kissan giving coy glances to Rajeswahri Sachdeva is a paisa-vasool sight) to another issue of rural migration.

Amrita Rao, in loud parrot-coloured saris and mannerisms suggesting an unspoilt naivete, is the bride-in-waiting whose husband has been gone to Mumbai for four years.

Shreyas Talpade is the letter writer given the task of informing Amrita's husband that the bride can wait no more. In a spurt of blinding self-interest, Talpade goes from detached letter-writer to attached Romeo and then to the penitent martyr with an ease, fluency and sauciness that the actor seems to muster up with a magician's flourish.

In a film flush with accomplished performances, Talpade holds the plot together like a voluminous book's spine - giving his bucolic character heart, charm and chutzpah.

This is Talpade's coming-of-age film. You really can't imagine any other leading man achieving the same level of connectivity with the character, plot and audience.

All the Benegal regulars - from Ila Arun to Rajit Kapur - show up in Sajjanpur with gratifying humility and warmth. Ravi Jhankal as the election-contesting eunuch and Yashpal Sharma as the eunuch's uncouth opponent stand out, if 'stand out' is the right term for a film where the actors become one with the characters in a seamless design celebrating life's most recognisable and basic emotions.

The costumes (Pia Benegal) tend to get a little touristy at times. And the dialogues (Ashok Mishra again) sometimes lean towards the lewd to salute the boorish rustic ambience. These are not traits you would expect in Benegal's film. But then he needs to keep up with the times. A fact that seems to have bypassed the soporific slumber-dwellers of Sajjanpur as they battle between hand-written postcards and sms communications, finally allowing the former to rule the roost until further notification.

This is a film where every character - big or small - stands tall in his or her naïve insularity from forces of corruptibility that threaten to break down their doors.

Sajjanpur echoes a 1977 film "Palkon Ki Chaon Mein" where Rajesh Khanna played the village postman trying not to get too involved with the local people's domestic problems. Talpade doesn't try that hard.

This is not Benegal's most subtle work of his prolific career. But it is one of his warmest, funniest and raunchiest pieces of cinema - where every character is a human being you'd bump into if you visit a Sajjanpur. Not too many films do that these days.

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao
Director: Shyam Benegal




Director Shyam Benegal, better known for his films like Manthan, Sardari Begum and Zubeida, has decided to venture into a new stream of cinema and make comic satires, as it is one of the most appreciated genres by the audiences today.

His directorial first in comedy titled "Welcome to Sajjanpur", originally titled Mahadev Ka Sajjanpur, is a movie about few characters from the Sajjanpur village with a perfect blend of rustic comedy and drama. Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Ravi Kishan, Ila Arun, Divya Dutta and Rajeshwari Sachdev form the different characters of this small village.

Mahadev is one of the few educated young men from Sajjanpur. His ambition is to be a novelist but finds it easier to make a living by writing letters sitting next to the post office. His ability to write persuasive letters makes him popular with the largely non-literate population of the town. Aware of this power, he soon uses his talent to manipulate people with amusing and sometimes not such amusing results.

With this as the narrative frame, Welcome to Sajjanpur shows in an entertaining, musical and comic way, characters and events that are at once hilarious and poignant. A delightful satirical take on a contemporary Indian village.

I entered the movie hall wondering if a director who has always concentrated on thought-provoking serious movies successfully directs a comedy flick. And as the reels of Welcome to Sajjanpur unveiled I was taken by surprise by the Benegal has handled this movie. His experience and talent as a director is evident in his very first attempt in a new genre.

Welcome to Sajjanpur stands out for its simplicity and its characters with whom you can easily connect and relate to. The movie doesn't have a strong plot, no glam and no action either. But the way each character and the life and sensitivity of the characters is portrayed makes it worth a dekho on the big screen.

No, Welcome isnt without its share of flaws. At many situations the village seems to be quite open minded. The villagers keep their mouths shut when Kamala, a married woman, goes on a cycle with a young and unmarried long lost friend of her's Mahadev who in turn is known for his mischievous nature. When in reality, such things are a taboo in Indian villages. Many such cinematic liberties have been taken which are quite hard to digest.

The songs too act as speed breakers and slow the pace considerably. To be frank, the songs werent great and unnecessarily added to the runtime.

Shreyas Talpade is the soul of Welcome to Sajjanpur. He is brilliant with his comic timing and performs the emotional scenes to perfection. Its hard to imagine anyone, other than probably someone as versatile as Aamir Khan, in the role of Mahadev. Amrita Rao has worked hard for her role, again Shyam Benegal has managed to extract a praise-worthy performance from the beautiful actress. There are so many characters in this character-driven film and almost all have done a comendable job. Except Ravi Kishen, he's over the top throughout.

To sum up, Welcome to Sajjanpur is average. It has its moments, the concept is different. The movie will hold more appeal to the 25+ (age) audience. At the box-office, the only chance of survival is strong word of mouth!

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao
Director: Shyam Benegal




Bhelcome, o, bhelcome- all you sajjan members of the audience. Benegal Babu's latest phillum is one rather unsatisfying chillum and leaves one with mixed feelings, as by its end it clearly overstays its bhelcome. Welcome To Sajjanpur is that breeze of fresh air that doesn't quite blow you away.

What it's about: The film is a social satire set in a quaint North Indian village with its unique bunch of colorful characters- or as many may argue- caricatures. The film unfolds through the eyes of Mahadev (played by Shreyas Talpade), an aspiring novelist, who being the only literate individual in the hamlet earns a living by writing eloquently worded letters for the many illiterate people in the village. The film and its characters thus unfold through the protagonist's bittersweet encounters with them.

What didn't work: Okay, bad things first. There's not much of a story here, in the first place, and the film depends almost totally on its characters, most of which are hardly memorable or exceptionally performed. The satirical yarn is more preachy than sharp, and at nearly three hours, it clearly begins to descend into tedium. Perhaps the makers realized this, and hence we have an abruptly wrapped up end that leaves us even more dissatisfied. Shantanu Moitra's music, barring the peppy and upbeat Sitaram number, is tepid and eminently forgettable, besides the fact that the listlessly picturised songs only hamper the narrative. The film also often feels oddly staged and the writing very play-like, and while this may be deliberate, it somehow doesn't really work. But the main flaw here is the screenplay, which meanders way too much into fickle subplots, many of which are pretty pointless.

What worked: Shreyas Talpade. The actor mostly reduced to playing sidekicks finally gets his due in a film again after Iqbal and Dor, and he doesn't disappoint. Talpade is endearing and earnest and he is definitely the glue that keeps you on your seat and the disjointed screenplay from falling apart totally. Writer Ashok Mishra may have faltered otherwise, but he writes with an assured hand, and his dialogues even when risqué have an old-world charm and understated quality to them. Of the supporting cast, watch out for Ravi Jhankal who is clearly the standout in the supporting cast for his stellar and spirited portrayal of the feisty eunuch Munnibai. While it lacks it depth or coherence, Welcome To Sajjanpur is clearly both well intentioned and socially responsible, both salient features of all of Shyam Benegal's films.

Bottom line: People expecting too much out of Shyam Benegal, considering his past body of work are bound to be disappointed. Still, the weight of expectation aside Welcome To Sajjanpur is not a bad watch- it's honest cinema that's rare to come by these days, even if it is ultimately deeply flawed.

Cast: Kirron Kher, Farouque Shaikh
Direction: Shona Urvashi



Shona Urvashi made her directorial debut in 2003 with Chupke Se. After a long hiatus she makes a comeback with Hollywood giant Warner Bros. Pictures sharing their banner along with PLA Entertainment Pvt. Ltd for her new flick "Saas Bahu Aur Sensex". The movie has a diverse mix of young neophytes like Ankur Khanna, Tanushree Datta & Masumeh Makhija along with seasoned actors like Kirron Kher, Farooq Shaikh and Lillette Dubey amongst others. With an unusual and unique story, backdrop of Sensex running parallel with a love triangle of the young ones, novel treatment and low making cost like 'Bheja Fry' and 'Mithya', does 'Saas Bahu Aur Sensex' work?

After her divorce with her husband, Vinita Sen (Kirron Kher) and her daughter Nitya Sen (Tanushree Dutta) are forced to shift from Kolkata to Navi Mumbai. Nitya abandons her ambition of studying MBA in US and with the help of her newly found friend Ritesh she manages to get a job in a call center. Meanwhile, keen to start a new life for her daughter, Vinita adapts a new lifestyle - she starts going to kitty parties and also takes a plunge into the volatile world of stock markets with the help of a stockbroker, Firoz Sethna (Farouque Shaikh).

Ritesh (Ankur Khanna) is head over heels in love with a colleague cum locality friend Kirti (Masumeh Makhija), a middle class girl who dreams of becoming big in life by marrying a billionaire, Yash Modi (Sudhanshu Pandey) who owns the call center they work for.

The movie is about how housewives indulge in investing in the roaring stock market with an intention to make quick money and the love triangle between Ritesh, Kirti and Nitya.

Shona has the talent but needs to be nurtured. Saar Bahu Aur Sensex has a unique theme, but the pitfalls in the narrative let it down. Any which way, Shona manages to convey the message, the theme of the movie, of encouraging housewives and in general everyone to invest in stocks for the progress of the nation, but also criticizes its monetary manipulation on human mind as the movie nears the climax.

Saas Bahu Aur Sensex has no hero, no heroine, rather a number of characters who come face to face due to some connection that develops with one or the other. The first half of the movie is entertaining and has few comic moments that kindle laughter, but as the reels unfold and the film indulges itself deeply into the share market and the perplexity in the love triangle, the storyline starts dragging and gets tedious to sit through. Not just that, the movie has a lot of dubious situations. How is it possible that everyone from that residential apartment work in the same department of a company? With many such situations and too many fluctuations in the market, the entertainment quotient in the movie goes for a toss. If the narrative was kept short for say 1 hr and 30 min, the movie would have made a better impact. The music is nothing worth mentioning. The only thing good about the tracks is that, no track was longer than a minute, which helps not to break the continuity of the movie.

Amidst all the performances, Udayan Mukherjee - India's most famous financial analyst and television presenter of CNBC, stays back in your mind due to the archived footage given to him by flashing him after almost every scene.

Farooq Sheikh is once again back on the big screen after a long time. He has immense talent, but is wasted in this movie. Kirron Kher is competent but again this role isn't something challenging for her talent. Unlikely, Tanushree Dutta is less glamour but as usual no talent, poor acting. Ankur is okay. Masumeh in a glam role has nothing much to offer. Lilette Dubey and Sharon Prabhakar manage to make their presence felt.

On the whole, investing your time on Saas Bahu Aur Sensex might not reap you huge benefits but few moments of laughter is assured.

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao
Director: Shyam Benegal




It’s a wonderful word. Whether it’s a political piggy, a demented woman who can only cry through her nose (?), or a clinic ‘compounder’ who flips out for the village widow, they speak a lingo that’s absolutely earthy, downright bingo.

In fact, the spine of Shyam Benegal’s Welcome to Sajjanpur is its rustic, colloquial dialogue. Co-written with Ashok Mishra (who must be saluted for the dialogue dexterity), Benegal’s screenplay pauses to spare a thought for the near extinct art of letter writing. Sure, you may sense some echoes of Brazil’s Central Station and even the French classic Cyrano De Bergerac. The long-nosed Cyrano played Socially concerned as always, Benegal articulates several points. Take widow remarriage which culminates in a tragedy and is so resonant of today’s headlines
Cupid there, here it’s just the opposite.

The letter writer (Shreyas Talpade) is being deceitful and loving it. He’s a wannabe Premchand in a surrounding that’s as conducive to writing as a pen without a nib. Ergo, he dreams big but lives in a hamlet that doesn’t know its ABCD. And right now, he’s attempting to snatch his childhood sweetheart (Amrita Rao) from her husband who hasn’t been back to the muluk for ages. Aah, the letter writer could do with some romancing. But sorry, there are too many assorted nuts around, including a hilarious snake medicine man who carries a rubber cobra. Why? Just.

Socially concerned as always, Benegal articulates several points. Take widow remarriage which culminates in a tragedy and is so resonant of today’s headlines. In Sajjanpur, also enter and exit, a headstrong scooter-riding girl, the gangster-like politician, and heavens, even a group of eunuchs out to contest the elections and assert that they’re human too.

Because of the restraint in directing potentially David Dhawanish material, Benegal frequently gets away even with risqué humour. Throughout the comedy, there’s no indulgence in slapstick. Instead, there are wise and witty moments that make you smile or guffaw at human foibles.

Quite clearly though, the song situations and their picturisations are super-tacky (like the blingy white curtains as backdrop for a dream sequence). Oddly, the background score often breaks into an American country-and-western jig. And towards the finale, certain aspects are much too hokey pokey – like a publisher’s smarmy questions about the intricacies of the story that you have just seen. Indeed, there’s something much too contrived about wrapping up the loose ends. Did Benegal run out of stock or inspiration, or both?

But then who’s perfect? Besides spinning a charming yarn, Benegal bankably draws a first-rate ensemble performance. Shreyas Talpade, after Iqbal, gets a role worthy of his calibre. He’s terrific. Amrita Rao is sweetness personified. Cameos from Ravi Kissan, Divya Dutta and Yashpal Sharma are lifelike.

Yup, so Sajjanpur is different, it has a conscience, and merits a ticket from those who have one too.

Cast: Kirron Kher, Farouque Shaikh
Direction: Shona Urvashi



Celebrate. For once there’s a very caring mum who doesn’t actually offer her sulking daughter, a tub of gaajar halwa. But if your memory serves you right, there were heaps of laddoos and rosogollas around. They vanish in a flash. Must have been yum.

That’s Shona Urvashi’s Saas Bahu aur Sensex. Probably well-intentioned as a movie about women bonding, it just doesn’t have an original voice or sharp style to keep you engaged.

Besides, so much footage is spent on establishing the characters that you long to move out of the Navi Mumbai (or is it Pune?) housing society where these women gossip, host kitty parties and are ultra-curious about the new tenant (Kirron Kher, displaying a cool collection of saris). She has arrived with a tetchy daughter (Tanushree) who gets a job with a call centre, falls in love with a goatee but goatee loves a glam gal (Masumeh). Misery.

In between all this, somehow Kirronji connects with a stockbroker (again!) who’s portrayed by Farouque Shaikh as a babbling Parsi. Shaikh does it extremely well, and Kirronji is efficient. Tanushree, without dollops of make-up, is eminently likeable. Now if only these guys had been given another script. How about a medical thriller like Gas Lahoo aur Sex?

Cast: Sushant Singh, Rajat Kapoor
Director: Jaideep Varma



Friends, countrymen and Shakespeare,

Ear ear. Jaideep Varma’s Hulla is not the poorer sister of Hulla Bol. It’s not about the good old hulla hoops either. It’s about a man who can’t sleep because a security guard keeps blowing a whistle way beyond midnight. What a fright. Just sit tight, take some cotton buds along. Because they keep blowing the whistle in Dolby surround, and don’t let you sleep either.

Once Bangalore’s Girish Kasaravalli had made the strangest movie ever (called Mane) about snooze-deprived Naseeruddin Shah-Deepti Naval because of machinery sounds. Gratifyingly, machines have given way to whistles. And stick banging, too, in order to nab any Raj Kapoor from Jagte Raho. Oho.

Admittedly, you can identify with the noise business, you go through it every day. Manoj Kumar did too in Shor, Farah Khan too, but a full-length feature film on a man and a whistle? After a few chuckles and giggles, you wish they’d bring on the main movie. Doesn’t happen.

So you’re stuck there with Sushant Singh (Stockbroker) and Kartikadevi Rane (Working Wife). She doesn’t mind the ancient security guard blowing a whistle lustily. Stockbroker does and launches this one-man crusade against whistles, which means combating Rajat Kapoor (Cooperative Housing Society Chairman) trying for a Gujarati accent. In vain.

Next: Society Chairman is busy organising two college girls to meet up with a shady business contractor – the most tantalising twist in the plot -- that’s not shown at all. Maybe the girls had whistles too.

Anyway, thanks to the believable performances by Stockbroker and Chairman, you don’t actually run out of the auditorium to check your own ear drums. In addition, there’s an excessively funny housing society guy who’s always threatening to tear his shirt. He brings the house down. Indeed, the society meetings are a riot. For such throwaway vignettes, it’s okay to check out this Hullabaloo. Of course, you must carry your own whistles along.

With the success of Ram Gopal Varma's 'Phoonk' there is renewed hope for horror movies. In the current decade there have been just a handful of films from this genre that have succeeded at the box-office and the 2 names who have successfully directed horror flicks are Ram Gopal Varma (Bhoot and Phoonk) and Vikram Bhatt (Raaz) who is also the director of 1920 that released today. 1920 features newcomers Rajneesh Duggal and Ada Sharma.

The year is 1920 and the house is isolated in the wilderness has a secret. It is waiting for the curse to come true. For years everyone who has bought the house and tried to pull it down has died under strange circumstances. It is like the house has a will and a life of its own.

Arjun (Rajneesh Duggal) and his wife Lisa (Adah Sharma) move into the house and he has been given the task of pulling it down and making a hotel there. The haunting begins.

Strange and inexplicable events start taking place. The curse says they will not survive. The only thing they have that is true is the love they once shared, which is now under the shadow of doubt. They will have to depend on the love and faith if they are to come out of this alive.

Horror movies must be one of the toughest genres of movies to make. The script has to be tight; execution has to be such that it should succeed in scaring the hell out of the audience. The camera work, background music and dialogues have to be perfect too. Else, the result could well be what I experienced while watching the second half of Vikram Bhatt's 1920. The audience in the theatre was laughing their heart out. The post-interval portions suffer due to its slow pace and bad direction.

Amongst the positives; in the first half Vikram Bhatt did manage to scare, he also succeeds in making the movie unpredictable to a certain extent. The cinematography is one of the best in recent times. The special effects are easily up to Bollywood standards; background music (Salim Suleiman) too is great.

Ada Sharma rocks in her debut with a great performance; she sure has a brilliant screen presence and was a perfect choice for her role. Rajneesh Duggal is good for a newcomer but not very consistent. Raj Zutshi is good.

To sum up, 1920 doesn't manage to hold your attention throughout. It's scary in parts and funny at times. Don't expect much at the box-office.

Greatness, they say, is never thrust on you. You are either born with it. Or you are not. Amitabh Bachchan is at a place today where nothing and everything he does surprises us.

The Bachchan saga gets one more twist in the tale as the ageing, cantankerous, flamboyant, eccentric and embittered Shakespearean actor battles old age, unwieldy hair and a receding genius.

And what a tale! Rituparno Ghosh specialises in telling stories that pitch two utterly unmatched characters against each other in a battle where the lines are drawn between the egos of the two individuals.

"The Last Lear" is actually a series of dramatic dialogues sewn together in a pastiche that suggests pain to be the constant subliminal text of all human interactions.

So we have this bearded 'intense' director Siddharth (Arjun Rampal) who decides to make a film on the life of an unemployed ageing clown. For the role, he approaches the reclusive wacky stage actor Harish Mishra (Amitabh) who sneers wryly at the very thought of entering cinema at his age, and then warms up to the idea and gives the part his heart and soul.

Interesting possibilities pitching cinema against theatre examined, explored, searched and dissected by the director with the microscopic manoeuvrings of emotions that the camera ferrets out of the human heart and makes visible to our eyes.

In Ghosh's incandescent world of human suffering and redemption, you won't find more than two people in the same room at any given time. Sometimes there are three. But then the third individual is so still in her space, you hardly notice her/his presence beyond a shadow.

Such is the truth of Divya Dutta's character. As the benevolent nurse on night duty to look after the dying Shakespearean actor, she gives the actor's mistress Vandana (Shefali Shah) and his co-star Shabnam (Preity Zinta) quiet company. The two women talk the night away on the man they're both fascinated by.

Ghosh goes backward in time from the night the film featuring Harish Mishra is premiered to the interactive events leading up to his selection and shooting for the film.

The narration is purposely loose-limbed. Even the one-to-one interactions that are the backbone of this beautifully layered chamber-piece are done with the casual grace of a trapeze dancer walking the familiar tightrope blindfolded and not fearful of the fall.

The characters are all in desperate need of redemption. Whether it's the jaded but still-spirited Shakespearean actor or his unhappy overworked mistress, or the model-turned actress Shabnam, or even the young journalist (Jisshu Sengupta) trying to piece together the opulent mystique of the Shakespearean actor's ego and enigma - the characters are perched on the brink of self-destruction, holding on to that thread of self-esteem, which keeps them from that fatal fall.

"The Last Lear" is Ghosh's second film in a row after the Bengali movie "Khela" to be located in the film world. The distance between the 'reality' of the acting world and the realism of the real world where people are often acting before one another, is covered by the sensitive director with supple grace.

The English dialogues are spun in spoken sensitivity. But the words do get in the way of the characters sometimes.

When the film starts Shabnam is on the verge of breaking up with her suspicious husband. By the time she starts shooting with Harish Mishra in a scenic hill station, she's in an off-camera dialogue with her aged co-star and ready to scream out her angst in a war-cry of articulated liberation.

Preity does here what most actors shy away from. She actually listens to her co-stars as they express their angst.

The film is littered with luminous performances. If Divya is quiet and warm in her small role, Shefali simply takes over the screen each time she walks into the frame.

And after "Rock On", Arjun Rampal delivers another pain-lashed performance.

As for Amitabh, he goes from venom to vitality in quick succession, creating for his character a kingdom of theatrical yearnings.

Ghosh has created a world carved out of mahogany-like glistening surfaces, hiding fears and anxieties that have little to do with Harish's age, and everything to do with the rage that the experience of life brings in its wake.

Indranil Ghosh's artwork and Abhik Mukherjee's cameras write out the poetry of the motion picture.

Watch "The Last Lear" to see the layerings of emotion that the director extends into his narration without losing sight of the lightness of touch in the outer crust.

Ru Ba Ru promises to be a simple love story directed by Arjun Bali starring Randeep Hooda and Shahana Goswami. Randeep Hooda last made an impact in D (2005) in a role of a gangster he excelled. How well does he carry the role of a love boy? Also, the chemistry between the lead pair is so vital in a romantic movie. Shahana Goswami of the recent Rock On fame is Randeep Hooda leading lady.

Ru-Ba-Ru is a modern day story of two ambitious individuals finding their destiny through the greatest human manifestation love, but of course with a twist! The film revolves around a modern couple Tara (Shahana Goswami) and Nikhil (Randeep Hooda) who are in love; Tara wants to cement the relationship by seeking commitment in marriage. But Nikhil, a workaholic, is always pre-occupied with his clients and work and he is happy with the way things are between the two of them. The trouble in paradise starts off with Nikhil constantly forgetting small little things that make a relationship work. He starts taking his girlfriend, her family and friends for granted. And the day comes when Tara cannot take it anymore. As she decides to take matters in her own hand, a strange magical, mystical force intervenes, and the drama unfolds!

Yet another Bollywood film that is heavily inspired by an English movie. The makers of Ru Ba Ru are clearly inspired by If Only (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Vanilla Sky (Tom Cruise). It is unfortunate that Bollywood lacks good original writers.

Anyway, if you're married or in a relationship for quite some time now, you could give Ru Ba Ru a try. The director has skillfully managed to show how some long terms relationships lack love, as other priorities in life have now taken over. The message the movie puts forward is live life for today, not for tomorrow!

But if you expect Ru Ba Ru to be a love story devoid of typical Bollywood masala, you will be sorely disappointed as it suffers mainly due to the over the top and unrealistic masala scenes. The action begins only after the accident, nothing much happens in the first half. The post interval portions are good with Nikhil's (Randeep Hooda's character) desperation convincingly shown. The music is average. None of the songs stands out.

Shahana Goswani who made her debut in Rock On... continues to rock! Her performance itself makes Ru Ba Ru worth a watch in theatre. She is a very talented actress and should have a promising future with the right roles. Randeep Hooda is good, but his body language and looks are better suited for darker roles. Jayant Kriplani is good. Rati Agnihotri is wasted.

To sum up, Ru Ba Ru works to a certain extent if you walk in with zero expectations. A few unnecessary scenes ruin what could have been a much better watch.