Parineeta - A classic

Watched Parineeta over the weekend. A very sweet yet powerful movie.

The movie is the adaptation of Saratchandra Chatterjee's Bengali novel - Parineeta (means Married Women). Hey..it is the same guy who wrote Devadas. The director is Pradeep Sarkar, he has done a good job of adapting the novel on celluloid.

It is a period movie set in the Calcutta of 60s . That itself lends an old world charm to the movie. The story goes like this: Sekar & Lolita are childhood friends, Sekar being the 'rich' boy and Lolita - the orphaned girl-living in uncle's house. There is an unconditional strong emotional bond between the two. Problem sets in ..in the form of Heritage Hotel. Lolita's house has been pledged to Sekar's father, Navin Rai (an unscrupulous - business man). Navin Rai, dreams of building Heritage Hotel knowing very well that the house cannot be redeemed. But the twist comes in the form of Girish, a suave n gentle London steel tycoon (in those days..itself). He falls for Lolita & gradually becomes close to her family. He gives the required money to redeem the house. And this makes Navin Rai very angry. The son is also very angry..for he thinks, Lolita has taken a liking to Girish. Jealousy rears its ugly head. Soon things are sorted out with a spur-of-the-moment marriage between Sekar & Lolita. Due to quirk turn of events, relationship sours between Lolita's family n Sekar's. Lolita's uncle gets a heart attack, and the ever helping Girish steps in and takes them to London. Navin Rai poison's his son's mind and makes him believe that Lolita had married Girish and in a moment of fury, Sekar agrees to his marriage with the girl, his father had chosen. But, on the day of marriage he gets to know the truth (Girish had actually married Lolita's sis) and everything is subham.

Vidya Balan lives as Lolita - the Parineeta. Did somebody say that she was making her debut. It didnt look so. What a powerhouse of a performance! Everything looks so good on her - anger, sadness, love, passion, indignation, happiness... She definitely has a longggg innings in the film world. Watch her eyes when she taunts Saif 'Shaadi shudha hoon..Isliye tho Yisi'

Saif performance was so realistic that u felt like pulling his collar and say Lolita really loves you and not Girish. A very difficult role to essay for a mainstream actor who until recently was not a great actor to be looked upon. He handles the grey shades with aplomb- brings out his insecurity with a rage never seen before. The sizzling chemistry between Vidya and Saif is a treat to watch.

Sanjay Dutt gives a mature performance as Girish. You have to give it to him for carrying of his role with such dignity.

The film's only eyesore was the climax. such a beautiful poetry should have had a subtle and poignant ending. On the contrary, Saif becomes the typical bollywood hero of the 80s and 90s - he literally breaks the wall between the two houses (with thod do..sekar..thod do chants from his friends n mother) and claims his wife. The wife simply hugs him choosing to forget all the insults that were heaped on her. Damn it.

I am going to watch Parineeta again.. just to see Vidhya & Saif Ali Khan enjoying themselves with Piyu bole piya bole ..jaanu na.....Jiya dole hole hole ..kyon yeh dole jaanu na ;-))