Guzarish- A Review

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shernaz Patel, Nafisa Ali, Aditya Roy Kapur, Monikangana Dutta, Suhel Seth, Sheranaz Patel, Nafisa Ali
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Producer:  Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ronnie Screwwala
Screenplay: Bhavani Iyer, Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Cinematography: Sudeep Chaterjee
Editor: Hemal Kothari
Music Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: ***
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
Official Site: http://www.guzaarishthefilm.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9QiS6nw1DM

The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!

This movie pulls strings and touches the hearts of  all those of us who have seen people  up-close who are suffering from neurological or nerve damage or paraplegia or partial coma or  are on life support, …………The movie is sad yet beautifully and artistically  made with creative cinematography and  crisp editing.

Though I may not agree with euthanasia or mercy killing, the film is well crafted to not make one condemn the thought but to accept each individual’s personal decisions about life and death.

The story is about  Ethan Mascarenhas ( Hrithik Roshan), an incapacitated paraplegic who has a paralyzed lower body after an accident performing his magic act 14 years ago.  But he lives a soulful life as a radio disk jockey, enjoys books, music, television, and  a window with a view; he is cared for by  nurse Sophia ( Aishwarya Rai) who is in love with him and  has company of good friends, a lawyer (Shanaz Patel) a doctor ( Suhel Seth) and  a student of magic (Aditya Kapur).  Yet he wants to end his limitations and degenerating life and appeals to the court for euthanasia or mercy killing!

The beauty of this movie is its crisp direction, cinematography, and taut editing about a polemic topic and its ability to sensitively portray the life of a paraplegic with pathos but without the melodrama.  The screenplay has some well executed use of humor in banter and repartee slipped in dramatic moments. The cinematography is artistically beautiful, giving each frame and scene a life of its own; and of course the cast and performances of all the characters  is excellent.

Now to detail out the other aspects of the movie:

-    The story seems to have been inspired largely from the movie “ The Sea Inside”, a Spanish movie with English subtitles starring Javier Bardem (  of Eat, Pray, Love) about a paraplegic appealing for euthanasia!

-    The setting  though it says  is Goa, India, it looks old  European settings-  The medieval mansion, the interiors, furniture, grand curtains, blinds, and  walls adorned with photography and art and décor around the home, bedroom, and kitchen, reflects  European style;  Even the 18th century bathing spa machinery for the disabled is from the  old European bath houses.  The director Sanjay Leela Bansali seemed to be captivated with the drama and magnificence the European setting creates in many Hollywood movies and profusely borrowed it.

-      Costumes and jewelry in this movie  also has Spanish and European influence with beautiful long flowing Flememnco dresses with deep necks, scarfs and umbrellas; The nurse’s means of transportation  is  also on a bike or a boat;  Even though Goa was a Portuguese colony, and had some Spanish influences, the  Spanish portrayal in this movie in pretty unrealistic.

-     The relationship between Ethan (Hrithik) and Sophia( Aishwaya) is much more than that of  patient-nurse, and is handled aesthetically with the casual flirting and facial expressions and special endearing  moments. These  scenes show shades inspired from movies like ‘English Patient’ !

-    The story in its later part is introduced with a succession of many characters in small parts trying to tie the loose ends of the story. Though tying the loose ends is good, this could have been handled better by the writer and director.

 Lastly the  performances of  the whole cast in this movie is consistently good. Both Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya give excellent  performances. Hrithik with his expressive eyes and  facial expressions says more than his words. Aishwarya  surprisingly handles the different shades of fiery and tender role of the character pretty well, though her hot red lipstick doesn’t match the tender moments but only the fiery ones! Shenaz Patel and Nafisa Ali have excellent performances too. Aditya Roy Kapur has shades of good and bad while  his character too is not built well into the screenplay.

If one ignores the euthanasia part and  just sees it as a portrayal of  daily ritualistic life of  a paraplegic or a  paralytic or a disabled person,  its creates an  awareness and  understanding of an incapacitated  life and may stimulate some in  improving the conditions of  many lives.  Hrithik Roshan after this movie  is supposed to have invested in a charity to help the disabled to get larger freedoms in life and is advocating ramps in public places for wheel chairs and transportation facilities  with ability to carry wheel chairs etc  in India.