Bollywood gets entangled in relationships...!
By Uzma Zafar

Three weeks on and there’s still no good print of Salaam Namaste out in the market. Kasak, a Meera-Lucky Ali starrer has still not reached this part of the globe at all and is expected to be release anytime now. Saudi-The Deal, despite star cast, remains a low budget, to be treated as it never came kind of a flick which is merely skin show and nothing else. However, what we have for review for now is Rain, Dil jo bhi kahe and of course, Salaam Namaste.
Rain is a psychological thriller revolving around a beautiful lady but physically handicapped, i.e. blind. The movie begins with the heroine rearranging heavy decorations of her house as a journalists calls in for an interview. As he comes along and the story proceeds, it is then revealed that the lady is too scared of rain because she has had a horrific incident at a rainy night that she can never ever forget.
In a series of events, one is let to believe that the reporter taking interview is not really who he says he is but in fact a fan of the blind writer lady and a psychologist by profession, who is there just to rid her of her fear of water. However, as the tale unfolds, it becomes clears that the writer might have only one identity but the man in picture has many personalities and his intention is totally opposite of what seems on surface. It is only in the end when she is freed of her phobia of rain and danced around in nature’s blissful shower, like a butterfly for gal her age!
Rain is a very well thought up and fantastic thriller. Though there are certain erotic instances involved and some dialogues in the end are pretty bad, however, the film is a real treat for all those who crave different kind of films and are art or thriller lovers. Do watch the flick if you want to keep your mind and heart racing for a while!
In a society that we live in, there is though no clear restriction of marrying outside one’s religion. The freedom is more over here and probably less in India. However, pre-conceived notions still keep preying the minds of the elders who tend to concerned about issues like what practices would the newborn adopt in case of a cross-cultural bonding of a couple and whether the two would be able to tackle and fit in the values of the other.
Dil jo bhi kahe is all about it. From children who want to bend the norms and settle down together, against all odds, yet avoid hurting their kids in the process and understanding parents to highly conservative and ethnocentric attitudes, Dil jo bhi kahe is not just following the heart and paying the price but is also about understanding each other and maintaining bittersweet relationships.
Amitabh continues to surprise viewers by looking younger and younger and better in performance, in every new flick of his. The best part of the film is probably it’s language, i.e. Urdu. Previously, most of the cross-cultural tales had been told in English and other languages. The songs are soft and gentle. Dil jo bhi kahe is a sweet, family drama and thus a must-see for all!
There was great hype about Salaam Namaste but when one gets to watch it, there’s nothing new that the flick offers anyway. Even the idea is foreign and highly inspired by the flick; Nine Months. The pregnant heroine too, wraps a football around her otherwise invisible tummy which looks really stupid.
The same old story goes of a gal and buy, hating each other and at some point, due a volte-face and beginning to like each other. In this flick however, both go to the extent of living with each other but without marriage. They even develop deep physical relations. The gal get pregnant and the guy, due to his own set of insecurities, wants her to get rid of the child which she refuses to abort.
Realizing each other’s separate interests and set of differences, just when the couple is at the brink of losing each other forever, fate gives them another chance through which they become to rediscover each other and get to terms to how strong their bond really is. There is comedy, depression, love and compassion, every emotion involved in the flick. But this is something the viewers have been watching already. The flick has nothing but to offer and bad print adding up to the already weak equation, Salaam Namaste is a weak attempt at filmmaking!