Baabul [2006]

Baabul
Reviewed: 11.12.2006

Prod: B R Films
Dir: Ravi Chopra
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji, John Abraham and others

--Spoilers may be included at various intervals--

The film sees my favourite actor-actress pairing come together once again – Amitabh and Rani, I love and appreciate their talent so much, words couldn’t express my feelings well enough! The two of them coming together makes any film worth the while for me so there was no doubt in my mind that Baabul would be worth every penny if not more! Then there’s Salman who’s one of my top few favourite actors, John who’s my favourite from the new lot and Hema Malini who is one of my favourites from the senior set of actresses. As for Ravi Chopra, well I’ve not seen a lot of his work; actually I don’t recall seeing anything before Baghban (which I truly loved) …

Story: I think most of us have already discovered that dealing with widow remarriage is not by any means an earth-shatteringly new story in HiFI – it has been done before! But does that work negatively for this film? No. The concept may have been visited before (I don’t know how many times, actually to be honest I don’t even recall myself seeing such a story – I’ve just heard from others that there have been similar ones) however the way the concept has been dealt with is so effective and beautiful, the film has shaped out to be so lovely that it doesn’t make a difference if the story is ‘been there, done that’ because concepts like this perhaps deserve to be revisited time and time again! The horrible ways in which some people treat widows is a dark reality in our society and if the message of widow remarriage is put across time and time again that’s actually a great message to be putting forward!

Screenplay and editing: The film didn’t drag at all…Though it did have quite a slow pace at times (as Baghban did), the screenplay was still very well written! The editing however was very weak! Some cuts made were so jumpy haha…It felt as though they were skipping scenes at times because the editor didn’t merge some parts well enough…The editing was by far the worst part of the film in my opinion, I wish they had a more talented editor or had given the editor a better brief/direction!!

Costumes: Amitabh, Salman and John were dressed wonderfully and very well suited to the character! Hema was dressed gorgeously, Neeta Lulla did a fantastic job with her outfits, and I absolutely loved her saris!! But the person who really took me by storm was Sabyasachi Mukherjee! Gosh this guy is so awesome I adore his work! I’ve never seen such a brilliantly dressed character… Rani’s clothes were Millie! Sabya really knows how to blend fashion with character and that is why he’s such a perfect designer for a film… He had earlier done a fantastic job with Rani in Black and now he’s impressed me even more with Baabul… I can’t wait to see his work in Chudiyan! Rani’s sari’s were breathtakingly beautiful and her suits in the second half really fit well with the mood of her character… The best part though has to be the cuts/colours Sabya gave her in the first half – so suited to the bright artiste Millie was!

Music: Loved it before, love it even more now…The way each and every song was shot was awesome! I’m not going to give each one a mini-review because trust me I could go on forever waffling on about them!!

The first half of the film was full of fun and happiness, it was so entertaining and had me laughing at so many parts! The second part was the complete opposite – dark and depressing – it kept my heart in my throat and water in my eyes!

Chemistry: Amitabh-Rani as always steal my heart, words fail to express how brilliant their chemistry is! Once again they showcase a different form of chemistry but with as much love as usual – definitely my most favourite onscreen pairing of all time! Amitabh-Salman make such an adorable father-son duo, alongside Akshay – Salman is the only male actor who looks so amazing with Amitabh! Amitabh-Hema looked so gorgeous, young and in love hehe… Salman-Rani well I’ve always been a huge fan of this pair right since their Teri Chunariya days! I even own all their DVD’s as a pair coz I love them so much! Once again they looked scorching hot, gorgeous and adorable together – they are the ultimate married couple onscreen! John-Rani aww my Jani they were adorable together but sadly not given as much scope as a pair as I wished to see of them! The first scene of them together, as well as the scene when Rajat comes to see Millie after so many years and also ‘Bebasi’ – their chemistry was full on boiling! Amitabh-John were good together in that scene just after Har Manzar…Hema-Rani were an honour to watch together, I wish we get to see more of their pairing soon, they were so sweet! Salman-Hema looked stunning together, so hot! Hehe

Some memorable moments from the film: There are so many I could go on forever but I don’t have the time at the moment so I’ll discuss this later probably haha but here are some quick moments that come to mind:

- The car race between Amitabh and Salman
- The golf scene where Amitabh ruins Rani’s painting and then the whole situation when Salman woos Rani haha remember that part where he’s asking Rajpal to borrow his shirt and Rajpal takes it the ‘wrong’ way!
- When Rani tells John she’s in love with Salman
- When Salman proposes to Rani
- The scene where Salman and family come to ask for Rani’s hand in marriage
- Both the scenes where Hema’s after Ansh with the milk…Salman’s and John’s, both were such cute scenes!
- When Amitabh tries to convince John to come to Millie
- When John moves into his new house and invites Rani and family over
- When Hema goes to talk to Rani and tells her to wear that colourful outfit
- The scene where Rani finds Ansh in Salman’s wardrobe and Ansh says he can smell his buddy there aww
- Oh and though it’s not a specific scene an honourable mention to how well Ravi sidetracked the whole story with Amitabh’s younger sister in law also being a widow for 20 years and the way she was treated etc…Really well depicted, and her relationship with Om Puri who was like a father-in-law-figure to her was a great contrast to the relationship Amitabh shared with Rani.

Performances:
As all reviews so far have stated, Baabul clearly belongs to Amitabh and Rani all the way! Once again they bring out the absolute best out of each other! Amitabh Bachchan is too great for someone to analytically discuss his performances but this review would be incomplete without saying that his performance in Baabul once again confirms that he is the best and no actor (male or female) in the entire world is even a patch on him, no one comes close and no one ever will, he truly is something else! Be it the way he cries or the way he laughs – no one does it like Amitabh Bachchan! And as far as Rani Mukerji is concerned, well she proves time and time again that she is the only Queen of our HiFI and Baabul consolidates this position of hers. She is the best actress that there is, there ever has been and there ever will be! Every release of hers, every performance betters the last… She proves she is the best each time and the next time she will go beyond herself even – she is her only competition, she’s in a league of her own, she’s unmatchable! With Baabul she once again matches Amitabh Bachchan step by step – need I say more? I’m sure that’s the biggest compliment an actor could ever receive (trust me, it is coming from me anyway!) and Rani’s the only female actor in our industry to achieve that! Both Amitabh and Rani appear to cake-walk through their roles because their talent is so immense that each role is nothing less than a cake-walk for them, they live the roles of Balraj and Millie – they’re perfect and I can definitely picture them holding those beautiful trophies once again so *fingers crossed* that happens!

Salman Khan does complete justice to his character of Avinash! He looks gorgeous and performs great! I didn’t expect his role to be as good as it was, so I was pleasantly surprised here! Though the role wasn’t anything tough for an actor of his calibre, he was simply outstanding! John Abraham disappointed me to be honest… He gave a good performance, yes! But his role wasn’t as good as I hoped it to be and in terms of look with the exception of the outdoor parts of ‘Bebsasi’ he looked really terrible and tired! His performance was stiff in some scenes but in other scenes he was outstanding (his scene just after Har Manzar as well as his scene with Ansh and especially the one where he meets Rani after so many years) were performed brilliantly!

Hema Malini looked gorgeous! Oh my gosh, she is undoubtedly the best looking woman I’ve ever seen! How flawless does she look? She looks young and so beautiful in Baabul…She can give any actress of any generation a race for their money when it comes to her looks (and she’d win handsdown!)…Performance-wise she excelled and I definitely see Best Supporting Actress nominations, if not awards, coming up for her resume! All the supporting artistes be it the kid who played Ansh, Parmeet Sethi, Om Puri etc (everyone else too) did a fantastic job too!

Overall: A warm, beautiful and heart-touching family film… A cute, romantic and comic first half and a more Kleenex-second half… A ‘complete’ HiFI movie in every sense… What more can someone want? Baabul is definitely one of the better films this year and I see a bright future for it at the Box Office because it caters to a great family audience who I presume will open their arms fully wide to the film!! So in hope of that let’s end on a saying as beautiful as the film itself: “After every sunset, there’s a sunrise!”