Lajja -- great movie, but only first step

Posted by sleepless in seattle on February 11, 2002 at 16:51:42:

It's a bold story line and any director that takes up such a theme must be commended. Rajkumar Santoshi at times looked like K. Viswanath, who directs only movies with substance. The protests by religious radicals in India are a credit to this movie. That means it definitely reached the masses. This is a great movie, but this is the only first step!!
The casting was excellent, since movie of this magnitude doesn’t need ego problems and insecurities associated with that. As per performances, I can't say enough about the four heroines. They are just superb. It's a shame to compare their performances, since they lived in their roles. The intensity that they have shown in this film should be a wake up call to other directors how they under use the talents of these ladies. I thought Indian actresses in recent years pay more attention to their appearances; this movie proves me wrong. The role of the male performers is to cuddle the story line within their boundaries. They did a marvelous job.
However, there are some problems: 1) either the director either failed in his focus or tried for mass appeal (the latter might be the reason, more likely), had several unnecessary bloody scenes and glitter in the beginning. In my mind the role of Ajay Devgan is wasted. This unnecessarily lengthened the movie. 2) Mr. Santoshi must have really tired by the end of the movie, and he wanted to conclude in a hurry. When Raghu (Jackie Shroff ) asks her back Vaidehi readily agrees. It’s not that simple for a man to change what he believes to be his right to own a woman and, it is not easy for woman to believe when a man like Raghu says I am a changed man. I wished they had added a couple of sentences to Raghu, … something … like “I know it is difficult for you believe me right now. Please give me a chance to make it up to you. If you still are not happy to be with me, as you know you are free woman. But please give me a second chance”

Music: Ilyaraja’s background music was excellent. But both the lyrics and the musical composition for these lyrics were screaming for help. Usually, one of the two rescues the other.

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