Reviewing Yaadein…[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Yaadein Forum ] Posted by amanb on August 02, 2001 at 14:50:08: To go to watch a 'Subhash Ghai’s movie' means to carry considerable amount of expectations from it. That is a kind of image he (as a writer, director, and producer) has attained giving us beautiful, polished, and entertaining movies over a period of time. Each of his movies carries a distinct mark that helps it to be remembered for long. It is sad to say but Yaadein is the most substandard product from Subhash Ghai till date. Everything in the film, be it story, screenplay, art direction, dialogues, and not to mention the direction falls flat when it comes to benchmark it with a term called 'Subhash Ghai’s film'. To start with the characters (all of them from the main protagonist that is a father to his three daughters, to the family friend played by Hritik, or be it any other character in the movie like family friend’s fiancée) are far from the ones that one can identify with. They lack the depth that Subhash Ghai is capable of putting into the characters. On the contrary it looks like Ghai has stuck with a mental block to NRIs, their lifestyle, their emotions, and their highly dramatic diction. Above that the screenplay takes everything for granted turning the entire globe into something like a posh bungalow where different and distant countries are like different rooms of that bungalow and characters moving in and out of these rooms to meet each other whenever they feel like. I mean the storyline involves three countries London, India, and Malaysia but from scene to scene characters roam around these three in such a way that it leaves the viewer confused and dissatisfied with what they are trying to portray. These days one expects good directors to take care of finer details their movies but Ghai failed to take care of even the broader details in this one. When it comes to actors the first one to mention has to be Jackie Shroff. The movie is a story from a father’s perspective played by Jackie. Tremendous scope for a good actor to put life into this character, but Jackie lost this chance of his lifetime and that too at such an important stage of his life that is in need of a transition to be done in a very meticulous way. This was definitely an opportunity that is lost. The movie could have been lifted much above its level just by this character alone had the director and the actor worked on it in a way this character required. But Jackie look it too lightly and the result is a character that neither looks like a father of three matured daughters nor a husband living with sweet memories of his beloved wife. All he looks like is a man with gray hair and no sense of direction in life. One wonders where is the Jackie we saw in Parinda, 1942- A Love Story, even Hero his very first film or is it that all he should restrict is to characters with shades of negativity, frustration, and misguided force. But then there was Ram Lakhan in which he was brilliant as an ideal son, brother, and a lover. So what can one say but feel sorry for Yaadein. Then comes another hero with great expectations after proving to be a great dancer, fighter, and a craze that is Hritik Roshan. In short “his role inYaadein does not deserve him”. Though towards the end, his character does show some sparks and an identity of its own but that is too late to help anybody – the character, the film, or Hritik himself. It is difficult to digest that a director of Subhash Ghai’s caliber has tried nothing but to cash the ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ created image of Hritik by showing him in similar but poor copy of dance steps, jackets, muscle bulges, tight tops etc. Throughout the film (especially in the first half) he is shown in weird attire that make him look (lets use a decent word like ‘girlish’ but that is definitely not what I mean) weird. Extremely opposite of Hritik’s image. Another disappointment is the music and song picturisation of which Subhash Ghai is famous for. If not anything else his movies have always boasted of some great numbers and their equally great picturisations. The grandeur, the magic created by his music and how he fits songs into the narrative with their impressive choreography has always been spell bounding on the viewers. Who can forget the flute piece from Hero, the piano in ‘Zindagi har kadam ek’ from Meri Jung, ‘Ek haseena thi’ from Karz, ‘Dil deya hai jaan bhi’ from Karma, the drums and the classy ‘O Raam ji’ from Ram Lakhan, ‘Choli ke peeche’ (no matter how controversial it was but it was definitely beautifully done) from Khalnayak, ‘Do dil mil rahe hain’ from Pardes, and the music of Taal that was truly the sole of that movie. Not even a single song of Yaadein is capable to be remembered in terms of music or the quality of its picturisation. So what Yaadein ends up being is just another Hindi movie churned by the industry infamous for its quantity over quality. It is not at all a movie that is acceptable from a veteran like Subhash Ghai. Before Yaadein I thought ‘Saudagar’ was Mukta Arts weakest movie but ‘Yaadein’ has surpassed it without doubts. All one can remember out of ‘Yadden’ is irritating memories of Coke, Pass-paas, and Hero Cycles. Why does Subhash Ghai have to do this?
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