Directed by : Reema Kagti
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787988/
Note : This post is full of spoilers. Read at your own risk.
In suspense films, what matters the most is 'at what stage you can guess the climax right', and then 'the climax was worth the distance screenplay travels?' In Talaash, the problem lies with the climax.. upto that its a greatly written, very well enacted movie but once the suspense is out.. the immediate reaction is 'How the hell is this the main plot, and how can we be watching movie about this'.
The subject is on a revenge from a ghost, and if you promote it as a ghost film you are already giving away the suspense part. So, have to say if they were going to keep the main part based on a ghost, they hardly could had formed screenplay in any other way. What could had been done, was re-write the part and make it more of case solving rather than ghost revenge..
Now, try the other way which I used while watching movie 2nd time around. I know the suspense, so the anxiety level isn't there, now its about how well director covered up the scenes that hinted towards the climax. And she did very well there, apart from 2 scenes that offer the hint but then they had to be there. Talaash if seen from the point of view of Rosy (Kareena Kapoor character) would make a very good watch, the drama created between the various characters, be it Surjan (Aamir Khan) and Roshni (Rani Mukherjee) relationship that has suffered since their child's death, or Surjan and his haunting memories of child's death, or Surjan-Rosy meetings that always lead to a new clue to the accidents, or Temur (Nawazuddin Siddique) trying to get rich through the opportunity in front of him.
The more I see the film, the more I get involved into the drama narrated by Reema with excellent background score/music by Ram Sampath. The mystery part actually becomes a sub-plot (when watching 2nd time around).
Just as one reviewer wrote 'Psychological drama', I would say the same.. thats what this film is. There are few flaws if you think about logic like why did Rosy wait for 3 years to take revenge.
I loved the background theme that runs when Surjan is playing with the torch thing recalling his child's death incident. Also, the one where flashback of full incident is shown, and very well merged with present. Infact Editing is top class, specially the idea of using fadein and fadeout for characters.
The accident scenes somehow created double impact to me, either it was just for me or the sound mixing was done in a way to create that effect, specially the climax one.
The songs are perfectly used, 'Muskaanein' my personal fav sets up the mood with creative visuals highlighting the red light areas and prostitutes at late nights in Mumbai. Also, the lyrics of the song tells the theme of the film, plus Suman Sridhar's voice gives it that special feel. 'Hona Hai Kya' was also perfectly filmed with the run away of Temur. 'Jee Le Zara' special part remains the one where Surjan and Roshni dream of hugging each other as they would be when Karan was alive.
Aamir Khan excels as a cop once again, though this performance aint as effective as Sarfarosh mainly for the different characters, and the fact that Surjan is most of the time fighting with the guilt he has built inside him for the death of his child. The scene where he recalls the entire incident and tries to change it differently was very emotional, my favourite from the film.
Rani Mukherjee is very good, though she is more of playing a supporting role in the movie. Loved the scene where she tells psychiatrist about Surjan or her fight with Surjan.
Kareena Kapoor gives a fantastic performance, an outside helper to Surjan in the movie, offering links to the case and later revealing why she kept doing all that. The place which she calls 'yeh meri jagah hai, yahan koi nahi aata'.. loved both the scenes that happen there, specially the 1st one which is the longest dialogue sequence in the movie. Its one of those roles where Kareena doesn't overact which I find her doing in numerous films. For me, she outshines both Aamir and Rani in the movie.
Nawaazuddin Siddiqui continues the great successful year he has had. I thought in a big starcast movie, he may not be able to have his own scenes to impress.. but that't not the case. Note his expressions during 'Hona hai kya' song or when he tries to tell Urmila his plan.
Raj Kumar Yadav was saddened with a unintentional comical role unfortunately. Shernaz Patel's get up was kind of wierd, but she does well as always. Among rest supporting actors, Aditi Vasudev gave very good performance.
In the end, Talaash works for me as a drama, for the emotions it carries through the characters of the film. As a suspense film which it actually is labelled as.. its pretty average. Also, the 'Aamir Khan' tag would make many people not love (even if they like) the film purely for the ghost angle thrown into the story.
Verdict : VERY GOOD
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787988/
Note : This post is full of spoilers. Read at your own risk.
In suspense films, what matters the most is 'at what stage you can guess the climax right', and then 'the climax was worth the distance screenplay travels?' In Talaash, the problem lies with the climax.. upto that its a greatly written, very well enacted movie but once the suspense is out.. the immediate reaction is 'How the hell is this the main plot, and how can we be watching movie about this'.
The subject is on a revenge from a ghost, and if you promote it as a ghost film you are already giving away the suspense part. So, have to say if they were going to keep the main part based on a ghost, they hardly could had formed screenplay in any other way. What could had been done, was re-write the part and make it more of case solving rather than ghost revenge..
Now, try the other way which I used while watching movie 2nd time around. I know the suspense, so the anxiety level isn't there, now its about how well director covered up the scenes that hinted towards the climax. And she did very well there, apart from 2 scenes that offer the hint but then they had to be there. Talaash if seen from the point of view of Rosy (Kareena Kapoor character) would make a very good watch, the drama created between the various characters, be it Surjan (Aamir Khan) and Roshni (Rani Mukherjee) relationship that has suffered since their child's death, or Surjan and his haunting memories of child's death, or Surjan-Rosy meetings that always lead to a new clue to the accidents, or Temur (Nawazuddin Siddique) trying to get rich through the opportunity in front of him.
The more I see the film, the more I get involved into the drama narrated by Reema with excellent background score/music by Ram Sampath. The mystery part actually becomes a sub-plot (when watching 2nd time around).
Just as one reviewer wrote 'Psychological drama', I would say the same.. thats what this film is. There are few flaws if you think about logic like why did Rosy wait for 3 years to take revenge.
I loved the background theme that runs when Surjan is playing with the torch thing recalling his child's death incident. Also, the one where flashback of full incident is shown, and very well merged with present. Infact Editing is top class, specially the idea of using fadein and fadeout for characters.
The accident scenes somehow created double impact to me, either it was just for me or the sound mixing was done in a way to create that effect, specially the climax one.
The songs are perfectly used, 'Muskaanein' my personal fav sets up the mood with creative visuals highlighting the red light areas and prostitutes at late nights in Mumbai. Also, the lyrics of the song tells the theme of the film, plus Suman Sridhar's voice gives it that special feel. 'Hona Hai Kya' was also perfectly filmed with the run away of Temur. 'Jee Le Zara' special part remains the one where Surjan and Roshni dream of hugging each other as they would be when Karan was alive.
Aamir Khan excels as a cop once again, though this performance aint as effective as Sarfarosh mainly for the different characters, and the fact that Surjan is most of the time fighting with the guilt he has built inside him for the death of his child. The scene where he recalls the entire incident and tries to change it differently was very emotional, my favourite from the film.
Rani Mukherjee is very good, though she is more of playing a supporting role in the movie. Loved the scene where she tells psychiatrist about Surjan or her fight with Surjan.
Kareena Kapoor gives a fantastic performance, an outside helper to Surjan in the movie, offering links to the case and later revealing why she kept doing all that. The place which she calls 'yeh meri jagah hai, yahan koi nahi aata'.. loved both the scenes that happen there, specially the 1st one which is the longest dialogue sequence in the movie. Its one of those roles where Kareena doesn't overact which I find her doing in numerous films. For me, she outshines both Aamir and Rani in the movie.
Nawaazuddin Siddiqui continues the great successful year he has had. I thought in a big starcast movie, he may not be able to have his own scenes to impress.. but that't not the case. Note his expressions during 'Hona hai kya' song or when he tries to tell Urmila his plan.
Raj Kumar Yadav was saddened with a unintentional comical role unfortunately. Shernaz Patel's get up was kind of wierd, but she does well as always. Among rest supporting actors, Aditi Vasudev gave very good performance.
In the end, Talaash works for me as a drama, for the emotions it carries through the characters of the film. As a suspense film which it actually is labelled as.. its pretty average. Also, the 'Aamir Khan' tag would make many people not love (even if they like) the film purely for the ghost angle thrown into the story.
Verdict : VERY GOOD
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