By Meghana Pawar - Oct 7, 2016 07:50 PM

Rating: 2/5

One line Review: Highly poetic and lyrical, this love story of two amalgamated souls transcends from ancient to contemporary times.

Positive Points: The movie has been delightfully filmed capturing the essence and beauty of Rajasthan. The frames smoothly transcend between the two eras and the frames are comprehensible. The length of the film is apt.

Negative Points: Although the editing is tight, there are a few stretched and dragged sequences. The film fails to build that connection with the audience and is not engrossing.

Plot: The love saga showcases two eras, one narrates the renowned folktale of Mirza-Sahiba and another one is a contemporary story. In the contemporary times, two school kids Suchitra (Saiyami Kher) and Monish (Harshvardhan Kapoor) are best of friends. They are extremely attached to each other and love each other’s company. Due to a tragic incident, Monish is sent to children’s remand home while Suchitra is sent to abroad by her father for further education.

Suchitra grows up to a beautiful lady who is set to get married to a Royal Prince, Karan (Anuj Choudhary). While Monish now lives a different life and has changed his name to Adil. He works in a stable for the Prince. Will the childhood love-story of Suchitra and Monish blossom or will she marry the Royal Prince? Will the dreadful past still haunt their present? Watch the film to catch the climax of the story.

Direction and other Technical Aspects: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra does a fine job when it comes to direction. The colourful cinema offers a beautiful visual experience but disappoints at the story level. The film fails to click and connect with the audience as the tale is not impactful and logical to suit the contemporary times. The cinematography is commendable and the editing is crisp. Still, the story moves extremely slow which leads to putting the viewers off. The film fails to focus on the core aspect, i.e. the love and the passion between Suchitra and Monish. Their chemistry is not convincing enough and the portrayal of their intense love is almost nil. For the viewers, the connection is not established for them to accept that the leads take such a step in the modern day and time. As Gulzar Sir has written the lyrics, couplets and the screen play, the narrative is supremely lyrical, leaving less scope for dialogues! The lead characters are not fully developed and the viewers fail to understand their traits. For every major happening, there is a lyrical theme running in the backdrop and the visuals explain the same. The VFX are decent and not astonishing.

Performances: Harshvardhan Kapoor makes his entry into Bollywood with this film. Due to the poetry kind of a narrative, there is less scope for the debutant to display his acting expertise. There are fewer dialogues and limited scenes that render him space to be expressive. Although, the actor manages to pull off the rugged avatar of the ancient era and also horse riding sequences along with his stable boy look. Harshvardhan is a promising new comer who overall bestowed a good performance.

Saiyami Kher was decent as Suchitra. The lady does justice to her part and offers a fine performance in all the sequences. She looks gorgeous in all the frames and is confident before the camera.

Anuj Choudhary who essays the role of the Royal Price and Suchitra’s would-be-husband is impressive. He pulls off the royal avatar and mannerisms fairly well and also showcases his dark side completely transforming himself.

All other supporting actors do justice to their part, serving the story to move forward smoothly.

Music: The music and the back ground score many a times erupt at random occasions. In a particular crucial scene which has sad and tragic elements, a song abruptly starts and just flows with the visuals unconvincingly. The songs do not stay with you.

Final Verdict: Overall this intense tale is meant for a niche audience and does not carry a mass appeal. Watch the film if you like poetry in motion kind of approach to cinema.