Indian wedding

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BR Films'
Baabul

Produced by: Dr B.R. Chopra
Directed by: Ravi Chopra
Music by: Aadesh Shrivastava
Featuring: Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji, John Abraham, Sharat Saxena, Aman Verma, Beena, Parmeet Sethi, Smita Jaykar and Om Puri

Superficial and preachy
Comparisons are always odious, but I must say that while Vivah looked at traditional values in a progressive way and gave subtle messages, this one takes on a very bold, progressive message but tries to establish it through a pattern that looks not only dated and banal but also trite, a shade regressive and considerably preachy.

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Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife and son Avinash (Salman Khan) have a perfect life. At a golf course, father and son encounter Mili (Rani Mukerji), a golf pro (Sharat Saxena)'s daughter who paints landscapes there. A minor altercation when the ball lands in a can of paint leads to friction between her and Kapoor senior, and so when Avinash falls in love with the middle-class girl he hides his identity from her and pretends that he is just an employee of a moody rich man and not his son and the heir to billions.

The truth however comes out, by which time Mili is in love with Avinash too, and her childhood friend and silent lover Rajat (John Abraham) steps aside quietly, when Mili's anger at Avinash's pretence cools down after his father's intervenes. A happy married life follows, and a son is born.

Tragedy, however, strikes when Avinash is killed in a road mishap, and Kapoor soon realises that Mili is completely broken. He vows to get her re-married, and who would be best but Rajat (now settled in London), especially when Kapoor flies there to meet him and realises that he too was always in love with Mili?

But opposition comes in, beginning with Mili. When Mili is convinced, Kapoor's wife (Hema Malini) and his elder and very orthodox brother (Om Puri) and his clan create obstacles. But this surrogate Baabul will have his way after a preachy confrontation.

The film's script by Dr Achala Nagar is the weak backbone of the film, apart from its inordinate length and extremely clichéd lines and scenes. Despite the underlying progressive tenor, the film is hopelessly predictable, and more importantly, superficial. The ladies are unlike to reach for their handkerchiefs more than once or twice for a minor dab as the characters and sequences fail to touch you.

And this is shocking considering some really fine performances (Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji are excellent, Bachchan assured but often predictable, while John Abraham is aptly subdued if a little too underplayed, and Hema Malini falters in her few demanding scenes) and some interesting depictions of relationships.

The Salman-Rani bonding is shown with great sensitivity, and the few Yash-Adi-like touches could have been dispensed in the otherwise fresh sequences of their courtship. Though Salman's and Amitabh's mode of greeting or addressing each other as 'Buddy' is overdone and begins to grate within the first 15 minutes, their relationship is shown in a very cheering manner.

Director Ravi Chopra scores in specific sequences, like that of the moppet sitting amidst his father's clothes because he can 'smell his fragrance' there, of Rani confronting her father-in-law when she realises that he is planning to get her married to her friend, or of the sequence where Hema thanks husband Bachchan for bringing their widowed sister-in-law to the wedding even though his elder brother deliberately kept her away from an auspicious occasion.

The technical values are average, and the songs excessive, even if tuneful. The trimming of the film after overshot footage seems to have been done both hurriedly and haphazardly, for there are glaring gaps during the climax when certain scenes and lines delivered by some characters seem inexplicable, jumpy and completely removed from whatever has been seen just before. Wonder why a prestigious banner like this could not avoid such shoddy contretemps.

Watch this film only if you are a fanatical fan of one or more of the cast. I, for one, am disappointed - because a great and timely message needs a fabulous vehicle to get it across with stunning impact, and there are so many BR Films' vehicles as classic examples to vindicate my stand. This one is unlikely to measure up to anywhere near the calibre and success levels of Baghban, forget Nikaah, Insaf Ka Tarazu, Waqt, Gumrah, Dharamputra, Dhool Ka Phool, Sadhana or Naya Daur.

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