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Baabul

DOMINIC FERRAO

INDIATIMES MOVIES

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham, Parmeet Sethi, Om Puri, Aman Verma, Rajpal Yadav, Smita Jaykar, Avtar Gill, Gargi Patel
Director: Ravi Chopra
Producer: B.R.Chopra
Rating: * *



A rich businessman Balraj Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife Shobhna (Hema Malini) dote on their son Avinash (Salman Khan). Balraj, unlike conventional parents, treats Avinash like a buddy, and when Avinash falls in love with Millie (Rani Mukherjee) who is an artist, he goes out of his way to ensure there are no hurdles to their marriage. Millie gives birth to a son, but when he is around five, Avinash dies in an accident. Unable to see his daughter-in-law pining away for her lost husband, Balraj decides to take matters into his own hands to ensure her happiness.



He meets up with Millie's best friend Rajat (John Abraham) - who happens to be in love with Millie but bows out when Millie falls for Avinash – and the two decide to join forces so that Rajat can marry Millie. Unfortunately for them, Balraj's elder brother is dead against the marriage – and so is Shobhna. Matters take an ugly turn when they decide to ensure that the marriage doesn't take place.



A touching story with a great message, Ravi Chopra's Baabul fails to hold your attention despite the great cast. The first half of the film has you wondering whether you've come to merely watch a documentary on the ideal Indian household or to be entertained. Even while the story moves forward, you're left with the feeling that you've seen all this before – in a thousand films. Slow paced and predictable, it is only after the intermission that the film begins to effectively unfold its message – but by then it is almost too late.



It's an Amitabh-Rani film all the way. While Bachchan performs superbly throughout, delivering a flawless act, you can't help but sympathize with Rani's character, even when she refuses to remarry, defying her father-in-law's wishes. Salman, John, Om Puri and Hema Malini have their moments but are totally overshadowed by Bachchan's charisma – who, to be fair, obviously has an author-backed role which he does full justice to. The rest of the cast, including Rajpal Yadav, is entirely wasted. The climax does make an attempt to drag you back to life after two hours of ennui. Worth a watch for the message the film conveys, but be warned – the storyline could have been better shaped to hold your attention throughout. Yawn. Watch it at your own risk.


The reviewer can be contacted at dominic.ferrao@timesgroup.com
CLICK HERE to write your own review

http://movies.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-747310,curpg-1 .cms

Movie Review: Baabul

Critics Rating: (3.0/5)
Language: HINDI
Genre: Drama, Family
Director: Ravi Chopra
Producer: B.R.Chopra
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham, Parmeet Sethi, Om Puri, Aman Verma, Rajpal Yadav, Smita Jaykar, Avtar Gill, Gargi Patel
Music: Aadesh Srivastava
Lyrics: Sameer
Cinematography: Barun Mukherjee
Editing: Godfrey Gonsalves
Story/Writer: Ravi Chopra, Achala Nagar
Art Direction: Keshto Mondal
Action: Mahendra Verma



By Deep Ganatra

Watching "Baabul" was an experience, the movie was filled with emotions which left tears in the eyes of many people. Like earlier BR Chopra movie, "Baghban", this one also has its own share of emotions.

The movie is about a father who leaves all the rituals, relations behind to get his widow daughter in law married. Yes, that's it. Like other movies, this one does not have any suspense or twists in the end but this movie surely leaves a good message which many orthodox families need to learn.

Avinash Kapoor (Salman Khan) son of Balraj Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan) & Shobhna Kapoor (Hema Malini) falls in love with Malvika - Milli (Rani Mukherjee). It does not take time for love to turn into a beautiful relationship of marriage. But sudden death of Avinash leaves a happy family shattered. Balraj Kapoor understands the agony of his daughter in law and decides to get her married again. But will Malvika agree for the re-marriage? Will Hindu rituals allow re-marriage of widows? Rest of the movie answers all these questions.

Like "Vivah", this movie also leaves a good message in the end. Many scenes in the movie are so strong that it can make any person cry - especially the scene where Avinash's son hides himself in the wardrobe of his father to feel the presence of him.

Director (Ravi Chopra) did a good job in showing the pain of every member of the family.
- A father who is shattered by the death of his son but the pain of seeing her daughter in law in tears is lot more than loosing his son.
- A mother who is trying to find Avinash in her grandson but thought of re-marriage keeps her in fear of loosing him.
- A wife, who is left behind without the pillar of her life, spends her nights with tears in her eyes.
- A son who tries to feel the presence of his father in the house.

All the characters did their job very well specially Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee. Salman Khan was good too, after a long time I found his role very balanced. He is director's man with very good acting skills but very few directors know how to take good skills out of this man. And Ravi Chopra succeeds in this.

Hema Malini is sure going to make all the young girls jealous, she looks very beautiful at this age too. And the pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini looks very young and refreshing. There is a very good rapport between them. If there were awards for the best pair of the year, it would surely go to Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini's bag.

The only bad part in the movie was its music. Adesh Shrivastava fails to create the magic leaving couple of slow songs apart.

To sum it up:
Story: A very common tale of a family but very beautifully narrated and handled very well by the actors.

Music: BAD. Title song, sung by Amitabh Bachchan and "Baawri Piya" sung by Sonu Nigam are the only 2 good songs in the movie.

Acting: Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee shines like gems. Rani stands very good chance for another award. Hema Malini, Salman Khan, John Abraham were good too. Rajpal Yadav could not make people laugh. Aman Verma is wasted.

Overall, I would give this movie 3 stars out of 5.

Predicto Meter: The movie stands a good chance of crossing the hit mark. The movie might not impress teenagers but it is surely going to make our parents cry. It is a must watch for families.

http://nowrunning.com/film/review.asp?movieNo=2994&mv=Baabul

'Baabul' goes to Malaysia

IANS



After a star studded premiere in Mumbai, Ravi Chopra's much talked about "Baabul" will be showcased at the Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) in Kuala Lumpur.

The film, which deals with widow remarriage, stars Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, John Abraham Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji.



"I am not sure about Rani Mukerji but the rest of the cast as well as director Ravi Chopra have flown to Kuala Lumpur to attend the screening," said the film's publicist.

The film's first screening in Mumbai Wednesday evening was a gala affair with the entire cast present besides Bollywood biggies like Neetu Kapoor and Simi Grewal and the hottest pair of the moment, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.



"This is the 50th year of B.R. Films so we wanted the premiere to be grand," Chopra told media persons.

Rani looked a little tense and, when asked, told reporters that she was nervous because she didn't want to disappoint her fans.

The film revolves around Balraj Kapoor (Amitabh), a rich businessman happy with his life. He has a loving wife Shobhana (Hema) and an ideal son Avinash (Salman Khan) married to Malvika (Rani).



The happiness is shortlived. Avinash is killed in an accident and Malvika is unable to cope up with the tragedy. Her father-in-law decides to bring her out of her grief by marrying her to old friend Rajat (John).

The film will hit theatres in India Friday.

http://movies.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-737707,curpg-1 .cms

Now Playing

'Baabul' premiers in Mumbai

http://broadband.indiatimes.com/videoshow/743314.cms

I'm going to see Baabul in a couple of hours! Yay! I'll post my review when I get home. 😊

Subhash K Jha on the upsides and flipsides of Baabul

By Subhash K. Jha, December 9, 2006 - 06:34 IST



When you have everything going for you, including a top-of-the-shelf star-cast and a powerful socially relevant theme, it isn't easy to mess things up. Baabul does exactly that. Just why or how director Ravi Chopra manages to make a monumental mess out of a potentially explosive drama is a matter worthy of an inquiry commission.

Years ago Raj Kapoor had cast Padmini Kolhapure as a carefree girl who's transformed into a weeping widow who finally, amidst a tumult of societal protest, marries the silent beloved from the past in Prem Rog.

Writer Achala Nagar adopts the same framework. She forgets times have changed and widow remarriage isn't quite the burning issue it used to be two decades ago or even a decade ago, especially not in a family where the members seem to have watched the collected works of Karan Johar to behave accordingly.

The first half of the film where Dad Amitabh Bachchan's foreign-returned son Salman Khan woos and marries the self-respecting woman Mili (Rani Mukherjee) is replete with loud celebratory songs filmed on sets that Johar abandoned five years ago. The choreography, art work and cinematography are more suited to the social dramas of the 1960s than a contemporary work.

It's shocking to see how clumsily Ravi Chopra handles the familial inter-relationships and how much of his inspiration comes from tried-and-tested cinema. The buddy-buddy bonding between dad Bachchan and son Khan has been done in films as diverse and mood and intent as Vipul Shah's Waqt and Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, not to mention Yash Chopra's Kabhi Kabhie in a much earlier decade.

It's in the second-half when Mr Bachchan goes husband-shopping for his widowed daughter-in-law that the director gets a grip on the main drama. It may not be too late to salvage the widow's wrecked domesticity. But it's certainly too late to save the film from its catastrophic courtship of conventional drama.

Saturated in superfluous scenes of family bonding as seen mainly through clumsily choreographed songs, Baabul is paradise postponed. Theoretically it appears to be a powerful film about women's rehabilitation in the tradition of B.R. Chopra's Sadhana and Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog.



The characters are too busy posing and preening to get under the skin of the roles. Only Mr Bcahchan and Rani make an effort to light a spark in the dark. There are flashes of genuine drama between the two after Salman Khan's death. The pick of the lot being the sequences where Rani dances in the rain with her dead husband's memory and the sequence during her post-widowhood karva chauth where Rani devours food in the hope her husband would return.

Ravi Chopra's previous film Baghban about old age and negligence worked mainly because of the red-hot chemistry between the lead pair.

Over here you can see Mr Bachchan and Ms Hema Malini are being forced to fake the couple's camaraderie. Their singing and dancing collaboration creates no energy in the deadpan narrative.

As for Achala Nagar's dialogues they go on and on hammering the message in words that dwell in the domain of the deliberately ambivalent. And really, it's been a while since we heard anyone in a mainstream Hindi film scream, 'Ruko yeh shaadi nahin ho sakti!' That's what poor Om Puri, playing liberal patriarch Bachchan's super-conservative brother, is reduced to doing.

Puri should consider himself to be lucky. At least he gets to speak. Some of the supporting cast including Sareeka as a silently-suffering widow (her suffering is nothing compared with ours) barely get to open their mouth in this otherwise-over talkative film. Finally the onus of sustaining the drama falls on Mr Bachchan and Mukherjee. They try their best to look like a team in a film where the cast and crew seem to be working at cross-purposes.

Salman and John as the two men in the leading lady's apparently-tumultuous life (apparently, because what lies beneath the shallow-rumbustiousness of the film's ritzy exterior, is anyone's guess) are cocky and self-conscious, respectively. The clothes they wear, the songs that they sing and the words that they mouth could've something to do with their fugitive charisma.

Finally if there's any reason to watch this horribly askew social drama it's Rani Mukherjee. Her growth as an actor since Sanjay Bhansali's Black has been steady strong and remarkable. Even in the few scenes that she's given in this film of scant opportunities Rani proves she's far ahead of all her contemporaries.

http://indiafm.com/features/2006/12/09/1915/index.html

Film review: Baabul

By: Sarita Tanwar
December 9, 2006

*YUCK **WHATEVER ***GOOD ****SUPER *****AWESOME

Baahon ke darmiyan : Rani Mukerji and Salman Khan in Baabul

Director: Ravi Chopra
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji, John Abraham
Rating: *1/2

Sarita Tanwar
sarita.tanwar@mid-day.com

What's it about

Social messages in a film are always welcome. But filmmakers have to realise that even if they're armed with an archaic script, the treatment could be the saving grace. Unfortunately, Ravi Chopra fails on both counts. Baabul starts off as a rich-boy-meets-poor-girl story with Avinash (Salman Khan) falling for the middle-class Malvika Talwar aka Mili (Rani Mukerji).

Avinash, due to dad Balraj's (Amitabh Bachchan) fracas with Mili, lies about his status to her. Eventually when she discovers the truth, she's heartbroken. That's when Balraj steps in and assures her about Avi's honourable intentions.

Soon after, the marriage takes place amidst lavish celebrations. The only one who doesn't seem too pleased is Mili's close friend Rajat (John Abraham), who is secretly in love with her. Time passes and one day, tragedy strikes when Avinash dies in an accident. Balraj then takes over trying to rebuild Mili's life and giving her another shot at finding happiness with Rajat.

What's good:

Baabul had everything going for it: the big stars, the success of Baghban for nostalgic draw, and a storyline that would have been a sure winner with women and family audiences, but Ravi Chopra just cannot keep pace with the proceedings. The director reduces the film to a one-dimensional social drama for the remarriage for widows, but offers nothing novel in return.

There's very little the film can boast of save the performances. Amitabh and Salman lift this film to a certain level with their presence and energy. Rani Mukerji breathes life into her somewhat confused character, and John Abraham holds his own in the little part he has. The song Har lamha by Kunal Ganjawala is the high point of the film.

What's bad

The most disappointing aspect of Baabul is that you just don't connect with the film and the characters. The film fails because Mili's justification for agreeing to marry Rajat isn't convincing enough. A lot of reels have been wasted on glorifying Avi and Mili's love story, but no attention has been given to developing the bond between Rajat and her.

Chopra also borrows a lot of scenes from other films: Avi racing a car looks surprisingly similar to Salman's introductory sequence in Maine Pyar Kiya; Avi and Mili wrapped up in a white sheet comes close to Chalte Chalte. The bhangra song looks like a repeat of Baghban. And why did Om Puri accept the half-baked role of bade bhaiya, which looks like something straight out of a 1970s film?

What's that

What are Parmeet Sethi, Aman Verma and Sarika doing in the film? They are all part of the background scenery and come alive for one dialogue each in the end.

What to do

If you want to see a film on widow remarriage, rent a DVD of Prem Rog instead.

http://mid-day.com/hitlist/2006/december/148102.htm

Masand's Verdict: Baabul

Rajeev Masand
CNN-IBN
Posted Friday , December 08, 2006 at 23:00
Updated Saturday , December 09, 2006 at 10:53


FAMILY DRAMA: Ravi Chopra's new one Baabul tends to take itself too seriously.

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham, Hema Malini.

Direction: Ravi Chopra

In this week's big Bollywood release Baabul, Amitabh Bachchan plays a father-in-law with a heart of gold. When his son Salman Khan is killed in a car accident, Bachchan becomes concerned about the future and the well-being of his bahu Rani Mukherjee, whose life's turned upside down.

In the face of much opposition from his family and from society, Bachchan sets out to get Rani remarried with the intention of giving her a new lease of life. And the groom he picks is an old friend of hers, John Abraham, who's loved her for years.

Let me be upfront and tell you exactly what I believe is the fundamental flaw of this film. Baabul wants to be taken seriously as a progressive film that tackles the prickly issue of widow remarriage.

It's a film that claims to encourage women's emancipation. But just take a closer look at the film's story—it's the men making all the important decisions. Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham decide that Rani should be remarried. Nobody even thinks of asking Rani for her opinion on the matter.

Nobody pays any attention to the fact that another female member in the house, Hema Malini, is opposed to this marriage. Hello, what women's emancipation are we talking about?

I must also confess that I find films like Baabul particularly disturbing because they seem to miss the larger point. Of course widow remarriage is an important and relevant issue, but come on, can we stop behaving like widowhood is similar to cancer. Like it's a disease that needs to be cured, or healed.

Video:

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/28016/masands-verdict-baabul.h tml

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/masands-verdict-baabul/28016-8.h tml

Big B's 'Kehta Hai Baabul' premiered

Joginder Tuteja, IndiaGlitz [Saturday, December 09, 2006>



Amitabh Bachchan's version of the title song 'Kehta Hai Baabul' from the film 'Baabul' has been premiered.....and in style.

Coinciding with the release of the film, the song has been showcased on the small screen with a full length music video starring only one man - Amitabh Bachchan! No extras, no opulent sets, no props...just plain and simple Big B with great lighting (mostly black) and good camera angles that capture Big B's terrific emotions quite well as he narrates the relationship between a 'baabul' and his daughter.

It may be recalled that there was a lot of hue and cry when the album was released with only Jagjit Singh version of the song while Bachchan's version was missed out. Now with a music video of the song arriving on the music channels, one awaits the music company to incorporate this beautiful number written by Sameer and put to music by Aadesh Srivastava in the next dispatch of album too!

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/27626.html

My review of Baabul:

I had been excitedly waiting for this movie ever since I heard about it a year ago. The sensational cast had a lot to do with it, of course. I knew it would be a joy to watch Amitabh Bacchhan and Hema Malini -- two of the greatest actors of all time -- in a movie together again. Rani Mukherji and Salman Khan are also among my favorites. However, main theme of Baabul was biggest reason I wanted to watch the movie.

Well, today was the big day. I watched Baabul. I had very high expectations from it, and I hate to say it, but I was slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong -- I think it is a good movie, but I wouldn't call it great. I thought it could have been much, much, better. And the reason I was disappointed was because my expectations of it were sky high to begin with. The way the film portrayed the story did not live up to my expectations. I don't think they focused enough on what the title and theme indicate. The first part of the movie was spent on the showing the happy go lucky family that the story revolved around. Yes, they were a loving and happy family -- I get it. The actors were brilliant as well. However, I don't think all that was necessary. It perhaps deviated from the story that I was most interested in. A story of a father-in-law getting his widowed daughter-in-law remarried. I also thought the character of Pushpa (sorry, don't know which actress played her) could have had a bigger impact on the story than she did. I know, I have directed a total of ZERO movies in my career (Haha) and here I am discussing how Ravi Chopra should have or could have made his movie better.

Salman Khan was very good, but I don't think the story needed his character's role to be as lengthy as it was. Of course it was important to have that character. I just think it would have been better if the story did not focus on him as much. (By the way, I felt tears streaming down my cheeks for a long time when he died. There was a collective gasp and then silence in the movie theater when he got hit by the car).

I also thought that Rani's character did not get enough time to grieve for her husband. It felt like that soon after she became a widow, here she was marrying again. It also felt like she was somewhat forced into marrying John Abraham. We knew that they were best friends, but to me, it seemed like she married him because her father-in-law wanted her to. It didn't feel like that SHE wanted to marry him. I think the movie would have been better if Rani had moved on emotionally after Salman's death. If she had fallen in love with John but repressed her love because of what the so-called society and people would think, then the story would have taken a more interesting turn. Also, they could have involved Rani's parents in the story more than they did. Going back to my point that they should have focused more on the theme than they did.

The music was just so-so. My favorite is the title song even though I don't know the words by heart yet. It was very moving. Other than that, I didn't think there was anything special about the music. The lyrics was good, by the way.

Amitabh Bacchan was phenomenal as usual. I can't think of any other actor who could have portrayed that character as well as Big B did. (Maybe SRK in 15-20 years. 😆 ). Hema Malini looks gorgeous as ever. Somebody check her birth certificate. She can't be 60+! Rani Mukherji was very good too. The only thing I didn't like about her was her makeup. Too much blush in various scenes made it look like she had gotten punched or something. Salman, as I mentioned earlier, was very lively (until he died. 😆 ). I've never been a fan of John Abraham's, but I liked him in Baabul. I still wouldn't call myself a JA fan, though. Rajpal Yadav rocks. Yeah, he didn't have a big role in the movie, but every time he came on the screen, everyone in the theater chuckled. There is something about that guy that brings out a grin on my face.

Anyways, all in all, good movie. 😊