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I watched both Sawariya & OSO…..both are well made movie....but I liked OSO more than sawariya 👏 .....I read some reviews where people are saying that Sawariya do not have a mass appeal bcoz only people with certain intellectual quotient can only understand that……..whereas OSO is a stupid masala movie for drama loving Indians……….What I realized is both are unreal fantasy love story one in a package of drama & masala(OSO) & the other one is blended with nothing but pseudo intellectuality………Both are equally unreal with respect to current time & space……..I liked OSO more bcoz I like to enjoy an unreal story with fun & smile…….. There are thousand of real stories with pain & sorrow………

i watched both last nite OSO and Saawariya...
i know its dumb to compare the two movies cuz they r totally different...
but well when u r given a choice to watch any one movie again in theatre i would go for saawariya..
thats where i would put my money
i absolutely loved the film
all the emotions and feelings have been captured beautifully...
i cried throughout the movie which i dunno y... it had soooo many emotions that i jus couldnt control..
i think u need to b sesitive enough to feel the emotions of this film.. only then u can actually feel urself as a part of the film..
and i m overrrrr sensitive so no wonder i cried all along..lol..
but jokes apart, this film was fab...
i loved ranbir and his emotions and his innocense.. the depth in his eyes showed his soul.. it was jus too beautiful.
sonam was brilliant as well.. someone earlier mentioned that they didnt understand if she was cryin or laughin but i totally understood it.. its hard to explain but i will try..
i remember this scene when her "apa" tells her that imaan isnt gonna come back and she only lied to her bout his whereabouts to make her happy durin eid..
thats when u actually see her laughin and crying at d same time...
she is laughin at her apa who is so silly that she thinks her imaan isnt comin back..
and she is cryin because she has waited sooo long and she doesnt want her apa's words to come true..
and thats actually very difficult to act and express which i think sonam has done brilliantly...

i m running out of words now.. even listening to songs reminds me of the whole story sequence and makes me cry.. but i loved the film and i think u should at least watch it once even if u dun like emotional films...

loved the dialogue" agar aap ko apna pyaar mil jaye to iska matlab khuda aap pe meherbaan hain lekin agar aap ko aap ka pyaar na mile to iska matlab khuda aap se ekjaan hai"

I watched OSO on Monday night and Saawariya earlier today and truly believe that the latter is the better film of the two. There have been many films like OSO made before and there was nothing original about it - infact you could predict frame after frame...yes there was humour but it was also pretty brain numbing. The sort of film made for the masses. Saawariya on the other hand was pure beautiful poetry in motion. Ranbir was superb and all the different relationships were handled so well. It was the sort of film that you take out of the cinema with you.

nice to see appreciatiation but SLB (the director) is being a little pompous
its was all rani+ranbir for me

Well the movie was ok.. I hated the ending but some scenes were defintly good.. Unique story however some scenes were boring.. Salman, who i usally love and rani overacted in many scenes.. But i liked ranbir sonam.. However ranbir spoke TOO FAST! 😆

superb movie!!! but left me in tears!! 😭 (endin sucks)

i have been dyin to see saawariiya since i saw the previews & i fell in love with the title song
i saw it last nite wit my mom & my dada n omg i loved it....so cute
its short and sweet

I am quite confused in my real feelings toward the film Saawariya. It was very different, so i will definetly watch this film again to actualy understand it fully.

But what i can say is that although the story was very slow, Rani, Ranbir and Sonam have done a great job.
Rani was the life of this film, i loved all her scenes and her dance in Chabeela.

Ranbir did a great job, his facial expressions were amazing, but suprisingly i did not cry at all in this film, (i wonder why?)

Sonam looked amazing, likie a princess from a magical world. She played her part well.

Salman didnt have much to do in this film, and his part was the most depressing part of the film.

All the songs were very nice, my favourite...Saawariya, mashallah,Yoon Shabnami, Thode badmaash and Chabeela 😃

Overall, this film isnt for everyone, and oculd have been better if SLB had a proper story and script.

I finally watched Saawariya and here's my take on it.

Spoiler Ahead

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"My nights came to an end with a morning. The weather was dreadful. It was pouring, and the rain kept beating dismally against my windowpanes".

I am a big fan of Raj Kapoor's movie making school esp. his Black and White films. He had to change his style for Bobby after the debacle of Mera Naam Joker but still gave it a nice and fresh treatment. But that was last. That is the only color film of his I liked. But his B/W films are all work of art. The feelings generated by lead characters are not always unswerving. There is depth in each character and most of them are grey just as in real life. Raj Kapoor was inspired by Russian writers and his movies had that vagabond characters found in many Russian plays and novels. That could be the reason for Russians fondness of Raj Kapoor even now. There are cafes where they still play one Raj Kapoor film every weekend and sing songs from his films (courtesy: my cousin who lived there). SLB must showcase his masterpiece there because I am sure he will find the same appreciation.

Now you must be wondering why I am talking about Raj Kapoor to this extend here. The reason is SLB is heavily inspired by Raj Kapoor's style of film making in Saawariya which he himself accepted and does full justice to it. The characters reminded me of innocence unleashed by Raj Kapoor and Nargis and their beautiful chemistry. The real human emotions are always grey and that is exactly what SLB's leads portray in this classic play. Ranbir Raj and Sakina are two loners and confused with their feelings. They are waiting for that one ray of sunlight which would change the direction of their life.

Where the critics went wrong:

Saawariya doesn't have a strong script. It flows like poetry; a poignant, romantic poetry. Most critics judged the film like a regular film and looked for a strong script so they failed. The whole film is like a heartrending poetry and you get into the characters. There is a Ranbir Raj and Sakina in each one of us.

The setting:

White Nights is a phenomenon which happens when sun doesn't go under the sphere deep enough for the sky to get dark because of high latitude. So the night is as bright as day in the months of June- July. So the nights are a very active time of those two months. Since such a phenomenon is impossible in India, the setting is made to suit Indian palette. The full of life nights are revealed through the character of Gulabji and her friends. The old Venice look and Bluish-Green surrounding portrays the misery before there is ray of light, the hope.

The verse and characters:

Gulab ji: Gulab ji's character was inspired by Rakhi Sawant. She is the story teller.

Ranbir Raj: Ranbir Raj displayed innocence when he asked for milk at a bar. He sounded just like Rishi Kapoor in the first scene. The vagabond character reminded me of Raj Kapoor.

Lillipop: Her character was inspired by Lalita Powar's anglo-Indian character in RK's Shri 420.

Sakina: She played the most confused character. She was a child one moment and a woman full of passion the very next moment. She shifted between the emotions with ease and that is why she laughed and cried for no reason.

Imaan: He hardly spoke but his eyes were so intense and conveyed the love and care he had for his love very well.

What and why?:

Keeping the basic plot and white nights aside, I was wondering if we could have a different take on the story. Is it possible that the whole story was a fiction created by lonely Gulabji where she liberated herself as Sakina?

Is it possible that Imaan never existed? It was Sakina's ray of hope but the reality is she can never leave her grandmother so she enjoyed the moments with Ranbir Raj and then returned to her life filled with sorrow so that Ranbir Raj can move on.

When was the story set? Mugal-E-Azam was released in the 60s so the story is set in post-independence era. Then what was that coin Imaan gave to Sakina? It looked like an old silver coin. There were also rupees from new era.

Why were there more prostitutes than regular denizens? Was prostitute symbolic of the bright (active) night where the story was set?

What would the story be, had Ranbir delivered the letter to Imaan and latter could see the same zeal for Sakina in Ranbir's eyes? Could he have sacrificed?

I watched Saawariya on the very first day it was released and I just loved it...

I have read many saying that people did not get what they expected from the movie... Question is - what did people expect? Didnt the promos give a good enough indication that the movie was more like a series of paintings on celluloid that would be left to interpretations? Didnt the promos have enough evidence that the movie is about 2 central characters and a very unique relationship that they share? Wasnt the pace of the movie very well indicated in the promos?

To me as a viewer - it had indicated all of this and more, and when I walked out of the theatre - the dream seemed to continue with me... The characters walked out and kept growing within as days progressed... I thought SLB made a very open ended movie and he wanted his audiences to define Raj and Sakina as they wanted.. and that is precisely we have done... I personally think that where it failed to strike a chord with the 'critics' was that they were not open to this open-ended movie.. They went in with the mindset of Devdas where the characters were defined more than necessary and one did not have to think to understand or interpret anything.. Everything was structured to the core and served on a platter to the viewers... So probably the 'Devdas' mindset is what upset them... The fact that the movie also ended up getting released on the same day as another entirely different movie and drew a lot of pre-release rivalry hype also led to some absurd comparison, which should have never happened in the first place... The 2 movies are entirely different - so how do they even compete, on what grounds? I think it was not right both for SLB or Red Chillies to even pitch their movies against each other - had they not done that, I believe that both the movies had even done better...

So what was there in Saawariya that I loved? I think - as many have stated here before.. its the poetic depth and the cinematic serenity and innocence that was very very fresh and has been missed in Hindi cinema for a long long time... Even when Ghulab'ji in her very first statement says that such a town does not exist anywhere, thats the first question that the likes of Taran Adarsh ask - Where is this story based out of? Cant we accept something with an open mind and just flow with the movie?

To me - Ranbir and Sakina represented Optimism and Pessimism through their characters... I also tended to think that they werent characters that really existed and the story was Ghulabji's fantasy... Sakina was perhaps an indication of what she was going through... Sakina's safety-pin lock with her badi ammi was actually Ghulab'jis forced bond with prostitution... Sakina was perhaps the 'pari' that the likes of Ghulab'ji always wanted to be... but then did not have the choice... Her saawariya as Imaan was that ultimate hope that she lived for.. for whom she waited.. for whom she perhaps knew that it was elusive, it was just a dream that she had lived and was now waiting for her realisation... And then there was Ranbir Raj - again Ghulab'jis interpretation of her 'Krishna'... the eternal optimist, who was like the magician who could solve all the problems, who could raise a smile for anyone.. be it Ghulab'ji and her folks... be it the loner Lilipop who had waited for Vincent eternally.. or be it Sakina... We dont know what he does, but we all know what he can do.. he is a magician, who can make people dream.. he can instill hope and life amongst one and all... Even Sakina can find solace in his company and does forget her pining for Imaan momentarily... He is Ghulabji's ultimate dream man.... In fact I felt, that when Sakina goes on to sing 'Mera Imaan, meri shaan, mera maan ho tum' or 'haan magar yeh bhi sach hai, mere bhagwaan ho tum'... Its is what Ghulab'ji feels for that dream... It takes the form of Ranbir Raj at one moment, it does take the form of both Ranbir and Imaan for Sakina (Ghulabjis other self) at the other

But dreams do not continue for ever... And hence the ending of the movie as it was... I thought Sakina's going away with Imaan was just a suggestion that she continues to live forever with her hope, just like Ghulab'ji keeps remembering her Saawariya... and the magic man - who is just on the mission to instill hope and happiness in everyone's life continues to do that... he boxes away his momentary sorrow and then vanishes, probably again to be seen in some other dream city, fighting for some other Sakina, raising a smile for some other Lilipop...

That was Saawariya for me... Open... Innocent... Dreamy and yet real... Laden with sorrow and yet hope... I am going to watch the movie again this weekend to dive deeper and understand more about it...