The Film: Saathiya
Director: Shaad Ali
Music: A. R. Rahman
Lyrics: Gulzar
Producer: Yash Raj Films, Mani Ratnam
Starring: Rani Mukherjee and Vivek Oberoi
RATING: 2/10

Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.'s Saathiya begins as the love story of a young boy and young girl and progresses till they get married and begin to have differences so typical of a husband and wife. The marital discord threatens to break up the very marriage but fate intervenes.

Aditya (Vivek Oberoi) meets Suhani (Rani Mukerji) and falls head over heels in love with her. He woos her in local trains of Bombay and on railway platforms till finally the two decide to get married despite opposition from Suhani's parents. They tie the nuptial knot in secret but when the truth is out, both of them are forced to leave their homes. Life from then on is not a bed of roses. The wife resents the lack of attention and love from her husband and recalls how caring he had been during their courtship days. The resentment leads to bickerings, quarrels, fights and misunderstandings between them. There's a hint of the marriage breaking up too. Then, one day, Suhani meets with an accident that threatens to take away her life. Aditya then realises how much he actually loves his wife. As fate would have it, Suhani comes out of the coma she had slipped into and from the jaws of death, and the two acknowledge their undying love for one another.

Remake of the Tamil hit Alai Payuthe, the film, by its very nature ought to have had heart-warming and heart-rending moments to appeal to the audience. But unfortunately, such moments are few and far between. Mani Ratnam's story and screenplay, therefore, end up making the film look like the light romantic films of Basu Chatterji in the eighties. Like those films, this one too has limited appeal, mainly for the city audiences. Further, the film has too much of a Bombay flavour (local trains, crowded streets, BEST buses) to create the same impression on non-Bombayites.

The decision of Suhani to get married to Aditya secretly doesn't seem sensible if only because, before taking the decision, she doesn't even attempt to reason out with her father who has an objection to the marriage. As if that wasn't bad enough, Suhani's confession later that she was already married, in front of her elder sister's prospective father-in-law, seems unwarranted. The consequence of her confession - her sister's impending alliance breaks off - was a foregone conclusion and to avoid that, she could've handled the situation differently as there was no compulsion to reveal the secret then.

Yet another weakness - and this one is a major defect - relates to the comparison between the happy courtship days and the unhappy days after marriage. The comparison is sought to be established more through Suhani's dialogues when actually there should've been scenes showing how Aditya's behaviour, in exactly similar situations before and after marriage, had changed. This was very essential to the script as the whole point of misunderstandings rests on the comparison in the wife's mind. The impact of the marital discord would've been a hundred times more, had similar situations been shown pre- and post-marriage. As things stand in the film, the husband-wife tiff looks contrived and too trivial to win audience sympathy for the wife. Further, the entire angle of the accident looks quite unrelated to the story. The husband's confession in the hospital, that he couldn't stay without his wife, hardly matters - because that was never the issue! The character of Suhani's mother looks confused.

On the plus side, the film has some cute and entertaining scenes and very earthy dialogues (Gulzar). The pace of the drama, however, is terribly slow at many places. A.R. Rahman's music is rich and melodious.

Vivek Oberoi does well and is quite natural but he needs to improve (bring variation) in emotional scenes. Rani Mukerji lives her role and delivers a superb performance. Satish Shah shines in a brief role. Sharat Saxena is very natural. Tanuja is alright. Sandhya Mridul impresses a lot. Swaroop Sampat does a fair job. Tinnu Anand leaves a mark. Shah Rukh Khan is fantastic in a brief special appearance. Tabu is also very good as his wife. Others lend good support.

Debutant Shaad Ali's direction is good but not mature enough to handle the sensitive subject based on relationships. Shaad has not been able to sustain the interest in scenes, several of which take off well but lose steam after a while. Emotions hardly touch the heart.

A.R. Rahman's music is beautiful. 'Chhalka', 'Saathiya', 'Aye udi udi udi', 'Naina milaike' and 'O humdum' are beautifully tuned numbers but it is also a fact that most of the songs have more appeal for the class audience. Song picturisations should've been better/fresher. Anil Mehta's camerawork is good but not consistently so. Production values are appropriate to the demands of the script. Technically, good.

On the whole, Saathiya is for cities mainly. Not having taken an impressive start in most circuits, it can't be expected to do much for its distributors, several of who would stand to lose. Business in Bombay and Overseas would be better.