Paheli - khoobsurat, lekin...

During a long phone chat with a friend yesterday we started to talk about Rani and tried to find a movie that had her looking more beautiful then she did in Paheli. And came up empty handed. Talking about it made me realise that it has been ages that I last watched it. So guess what yours truly did last night?










Paheli somehow never made it to my top ten movies list. Mostly because of the giant climax screwup. I´ve seen it about 5 times yet and still the "dekh meri jaan, I´m back because all that happend during the last 15 minutes was fake" solution just does not work for me. Another thing that always bothers me is the fate of Kishanlal (the real son). Yeah I know, he´s spineless and inherited some of his dad´s greedyness but he seems to love his wife, missed his family terribly and now for the rest of his sad life he´ll be possessed by a ghost? Not fair, even for a fairy tale.










Still it´s a pity that I have not watched Paheli for so long. There is a lot to like in this movie. I love the visuals, the costumes. Oh and the baubles. There are some necklaces worth killing for. Also the music or Farah Khan´s choreography. And in fact even the story as such.

Some moments still enchant me. Like the rose petal scene.










Or the puppet song. So sweet.










I don´t even mind SRK´s facial hair.










On the whole the movie has a cool concept - story and execution wise. What spoils it is the ending. I know SRK always says in interviews that he thinks indian movies are to long for a global audience. And producing Paheli he might have opted for a more western-oriented length. But another 5-10 minutes to explain or hint at how the ghost gets into Kishans body would have turned a nice film into an truly Oscar nomination worthy one...

PS: The Eros cardboard box DVD that I have is really really crappily encoded. Any tiny move and picture gets grainy and blury. Grrr.

EDIT: Maria suggests in her Paheli review that maybe Kishanlal´s soul did not vanish when the ghost took possesion of his body. Whats more, the ghost once states that he is in fact simply the love Lachchi longs for. And as such can live in Kishans body forever without destroying the original Kishan. Especially since Kishan loves her anyway.
Hmm, now thats a thought worth thinking through.