February 06, 2007

Dor

Let´s do this the other way round this time and start with my conclusion:
I love Dor. Bas. Go and watch it. It will make you laugh, smile, feel good, feel sad, feel angry, fall in love with its some of its characters, hate others genuinly. Oh, I love Dor. Bas.

Finally a movie about women. Average, no better make that - real, young women. Modern but still living in sync with their traditions and strong enough to challenge them if the need arises.


Like a lot of young men in India, the husbands of Meera (Ayesha Takia) the young wife of a destitute rajput family and Zeenat (Gul Panag) a newly wed muslim woman from Himachal Pradesh leave India to work in Saudi Arabia for some months.










Both couples are young, very much in love and genuinly likeable. About 6 months after their departure a tragedy strikes. Shekar, the rajastani husband, is killed by Aamir, Zenaat´s husband. Supposedly in an accident but since there are no witnesses Amir is sentenced to death. Back in India both families are devastated. Meera living in a very traditional Rajastani society has to bear the terrible faith of being a widow there. Sentenced to a life of grief and now treated like an worthless prisoner. In Himachal Pradesh Aamir´s shocked family learns that there is only one option left to save him. According to Saudi law Aamir´s life will be spared if the victims widow signs a mercy petition stating that she has forgiven him. And Zenaat being a very strong-willed woman is taking that chance and leaves her home in search for Meera.










She travels to Rajastan and finds unexpected help Behroopiya (Shreyas Talpade), an endearing wannabe Actor and parttime conartist who decides to help her locating the family. But finding the widow and convincing her to sign are two very different pair of shoes.










What should be a dark and emotional draining story is in fact a statement for dignity, friendship and courage laced with wonderful scenes that are full of life and hope. The Kajra Re sequence in the dunes made me fall in love with this song all over again. The disarming, funny entrance scene of Shreyas Talpade made me giggle.










Apart from the wonderful story that is based on the Malayalam movie Perumazhakkalam, the acting trio of Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade created the magic of Dor for me. And the cinematography. And the music. And the scenery. Nagesh Kukunoor managed to make a movie that is an arthouse movie with a mainstream feel. Or a mainstream movie with an arthouse feel. Take your pick.










Its been a long time that a movie sucked in me from the get-go like Dor did. So let me repeat my statement from the beginning of this post. I love Dor. Bas. Watch it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just watched this today and couldn't agree with you more! I actually thought I wouldn't like it much as I'm way more into masala films and aestheticly appealing films such as anything by KJo, but this movie got to me. I LOVED how it was a film about women, but it didn't try to throw that in your face. Baabul was advertised as a film about a widow and her decision, etc, but it wasn't. This really was. I loved it. Bas :)

umananda said...

"Arthouse movie with an mainstream feel"-- thats so true. veryvery high quality movie. you dont even need subtitles, cause they are speaking so clear. By the way i liked how beautiful Zeenat and Aamirs Love is potrayed in the beginning. Bas :-) Its easy to fall in love with this adorable movie. Watch it.
are you going to see Perumahzakkalam?

Maja said...

Ooh. I've only seen Shreyas Talpade in Iqbal, but I really really like him. I've been wanting to see this movie ever since I first read about it, but it never made it to the cinema here because it doesn't have any major stars. Would you say this is one to buy (ie. would/could you watch it more than once or twice) or to rent? The DVD has been tempting me for about a month now but it's quite expensive, so I can't make my mind up whether I should buy it or not!

Anonymous said...

Ich kann mich dir nur anschliesen, Oh I love DOR, ein wunderbarer Film, mit einer wunderbaren Geschichte die einen mitten ins Herz trifft.... liebe Gruesse aus Delhi!

Sanket Vyas said...

Well fellow Bollywood blogger you beat me to the punch - a review on the best Indian movie of 2006 ('Water ' was equally as good but officially it was Canadian). Just a gem of a movie - perfect in nearly every way. The rare movie you can recommend without reservation and that has you thinking about it long after it is over.

I really enjoyed reading your blog & have linked it to mine. Come visit my blog to read about (and listen to songs of) some of my favorite Bollywood movies. If you like it I would much appreciate a link back. Cheers!