Saanwariya...

Saanwariya- The soul touching fairytale of a young boy, who has a heart as pure as pearls, who has eyes as twinkling as stars and who has a voice as sweet as a canary. It is the story of a young girl whose laugh matches the tinkling of her anklets.
The fairytale begins with the hero performing a song in a restaurant. And that is where begins a 3 hour nightmare. A nightmare which will remain etched in the memory of every movie buff for years to come. The beginning is like a play being performed and u wait for the play to end and the movie to begin. You wait and you wait a little more (till the next 3 songs) still the movie does not begin. You go out to have a pack of popcorns (before interval itself) hoping that when u come back the real plot would have begun, but the play continues. Through out the movie, u keep waiting for the night to get over and day light to fall, but it seems sanjay leela bhansali decided to cut down on electricity cost by not using flood lights at all. Entire movie is shot in black and blue lights for reasons best known to the makers of the film.
The one thing that keeps you intrigued though is the location of the plot. It is a Mumbai red light area, London suburb with that epitome of love “the bridge”, Venice the city of gondolas, a Tibetan monastery with the statue of Buddha, all rolled into one. One day there is rain and the other day the bliss full onscreen pair is bathed in snow fall.
One more link in the movie which ties to nowhere is the story of friendly but tragic story of the neighborhood prostitutes. Rani mukharjee as gulabji, the mentor and guide to the hero leaves u all the more confused. The “pari” which was supposed to come and relieve these women of their miseries (as promised by the hero in the second song) does come. But she is all too tied up with her own love story to bother with their woes.
The one who steals the show is our “sallu” bhai. With nothing much to do, he does evoke a loud cheer and whistles from the crowd the moment he appears on screen.
Overall a film that sprung from out of nowhere, no story line to support, not a single moment that touches the heart. The poor audience is left with no option but to move out of theatres sighing not out of empathy for the love stricken hero but for the 3 hours wasted utterly.