20131101: Bollywood Review--Khwahish

Desire (Khwahish: The Last Wish)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Indian live action feature length film, 2003, 152 minutes, drama, romance, musical.
2. IMDB: 4.1/10.0 from 131 audience ratings. Spoken language Hindi, English subtitles.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet...' and 33% wanted to see it from 4 audience ratings.
4. HuluPlus: 'Khwahish traces the sexy, funny and intense relationship of Amar Ranawat and Lekha from the time they met.'
5. Written and directed by: Govind Menon.
6. Starring: Himanshu Malik as Amar Ranawat, Mallika Sherawat as Lekha Khorzuvekar, Shivaji Satam as Amar's father, Mahmud Babai as Ulhas Khorzuvekar (Lekha's father).
7. Said to be a remake of 'Love Story' for the Indian audience.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Amar and Lekha meet in a clothing store where they haggle over a pajama-kurta set, where he wants the pajama and she wants the kurta.  They start spending time together while they bicker.  They have 3 months to go in university.  At graduation, they still have not made plans, but they do fall in love. Despite the wealth disparity, they decide to marry.


2. Oops.  Amar's father cuts him off.  They marry through Lekha's family.  They start out happily, but the money runs low.  Her family helps out; she does some tutoring in music.  He sells his BMW motorcycle, and tries to succeed at school.


3. Lekha gets to know Amar's mother.  By happy circumstance, they both like Rahul Dev Burman's music.  That goes rather well.  They set up a meeting, at which Amar and his father might reconcile.  Amar cancels it, and is harsh to Lekha when she tries to soften the message over the telephone.  Time goes on, and Amar graduates and gets a good (perhaps not great) job, and they move to a better place.


4. The job provides for them, which is good, but they have less time together.  They try a party, which was fun, but not enough.  Then they try to start a child.  When conception eludes them, they seek medical clarification.  Unfortunately, Lekha's been found to have a fatal disease, and will die soon.


5. Amar borrows money from his father, and takes Lekha on vacation.  They have a great time, but Lekha eventually tells Amar that she got the bad prognosis from their doctor.  They have a long, emotionally sad talk.  Lekha even found out through Amar's mother that Amar borrowed money for a problem; the two of them figured everything out.


6. The good-bye is extended.  Will Amar reconcile with his parents?


3. Conclusions
1. Re-make of Love Story (USA, 1970).  On the whole, I liked it.  Wish the acting had been a bit better, and the direction a bit tighter.
2. One line summary: Young couple of different wealth levels make it on their own, but a fatal disease intervenes.
3. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully done, in 2.35 aspect ratio.


2. Sound: 7/10 Adequate, but does not match the quality of the camera work.


3. Acting: 6/10 Liked Mallika Sherawat (Anu) and the three actors who played the parents. The supporting actors could have been better, but Himanshu Malik was the weakest link.


4. Screenplay: 7/10 Has a beginning, middle, and an end; the logical progression seemed satisfactory if overly slow.  110 minutes might have been a better running length.


5. Musical Numbers: 5/10 Definitely a weak point, both for singing quality and presentation.