Move Review: Paheli

The basic premise of the movie is that a ghost can take a human form, talk, dance, make love and have kids! If you can buy that, then the rest of the movie is something you might want to proceed with. I saw the entire movie although the basic premise sounded radically stupid to me. It appears as though the movie maker (Shahrukh himself) was looking to turn a money spinner by throwing together a formula film. Top stars, beautiful locales, great color set in gorgeous Rajasthan, a few songs and there you have it — a certain hit. Wrong!

Barring the beautiful scenes, this movie has nothing to offer. The songs were a big let down. After MM Kreem’s melodious numbers in Jism, this performance was sub-standard. Shahrukh and Rani handle their roles with ease like they always do. Amitabh shows up towards the end (show me a movie he doesn’t appear in these days, please, I’m serious), but nothing to get excited about.

Hero and heroine get married. Hero goes away on work for a long period of time. An identical ghost takes his place. The real husband returns. Meanwhile, the ghost and the heroine are greatly in love and expecting a baby, of course! The ghost is finally exposed and leaves only to re-appear within the hero’s actual human form (oh-oh, sorry, if I broke the suspense!).

I was just done cribbing about the movie and I heard that it was India’s choice for the Oscars!