Bollywood & Mehr

Hier nun also mein Beitrag zur Aktion "Bloggers meet director" - eine Idee von Michael (oder?) bei der Bollywoodblogger aus aller Welt (genauer gesagt: aus Deutschland, der Schweiz, Österreich und den USA) den Film "Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye" reviewen - um dann mit Regisseur Sanjay Jha darüber zu diskutieren. Mehr dazu gibts hier, bei den Bollywoodbloggers. Dort findet ihr auch Links zu allen anderen Beiträgen - ich werde sie im Laufe des Tages auch hier aufführen, aber die Liste dort ist definitiv aktueller. So, und nun weiter in Enlgisch - und bitte, seht einfach großzügig über Fehler hinweg :D

Here we go:


Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye

Review:
Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye (what a difficult title!) is a mixture of a drama and a comedy ? a combination that can easily go wrong, because it?s quite difficult to balance the two genres (*priyadarshanhust*). PJPSNJ rather works as a comedy than as a drama, but one has to say that newcomer Sanjay Jha is doing quite good at this balancing act.

As I just said, the funny part of the film worked better than the serious one. It?s not that I was laughing all the time, but there were some moments, which were really great ? e.g. the freeze-screen (?) when Saundarya comitted her love to Michael or the way the last song was integrated. Unfortunately there were only a few dramatic moments, which worked (mainly in the first half) that good. At this point I agree with Marco, who (in his old review from 2003) said, that there?s always a distance between the audience and the film, which makes it difficult to feel with the characters. That?s especially shown by the ending (SPOILER (although I guess everyone who reads this already saw the film) Amans death SPOILER END) ? Aman was one of the most likeable characters in the film, nevertheless his last scene didn?t touch me at all. I was shocked, yes, but I didn?t shed a tear.

So far about that, let?s continue with Jha?s way of directing, which is definitely worth mentioning. It?s easy to see, that he was trying to do something new, something unusual: There are two narrators, who are talking directly into the camera, there is no leading actor, but several ones who are of the same importance, some of the songs (or all of them??) are rerecorded from other HiFis and most of them are quite short. There also are some daring things about the films content, Jha for exemple is broaching the issue of husbands raping there wives, something which still appaers quite seldom in Bollywood Films, and of course the brutal ritual of Sati, although one might say that this topic is too serious to deal with it in such an airily way. But to my mind Jha sometimes is trying too hard to do something special. Besides some strange background sounds (e.g. ?idea, idea? or ?tension, tension?) the ending is not really fitting into the film. It rather seems as if Jha has just chosen it, because the audience doesn?t expect it.

Let?s go on with the actors. First of all there?s Sushmita Sen who, although having only a few scenes, is one of the film?s highlights. She?s just as funny and beautiful that it?s a pleasure to see her. Furthermore there are pretty Namrata Shirodkar and Diya Mirza (btw, it?s ridiculous to think that thick glasses make her ugly!), funny Raveena Tandon, strong Divya Dutta and other actresses who are acting good and convincingly. Then there is likeable Aman Verma, solid Vijay Raaz and producer Mahesh V. Manjrekar in a guest appereance. All in all quite a good cast.

The last thing I want to bring up is the music. As I?ve already mentioned, the soundtrack partly consists of rerecorded songs from other films. I already liked ?Ghanan Ghanan? from Lagaan, so of course ?Boond Boond Mein? was a lot of fun for me as well. Besides this one I especially enjoyed ?Mujhe Isse Pyaar? and ?Hum Tere Sanam Na Hote?, although being clichéd.

All in all Praan Jaya Par Shaan Na Jaye is likeable, amusing film with good actors and nice music, which never gets boring. There are some unusual things it, some of them worked, some of them didn?t. The films biggest problem is that it?s just not sweeping enough ? to feel with the characters and to keep the film in mind. 6 from 10 points.

Cast and Crew:
dirceted by: Sanjay Jha

music by: Daboo Malik and Nitin Raikwar

Cast: Sushmita Sen, Raveena Tandon, Namrata Shirodkar, Diya Mirza, Rinkie KHanna, Divya Dutta, Vijay Raaz, Aman Verma and others

The other articles:

Beth 

Maria


Kaddele


Oliver


Marco


Michael

Babasko

Filmiholic

Bridget

Screenshots: