Dor
Cast: Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag, Shreyas Talpade. Music: Salim Sulaiman.
Direction: Nagesh Kuknoor.
An emotional story, true to life characters, a rustic rural India setting, knock out performances, soulful music and brilliant direction. Phew, I was running out of adjectives. Not that it’s a block buster, But just like Iqbal, it captures the essence of human emotions in a way that only Nagesh Kuknoor can. The movie is a take from the Malayalam classic “Perumazhakkalam”. I’m not sure whether NK has bought the rights or not as while receiving the award for Iqbal, he had said something about being original and not copying Hollywood.
Dor is a story of the lives of two diverse women coming together in an unusual way. Meera (Ayesha Takia) and her husband are living their lives in the beautiful rural Rajasthan while Zeenat (Gul Panag) has just married a suitor in scenic Himachal Pradesh. The next day both their husbands leave for the Gulf for work. These two women are living their lives on the string (dor) of hope that one day their husbands will return. But fate has something else in store. Meera’s husband Shankar is killed while Zeenat’s husband Amir is sentenced to death for the murder. The only thing that can save her husband is if Shankar’s widow signs a note forgiving the killer.
Zeenat being a strong headed woman leaves for Rajasthan without any address carrying with her just a picture of her husband and Shankar together in the hope of finding his widow and obtaining her signature on the note. In her search, she comes across a Behroopiya (Shreyas Talpade) who first cons her but then after going through the contents of her belongings returns to help her.
The characters of Zeenat and Meera are very strongly etched. Both are the exact opposites of each other. Zeenat is the strong headed one while Meera is living the life of a widow within her boundaries and is content at that. How they find friendship or in fact, friendship finds them is uplifting. One thing I was extremely impressed with, are the dialogues. They are very believable and … nice; ya nice is the word. They don’t come across as meaningless preachings but strike a chord somewhere. NK has maintained a good balance. He has included some real messages but not at the cost of diluting the essence of the story.
What is surprising is that with the story on hand, NK could’ve made this a brutal heart-wrenching movie which would’ve made the audience shed bucket loads of tears however, he’s opted to make it heart warming instead. The movie has an amazing undertone of joyfulness throughout. There are sad moments, there are funny moments and there are feel good moments; but amazingly, you tend to smile and shed a tear at the exactly same time. This can be attributed to the brilliant actors and of course the director NK. He’s brought out the best in his cast and has complemented it well with superb direction. All the three main actors Ayesha, Gul and Shreyas outperform each other but in my opinion, Shreyas takes the cake. He dazzles and provides life to the movie. Ayesha and Gul on the other hand are the soul. Ayesha’s cute girl next door face is just perfect. And Gul’s best expression is clearly when Shreyas, under the influence of liquor blurts out I love you.
The music is just perfect for the movie. “Kesariya balam” is a touching rustic folk number for the sad times; ‘Yeh honsla’ is another song which leaves an impression and ‘Iman ka asar’ is a surprise by Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal with underlying western tones but doesn’t feel out of place at all. Salim Sulaiman have done a wonderful job.
Dor is a story well told. Whether it’s a copy or not is a different question. NK has his unique style which is Simple story, no superstars, no extravagant sets but gripping narration and execution. Just like a low fat Maharaja burger… without cheese.
Approach Flexible LendersEven if a bank rejects your Debt Consolidation Information
application. You can get a Debt Consolidation Information and you’ve been making your repayments for at least a few years? Read the fine print and understand every term. Thus, to know it comprehensively, you may get a lower-rate refinancing for your debt consolidation information from the dealer or from the bank. Still, being able to find bases to substantiate your choice of a loan company of your choosing.