Saawariya (2007)

Director:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Writers:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (story)
Prakash Kapadia
(more)

Release Date:

8 November 2007 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

When he first fell in love...

Plot:

Two souls arrive in a small town, one on vacation, the other to meet a lover. They spend the most magical dream-like days of their lives in that town... with each other.

Plot Keywords:

Eid | Letter | Prostitute | Tenant | Love

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Ranbir Kapoor	...	Ranbir Raj
Sonam Kapoor	...	Sakina
Salman Khan	...	Imaan
Rani Mukerji	...	Gulabji
Zohra Segal	...	Lillian 'Lilipop' (as Zohra Sehgal)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Begum Para	...	Sakina's grandmother
Vibhu Puri	...	Stranger in the rain

Directed by
Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Fyodor Dostoevsky		story
Prakash Kapadia
Vibhu Puri		additional screenplay & dialogue
Shailey Sharma		additional screenplay & dialogue

Produced by
Sanjay Leela Bhansali	....	producer
Gautmi Bhatt	....	line producer
Kuldeep Rathore	....	executive producer (as Kuldeep Singh)
Deepak Raai Sharma	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Monty Sharma

Cinematography by
Ravi K. Chandran

Film Editing by
Bela Segal

Casting by
Amita Sehgal

Art Direction by
Omung Kumar

Set Decoration by
Omung Kumar

Costume Design by
Surily Goel
Reza Shariffi
Anuradha Vakeal

Production Management
Lalit Chatnani	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nazneen Kapasi	....	assistant director
Freya Parekh	....	assistant director
Vibhu Puri	....	associate director
Shailey Sharma	....	associate director

Sound Department
Shalini Agarwal	....	sound assistant
Nimish Chheda	....	ProTools operator
Subir Kumar Das	....	sound effects mixer
Amrit Pritam Dutta	....	sound editor
Shajith Koyeri	....	sound editor
Vijay Kumar	....	foley editor
Resul Pookutty	....	sound designer
Amala Popuri	....	adr recordist
Amala Popuri	....	sound supervisor
Amala Popuri	....	utility sound

Visual Effects by
Shrinath Agrawal	....	pre-vis artist
Amiteshwar Anand	....	fx artist
Mahesh Baria	....	set visual effects supervisor: Prime Focus
Vishal Bengare	....	lead matchmover: Prime Focus
Prince Chaurasia	....	visual effects coordinator
Santosh Choudhary	....	digital compositor
Abhijit De	....	modeler
Chetan Gaur	....	digital compositor
Vivek Gaur	....	lead compositor
Michael Grobe	....	visual effects consultant
Gaurav Gupta	....	visual effects
Anish Holla	....	render wrangler
Rohinton Irani	....	tracking and matchmoving
Avnish Jha	....	senior texture artist
Ashutosh Khandelwal	....	render wrangler/render support
Abhijeet Lamture	....	texturing artist
Sameer Malik	....	digital artist
Vishal Mehta	....	digital artist
Abhijit Mulye	....	lead matte painter
Vikas Surajbali Nag	....	digital compositor: Prime Focus
Kunjan Oza	....	compositor
Kunjan Oza	....	digital compositor
Sandesh Pai	....	digital effects artist
Gauri Patil	....	digital compositor
Susheel Peris	....	digital compositor
Reupal D. Rawal	....	visual effects supervisor
Saawariya	....	matte painter
Vaidehi Shinde	....	matte painter
Raghvendra Shrivastava	....	visual effects
Avdesh Shukla	....	compositor
Avdesh Shukla	....	paint artist
Dinesh Solanki	....	digital compositor
Merzin Tavaria	....	visual effects supervisor
Sumit Verma	....	pre-visualisation artist: Prime Focus
Rahul Vishwakarma	....	digital effects artist: Prime Focus
Kinjal Vora	....	visual effects artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Neha Parti Matiyani	....	assistant camera
Manush Nandan	....	assistant camera
Deval Samanta	....	best boy
Prakash Shetty	....	gaffer
Hari Vendantam	....	associate cinematographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Reza Shariffi	....	costume design

Editorial Department
Rohan Desai	....	colorist
Rohan Desai	....	digital intermediate supervisor
Ajay Varma	....	associate editor

Music Department
Subir Kumar Das	....	surround music mixer
Pritesh Mehta	....	score produced by
Pritesh Mehta	....	songs producer

Other crew
Shiamak Davar	....	choreographer
Lalit Devasi	....	production controller
Shivam Dwivedi	....	assistant director: making-of
Ganesh Hegde	....	dance director
Amber Lall	....	post-production designer
Pappu Mallu	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• SPE Films
• SLB Films Pvt. Ltd.

Distributors

• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Bodega Films (2009) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Releasing (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Releasing (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• HBO Hungary (2009) (Hungary) (TV) (original airing)
• LK-TEL (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Sony Pictures Releasing (2008) (Argentina) (all media)

Special Effects

• Prime Focus

Other Companies

• Glamsham.com  on-line promotion
• Prime Focus  digital intermediate
• Shree Ganesh Movie Lights  grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

"Beloved" - India (English title) (literal title)
"Eternal Soulmate" - India (English title) (literal title)
"Oh, My Love" - International (English title) (literal title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, brief nudity, some language and incidental smoking

Runtime:

142 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Ireland:PG | UK:PG | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | South Korea:All | New Zealand:PG | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

India

Company:

SPE Films

Trivia:

A scene in the film (and a poster) shows Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) and Sakina (Sonam Kapoor) posing in a waltz-like manner, with the letters RK from a lighted sign in the background. This scene captures the logo of the R.K. Films Company, founded by Ranbir Kapoor's grandfather, Raj Kapoor.

Quotes:

Ranbir Raj:Ding-ding-ding! Laaaaadies and gentlemen, welcome to the fight of the century! In one corner is a beautiful young girl, and in the other, unhappiness!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Golmaal Returns (2008)

Soundtrack:

Daras Bana Nahin Chain

A Visual Treat!

A lot has been written and said about Saawariya. Majority of the critics and reviews have dismissed this movie! Well, I for one, almost gave it a miss (as it is I am not a huge fan of Mr.Bansali). But I saw the movie yesterday, and whoa-I was pleasantly surprised!!! It has to be, in my opinion, one of the most visually appealing movie of all time. I mean, right from the reel one, the movie speaks volumes about its grandeur. It is true delight on the visual senses.

So why have the critics darned it? Well, I think you have to view "Saawariya" in its own context. Comaprisons just cannot be made. It's like a book of fairy-tales. each page in the book is rich in illustrations and drawings. Just holding the book sometimes can take you in a world of dreams. This movie is precisely like that and has to be viewed in that context. The music adds to its flow-it is the part of the package.

Now to the performances: Sonam Kapoor has an angelic screen presence and her acting too is good for her debut movie. Ranbir Kapoor is a powerhouse of talent and a great screen presence too. For their first movie, the lead pair creates lots of magic! Salman Khan is barely there. Rani Mukherjee who plays a prostitute is awesome-I nearly fell in love with this prostitute!!! The movie does have some rough edges. At least a couple of sequences (including the ending) are way too abrupt! It's like the chef forgot to garnish his dish. All in all "Saawariya" is a movie that I think justifies my 8/10 rating. It is so visually appealing that one literally cannot take the eyes off! And it's not too taxing on the brains too-just a simple love story set in a far-far away land, narrated with flow and music, though at the end of it you might question the essence of Sonam's character. That to me was very baffling! Go for it!