7/10
Reincarnation? Haven't we seen it all before??
4 January 2014
I don't watch too many modern films but I was so impressed with Zubeidaa starring Karisma Kapoor when I saw it over ten years ago that coming to this one I was hoping for the best but fearing the worst, the reviews were so negative. Well: imho this isn't anywhere near as good as Zubeidaa was but it's still a fairly entertaining 2D time-passer, in this lifetime anyway.

A woman's husband is kidnapped for ransom by baddies which so unhinges her mind she realises that she is simply on the Great Mandala and a prisoner of her past lives. With help she regresses to some previous states to find that their love was just as great and fraught with danger – an inseparable love throughout many lives causes many problems. Kapoor puts in an excellent performance, my big problem is the drama veers from impressive storytelling to clichéd corn and back again so much that most of the time I didn't know whether to silently applaud or laugh loudly. Also confusing to me personally is that the modern sequences alternate spoken languages between Hindi and English so swiftly between and within sentences I found that I was often reading the English subtitles for no reason! But concentration is usually rewarded, and this film is worth it so I paid suitable attention. From the little music on offer I liked the lilting Lagan Lagi from the key 1535 segment, and the Umeed Hai reprise in the modern nightclub was stylish.

There's a convoluted - some might say a cheating - twist ending but at least everything adds up. It's a well-made, slick and thoughtful romance with much soapy melodrama (nothing wrong with that); definitely not as bad as I'd feared but I don't think it's a film I'll go out of my way to watch again.
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