Fanaa

"Fanaa" is not a word in common parlance. In Persian, Urdu, and chaste Hindi, it means "annihilated", "destroyed", or in the context of the latest offering from Yash-Raj Films, it signifies "devastated, ravaged, or consumed by love". Any film bearing such an intriguing, if somewhat grandiose, title would have the onus of living up to enormous expectations. In addition, this is Kajol's first film after a self-imposed hiatus, while Aamir Khan, paired with her here for the first time, is also seen infrequently on screen due to his reputed fastidiousness in choosing movie projects.

I say good for them, for this is a superb collaboration between the actors. Aided by strong writing, a different story, able direction, and slick production values, they make it an entirely worthwhile proposition.

The story—as much as I can divulge in a review—starts off in fairly formulaic boy-meets-girl fashion: Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol), a beautiful blind Kashmiri young woman, comes to the big city (New Delhi, in this case) for the very first time, after having lived a sheltered, happy life in a pristine little town in Kashmir. Right off the bat, she meets a tour guide with the gift of the gab and a roving eye named Rehan Quadri (Aamir Khan), and against the better judgment of her friends, takes up with him.

Aamir looks a bit long in the tooth to be playing Romeo, but does so gamely, and successfully gets the smitten Zooni to agree to a no-strings romance. This is where I realized that the times, they are a-changing: sweet, blind (in more ways than one), sheltered Zooni is so consumed by love that she permits Rehan to bed her before he weds her, a phenomenon that is exceedingly rare (or used to be) in Hindi films. Her parents agree to the match, and the footloose Rehan readies himself for marriage to just one woman.

Then hell breaks loose. Rehan is killed in a terrorist bomb blast, or so we are led to think, while the Indian authorities launch a search for the criminal mastermind that planned this and several similar attacks. Years later, a Major Ranjeev, bearing a disturbing resemblance to the dead Rehan, shows up. So what are we to think?

From this point on, the film takes off into novel terrain, becoming an extremely satisfying viewing experience. Differing perspectives of nationalism and terrorism are explored—one man's terrorist act may also be looked at as a fight for an independent homeland—as well as conventional familial and romantic relationships. Notions of love, loyalty, betrayal, patriotism, and morality get turned on their head, making for a pretty complex film. Is this overly ambitious for a commercial Hindi blockbuster? Perhaps, but the intellectual sophistication of the film-making team more or less pulls it off. There are some plot holes, but they can be overlooked in the interests of the big picture.

Kajol grows in stature as an actor with every film, and her Zooni goes from naive and school-girlish to anguished widow and conflicted wife—a challenging character arc, by any measure—yet, she makes it truthful and believable with her wonderful transparency. Also wonderful is that neither motherhood, nor her absence from the screen for five years, have dimmed her youthful looks or charm. If anything, she is more svelte, and her face shines with increased character. Kajol has been blessed with sublimely expressive eyes, and now that she has acquired more life experience, they register even greater pain. One almost feels like looking away at times, to allow her privacy in her grief. I welcome her return to the screen, and if she displays similar care in choosing her next project, it will be worth the wait.

Aamir Khan picks his projects with a mix of sensitivity and savvy, and presents the film-going public with a different persona each time. He contrasted his feisty village yokel role in "Lagaan" nicely with the glib, self-absorbed urban youth undone by love in "Dil Chahta Hai", so that in the same year, folks got to see two completely different Aamirs. I haven't seen his "The Rising: The Song of Mangal Pandey" or "Rang De Basanti" as yet, but I am confident that he burrowed deep into the souls of the characters of those films, too. Here he inhabits the skin and soul of Rehan Quadri/Major Ranjeev with total conviction and allows you into the thought processes of these men. He does look too old to do the romantic shtick demanded of the Rehan character, but comes into his own while playing the older Major Ranjeev, a profoundly troubled man dealing with adult ethical, ideological, and moral conundrums. To comment any more on his performance would be a disservice to the plot twists of the film, so I shall stop right here.

The director, Kunal Kohli, handled the fun and light-hearted "Hum Tum" with aplomb, and here he tackles subjects far weightier than those of the Rani Mukherjee-Saif Ali Khan film. His occasional missteps result in some unevenness of pace and tone (which some judicious editing would have remedied), but with the overall wallop the film packs, these are minor lapses. I personally felt the second half of the film needed no songs, but that is my own quibble. The millions in the majority would have none of that, I'm sure. Aamir and Kajol do their own singing in a small but powerful scene, and this, I felt, was far more effective and poignant than the over-produced orchestrations of Jatin-Lalit and the vast array of playback singers they assembled.

Rishi Kapoor, Kiron Kher, Tabu, and others offer strong support, while child actor Ali Hajji as young Rehan is amazingly unaffected and natural.

After witnessing the combustible chemistry between Kajol and Aamir (why were they never paired together before?), and being privy to the volatile, seismic shifts in their relationship in this film, I conclude that "Fanaa" is indeed the title that says it best.

This is hands down the best romantic film since .....well in a long time , all the people i know who haven't liked this film is because its got impossible situations in it and its slow in the 2nd half all i have to say : stop watching Hindi films then and continue watching 25 sec ads which have diminished your attention span .

The characters are given amazing dept and lo and behold they take the film to an all new high .Kajol has proved shes the best actress of her generation and with this film is giving serious competion to her late legendary aunt nutun as the best actress of the family .

Aamir is splendid though i felt his character got a bit sketchy in the 2nd half not his fault the director and writer could have made his motives more clearer for us . however what ever hes given to work with he electrifies every scene hes in .

kudos to all the crew especially kunal kohli

Fanaa is a complex movie. Aamir Khan has continued his trend of working on unusual plots and delivering extraordinary performances and Kajol has outshone Aamir on many occasions in the film.

The emotional intensity of the movie gets to the core of the viewer's heart. It may help people to look at the Kashmir issue from a different angle but it does certainly portray one fact, and that is a seemingly ruthless terrorist can actually be a simple and kind man fighting for his land's freedom. For him, making judgement on greater good or lesser evil is a constant struggle. Even though Rehan (Aamir) did not derail from his cause (terorrism apparently) till the last breath in his body, he will draw sympathy from the viewers.

The splendor of light, sound and colors in big budget Hindi movies is achieving new heights every day. Viewers will be simply spellbound to the screen during most of the song sequences. The music of the movie was like a breath of fresh air. The viewers will also enjoy a ride of convincing and innovative action sequences.

The first half of the movie could have been made better though. Sometimes the pace felt a little off. The constant exchange of poetry did feel irritating at times. Perhaps, if Aamir could shed off a few kilos, things could have looked a little more natural. It was also unusual for a blind Muslim girl like Zooni (Kajol) to indulge into a physical relation with Rehan (who did not pledge any commitment to their relation) so early. But I guess these things follow typical commercial Hindi film unofficial rules.

Overall the movie is certainly worth watching and, compared to most of the Hindi films, quite a unique one.

Fanaa is a love story which has been written as a love story ,directed as a love story and acted like a love story. Fanna belongs totally to Aamir and Kajol ,who both have delivered a brilliant performance. Kajol plays Zooni with such a class and natural , she reached ,with Fanaa, a place that no other actress ,today, can reach or even come close.she was breathtaking. Aamir plays Rehan, though it's a unusual role that many of Bollywood actors would turn down(nobody wants to play the anti-hero anymore), he makes it real to the core,you follow him through the whole transition of his character,you love him and you hate him at the same time !Aamir is the master of acting today. The chemistry between Aamir and Kajol was terrific!Kajol matches Aamir ,like the sun matches the sky,they delighted every frame of the screen! an award the best Jodi of 2006 will be simply fair! The other actors were efficient! The music of Fanaa is beautiful and the videos makes it just better:a high note to Dekho Na,Kunal managed to control the little space of the shot with ease and closeups of Aamir and Kajol were fantastic.however,it's Mere Haath Me that steals the show,it was just superb,and it will be fair enough to say that this video will be the reference for any romantic song !(the reference was for a long time,Suraj Hua Madham of k3g). the script of Fanaa has some mistakes for sure,but when you watch Aamir and Kajol together you just forget and forgive! Beautifully shot,Fanaa makes you following the journey of two lovers who maybe wanted and deserved their part of happiness,so they knocked the heaven's door but another destiny was writing for them. go watch Fanaa once for Kajol,twice for Aamir,a third time for Aamir and Kajol,and watch it again and again and again for all those reasons!

Title "FANAA"....as it says "Destroyed in Love"...well suits the theme.

Rehan (Aamir Khan) is on a mission where he meets Zooni (Kajol), playing a role of a blind girl who is on a visit to Delhi for the performance. The story starts with them falling in love with each other. The dialog here are very interesting especially for Hindi / Urdu poetry lovers. It is a beautiful expression of exchanging their feelings in enchanting words…truly mesmerizing. The viewers who are enthralled by this love story in the first half are astonished to see the twist of the second half. Here comes the silent message and the sad end (as the name suggests) where Zooni has to choose between right or wrong, between the life with her son and lover/husband who has returned after years or the country's wellbeing that is in danger if Rehan succeeds in his plan. Zooni chooses the right thing as taught by her parents.

Over all, it is a good plot, well written and well directed. It is a love story with a twist finally depicting that the love for the truth and for the country is far greater then one's personal feeling. As mentioned, there is always a choice between good and bad but what defines one's life is the right choice.

Lyrics are very melodious and the music is also very good that gifts us the hit song of the month "Chand..."