Riddle (2005)

A folk tale - supernatural love story about a ghost who falls in love with a newlywed woman.

Director:

Amol Palekar

Writers:

Vijayadan Detha (novel), Vijayadan Detha (story)

Stars:

Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Anupam Kher

5 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shah Rukh Khan	...	Kishanlal / Ghost
Rani Mukerji	...	Lachchi
Anupam Kher	...	Bhanwarlal
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Male Puppet (voice)
Ratna Pathak Shah	...	Female Puppet (voice) (as Ratna Pathak)
Amitabh Bachchan	...	The Shepherd (Special Appearance)
Sunil Shetty	...	Sunderlal (Special Appearance)
Juhi Chawla	...	Gajrobai
Dilip Prabhavalkar	...	Kanwarlal
Nina Kulkarni	...	Mrs. Bhanwarlal
Padma Rani	...	Bhanwarlal's aunt
Sharvari Jamenis
Rajpal Yadav	...	Bhoja
Aditi Govitrikar	...	Kamli
Palak Jain

Storyline

Parsimonious Bhanwarlal is a Bania (businessman) who lives in Navalgarh, Rajasthan, along with his wife; his sons Sunderlal and Kishanlal; Sunderlal is married to Gajrobai and has a son. During the annual camel race, Sunderlal loses the race to the Thakur and out of shame leaves home, never to return. Now Kishanlal has come of age and is married to Lachchi. But on the very next day of the marriage, he must leave for Jamnagar to expand business, and can return only after 5 years. A tearful Lachchi bids him goodbye, but to her pleasant surprise he returns within a few days, and informs his dad that he met a holy sage who had instructed him to return as he will find five gold coins every morning. Pleased with this, Bhanwarlal does not object to Kishanlal's return. After four years, it is now time for the camel race again, and this time Bhanwarlal's camel wins, much to the chagrin of the Thakur who suspects witchcraft. Then Lachchi gets pregnant and on the day of the child's birth the ...

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Plot Keywords:

camel | ghost | businessman | wish | wedding night | 

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Taglines:

A folktale... a story of eternal love... of precious moments... of a woman and her dreams...

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Red Chillies Entertainment [India] (English)

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

24 June 2005 (India)

Also Known As:

Riddle

Filming Locations:

Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

INR 94,209,000 (India), 1 July 2005

Opening Weekend USA:

$117,160, 10 July 2005, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,409,498, 17 July 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

Red Chillies Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paheli is based on the short story written by Vijayadan Detha in Rajasthani language and tells the story of a wife (Rani Mukerji) who is left by her husband (Shah Rukh Khan) and visited by a ghost, disguised as her husband, who is in love with her and takes her husband's place.

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Quotes

The Shepherd: [narrating] A folktale... a love story about a woman named Lachchi. Like a rainbow, Lachchi's love was many-splendoured. But there was one obstacle in this love story - Lachchi's lover was a ghost...

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Connections

Referenced in Pyare Mohan (2006)

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Soundtracks

Laaga Re Jal Laaga
Written by Gulzar (as Sampooran Singh Gulzar)
Composed by M.M. Keeravani
Performed by M.M. Keeravani, Sonu Nigam and Shruti Sadolikar
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Charm times 2!!

A fairy tale set in a time long ago, with ghosts, apparitions, camel races, vibrant and often clashing colors, divine music, innocence and love - what is to not like? Rani is the young innocent bride Lachchi who gets married and starts on a journey to her new home. Shah Rukh is the accounts obsessed ever obedient groom (Kisen) who has to leave right after marriage to go for business to another town far away. The ghost is a bird, a squirrel, an apparition who falls in love with the bride and eventually takes the form of the groom upon his departure. All is well with the new bride and "groom" until the real guy starts to miss his new bride and decides to come home. Confusion reigns, and the riddle as to who is the real Kisen is solved by a shepherd (Amitabh in an understandably over the top acted cameo).

The good - Rani is divine, looks and acts the part with a deftness and light hand. She makes unconventional choices that perhaps account for why the Indian public did not much like Paheli - I cannot give away more. Aadhi Raat jab chand dhale - amazingly performed.

Shah Rukh - times 2 and well done in both forms. One wonders if we take our 5 senses for granted and what it would be like to not have experienced them at all or not in a long time. See the SRK as ghost apparition with the wonder on his face at the first touch from a mother, at the look at the beautiful house, the joy in playing with the children (brothers sisters nephews), to find out. SRK as Kisen who finally realizes that he is missing his wife very much - the most understated sadness ever seen from him.

The costumes are amazing - much has been made of the costumes in Devdas - but this is authentic Rajasthan at its very best and most colorful, the jewelry will make any woman drool! The music is divine - Aaadhi Raat, Dheere Jalna are outstanding numbers.

The bad - well very little in my opinion. Maybe the dance when they find water could be cut, but the movie was pretty short anyway. The camel race was a little over the top, but perhaps okay if you keep the fairy tale genre in mind. Logical flaws - come on, its a fairy tale after all!! Like there is any logic in ghosts and fairies..

I was transported back to my childhood with the story, enchanted by the colors and music and very much enjoyed the portrayals of the ghost/Kisen and Lachchi. Anupam Kher was good as the avaricious father. And of course there was the sublime Juhi - better than I have ever seen her in a cameo as the sad aunt, few words were said, she did it all with her eyes. Please come back Juhi, we miss you!