Paheli (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

M. M. Keeravani reused tune of 'Naadir Dhinna' from his Telugu movie "Okariki Okaru" for the song 'Dheere Jalna'.

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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

Dhire Jalna - Instrumental
Composed by M.M. Keeravani
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Paheli-Interesting like a puzzle

We always talk about the great Indian treasure we have in the form of literature but when it comes to adapting them for films for mass consumption, everybody for some strange reason adopted a ridiculous view that this cannot be commercially viable proposition. Paheli, here not only comes as a whiff of fresh air by being original but also as a tight slap on the face of all such advocates of escapist, masala cinema. Also its not an easy cake-walk for those "Hollywood (now even other world cinema) DVDs-inspired fools". Three cheers to Shahrukh for he took a great leap by lending his hands to this film by not just acting in it but also producing it. (Never mind if he is competing with fellow actor Aamir who produced "Lagaan'). Based on book by Vijay Dan Detha, (it was adapted way back in 1973 by Director Mani Kaul for his film-Duvidha) it has captured everything with grandeur. Is it superfluous or sumptuous? May be to an extent but definitely it did not look like a patch as in cases of our Devdases and Blacks. The mind blowing Art Direction (Munish Sappel), Exotic Locations, Costumes (Shalini Sarna), Jewellery (Tanishq), everything falls seamlessly into place. Cinematography (Ravi K. Chandran) and Visual Efx (Eagle Video Films-Prime Focus) is first rate. The sequence where a ghost morphs into a Crow and then to a Squirrel, followed by a bird and finally a Man is mesmerizing. Rani Mukherji and Mr. Bachchan (in Cameo) are competent as usual. Amol Palekar, the director always delivers, never disappoints and same is the case here in his Ninth Film To top it not only he crafted an aesthetic, wonderful fairy-tale looking folklore but also manages his lead actor to perform wisely within the periphery of character, without going over the top. Look at the different number of expressions Shahrukh has given every time while mumbling same line-"Phal..Phool Gulabjal". No doubt a rare achievement. . It has some minus points too; the camel race is not shot well. May be it is difficult to capture and is also redundant. Sequence could have been shorter. Rajpal Yadav's Character is completely unnecessary and could have been avoided. Also can somebody please tell him not to play to the gallery for 'N'th time? Sub plot of Juhi Chawla and Suneil Shetty also has nothing to contribute to the narrative. Songs are too many and mostly out of situation. Also the drama quotient in climax is low, it could have been treated with more impact. Narrative of whole film would be more interesting if they played on subtle humor throughout the film. Nevertheless, all these come across as minor flaws. A word of advice for Shahrukh, stick to such cinema rather than doing those mindless NRI romances, as you will gradually find a rather larger audience never mind if it takes another 2-3 attempts. All in all, in one word the whole viewing experience can be described as "Phenomenal".