Guzaarish- Love for Life Vs No Life

The much awaited Guzaarish by Sanjay Leela Bhansali is released today and the film lovers were looking forward for the magic by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the chemistry between Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. Does the movie live up to the expectations? Is Mr. Bhansali able to weave his magic wand this time? Let’s see.

First things first- If you are looking for a movie to have fun this weekend, If you are looking for rib tickling comedy or romance please don’t venture out into the theatre. You will for sure not like it. If you are a lover of cinema and want to see good cinema devoid of all formula, welcome to the world of Ethan Masceranhas built by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. At least the best thing about this movie is that they don’t try to create comic moments at the cost of a differently abled person.

This is the story of Ethan Masceranhas India’s No.1 Magician who is injured and turned quadriplegic turned to an RJ now running a program called Radio Zindagi and helping others live. The story is about his petition for euthanasia- mercy killing unable to bear his pain. The story line is as simple as the two lines I wrote above but if you ask is that all, I would say NO. That’s where the work of master story teller comes into place.  I would like to deviate from revealing the spoilers about what the story is and how it progresses.

The story in one line is LIFE Vs NO LIFE. Hrithik Roshan is amazing wonderful as the protagonist Ethan Masceranhas who is Quadriplegic for 14 years. He smiles, He lives, He emotes, He expresses his pain and he takes the movies over his shoulders which are paralyzed. All his emotions are limited to his face and you would not see any impact on his body below the neck and that’s fantastic for an actor like hrithik.

Aishwarya Rai Bachhan as Sophie for once after long time lived in the role. Sophie is the caretaker cum nurse of Ethan who is serving him devotedly ignoring her life, her marital life and everything. She rubs his nose, brushes him, feeds him and in way has more rights over his life than himself.

Ethan takes help of his friend Devyani, played by Shernaz Patel to fight his case for Euthanasia and she fights for her friend irrespective of her wish. Suhel Seth Played Dr. Nayak who loves Ethan and doesn’t like his decision of euthanasia. We have Aditya Roy Kapoor, a brilliant actor playing Omar Siddhiqui a man who comes to learn magic from Ethan. Not to forget Monikangana Dutta who sparkles in a small role as Ethan’s Ex Girlfriend and the first person to support his decision.

The narration is not regressive. You will feel love for life in the protagonist. You will start living and loving life from his eyes and wonder why he wants to die. The only negative point as I see is lack of clarity as to why exactly Ethan wants to die and the director didn’t explain it well.

 The Photography is world class and every frame in the villa where you see most of the movie running is like a painting and Sanjay Leela Bhansali lived up to his expectations as a director of grandeur from his devdas days. The narration picks up when Ethan steps out of his house to fight his case. The drive between his house and court is beautifully picturized where he sees world again after 12 years. You will feel the waves touching you, the kids playing waving at you and the breeze flowing thru your hair. When the tears flow down the corners of Ethan’s eyes you are forced to feel his pain. When the court is set up in his house and his mother nafisa talks about her willingness of helping his son, it touches not just our hearts but the cocky public prosecutor’s too. The next scene where the helpless quadriplegic fights with rain drops and loses the battle convinces us of his helplessness and don’t blame if you too wish that his wish of euthanasia is granted. The helplessness in his eyes when Sophia’s husband come and beats her up and the anger when he knows that his case is dismissed proves us yet again that hrithik is definitely one of the finest actors of the generation.

Aishwarya on her side plays a helpless nurse who doesn’t like Ethan’s wish of euthanasia but couldn’t deny his right for the most part of the film. You can feel her overpossesiveness, her love and care in every act of hers. She has proven as a brilliant dancer yet again in the pub song and the ease with which she plays air guitar is watchable.

Music by Sanjay Leela Bhansali doesn’t really add magic to the movie. Aditya Roy Kapoor adds few funny moments thru his demeanor and few dialogues Ethan has with the father brings forgotten smile back on the lips, though for a while.   

All the actors played their characters wonderfully and they ensure that you come out with a heavy heart when you come out of theatre after watching the movie. On the whole this is the Hrithik movie where the wonderful actor has done absolute justice to the sensitive character and makes us feel the pain of Ethan Masceranhas.