YEH SAALI ZINDAGI - Movie Review : Sudhir Mishra is back in form with a bright film. (Review By Bobby Sing)

First of all, let me make it clear that some visionaries or film-makers don’t make films just for everyone like 3 IDIOTS or DABANGG. This fresh league of new age film-makers, make movies to satisfy their own burning passion and don’t really care about the running trend or public demand while writing their scripts. Though may not be that young at age but Sudhir Mishra is surely one of those new age film-makers who has given us brilliant films in the past (Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, Hazaron Khwaishen Aisee) and with YEH SAALI ZINDAGI, he returns in form once again offering a well crafted film based on love, betrayal and crime.

But as indicated above, the movie is not everybody’s cup of tea, that’s for sure. For some viewers it may be a confusing directionless venture and for few it may also become a cause for their sudden headaches. So before opting for YEH SAALI ZINDAGI, you just have to make your mind that whether you really want to see some off-beat, jet-speed crime drama full of double crosses, blood, sex and abuses or you are just ok with your usual star based love stories and actions movies. In simple words, you should must watch YSZ, if you are well familiar with the works of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Richie kind of film-makers. And you should surely watch it if you loved Vishal Bhardwaj’s new found film-making style in his KAMINEY.

Now returning to the subject here, YEH SAALI ZINDAGI starts off straight away with a bloody sequence which clearly gives you an idea that the veteran film-maker is back. And within next half an hour, you really start feeling the thrill and excitement moving with its great pace and brilliantly edited sequences which are both complex and enjoyable at the same moment. No doubt that at times, it tends to be over crowded or one may also feel like its too much happening on the screen all together. But the good thing is that the film keeps on moving so fast on a tight and well written script that one doesn’t get enough spare moments to think about it in details. Yes, there are certain unexplained or loosely left ends too, but again the twists and turns in the tale come so quickly one after another that the viewer simply gets jammed into the narration and loses track of what he was just thinking a few minutes before.

Frankly speaking, its Sudhir Mishra’s one of the top 3 movies, in which he gets full support both from his script as well as his star cast very effectively. Entangled in more than one stories running simultaneously, YSZ is undoubtedly one of the most complex yet well written scripts presented before the audience in this particular genre. The major part of the film is in flashback, which very slowly and steadily takes the viewers into the life of its various characters and then returns to the reality with a well conceived climax. But what I basically loved the most about YEH SAALI ZINDAGI is that in totality its actually a highly intense love story of a one side lover who even after knowing the fact that he is in love with a real bitch, still goes on to risk his everything for her unconditionally.

The movie has a brilliant first half which starts making its impact slowly, keeps progressing at a brisk speed and then pulls the viewers completely in before the intermission. At first you might feel like getting confused, but after this initial hic-up, as the things are more clear, one starts enjoying the pace and gets into the feel of the movie quite smoothly. Post interval, though the pace drops for a while but then the director bounces back and finishes off the film on the same brighter note where he had started.

Apart from its superbly written script and its performances, there are three other things which majorly work in favour of the movie as a whole. One, is its worth noticing Cinematography, showcasing the on-location shoots in Delhi (particularly Old Delhi) which brings in a different kind of charm to its visual appeal. Along with that I would really like to mention the editing of the movie, which doesn’t give you time to blink your eyes. Two, is its realistic tone of language and dialogues penned down superbly by the writers, which aptly fit to the theme of the movie and its characters. And three is its well composed and arranged Background Score which perfectly gels with the script and emerges as another character on the screen running in the backdrop (Also the catchy title song). Above all Sudhir Mishra does deserve all his praises this time since its not an easy task to come up with an impressive movie based on such a complex kind of script with several story angles.

Yet along with the above mentioned merits, I found some weak points too in the film which could have been avoided by the director as it seems. Firstly, I felt that abusive and the foul language used in the movie was a bit over the limit which often looked like being deliberately forced into the dialogues with a purpose (That means you are not supposed to watch it with your family). Secondly, I really missed Irfan Khan in the movie post intermission and somehow felt that he was not there on the screen completely. May be as his fan I really wanted to see him more. Thirdly, I do have some problems with the bullet changing direction sequence in the climax. For me it was not something expected in a Sudhir Mishra movie at all. Instead the director simply could have shown anyone bending down and the bullet hitting its target. But the graphical sequence of the bullet turning rounds was not of anything close to Sudhir Mishra’s standards.

Talking about the great performances in the film, I immensely enjoyed watching Irfan Khan as the lonely lover who even has the guts to watch his girl romancing another rich boy right in front of him. And still he goes on and on to sacrifice his everything for the girl who was just good for nothing. Irfan is truly a great performer, a pride of Bollywood and I did enjoy him a lot after a long gap since “Maqbool”. Playing the role of a wicked gorgeous lady, Chitrangda Singh, is not only beautiful but she also has got the talent to compete with any actress of the current times unarguably. The girl sizzles on the screen like fire, looks stunningly inviting and I really don’t know why we don’t see her in more films other than the ones made by Sudhir Mishra. May be that’s her personal choice, but truly speaking she can easily take one of the top places in Bollywood if she wishes. In fact both Irfan and Chitrangda are one of the two most gifted actors we have got, whom we would love to see together more often.

Arunoday is conquering new heights with his each new film and I said the same about him in my review of SIKANDER a few years back. He is great in his role of Kuldeep but I couldn’t understand why the name Kuldeep was chosen for his character as there is no explanation given for that in the film. Aditi Rao Hydari is also fine and bold too in her revealing scenes. Saurabh Shukla is again seen in the same routine kind of role but Sushant Singh, Yashpal Sharma and Prashant Narayanan put up a brilliant show together. Among these veterans do also watch out for a scene in which a kid very innocently explains the spell of anger in his own amusing way.

Summing up, YEH SAALI ZINDAGI is a strong and bold movie which moves away from the usual path of a song and dance bollywood film. So, it may get mixed responses from the viewers. But if you are game for something great, conceived with an unconventional style and narration, then do watch YSZ as a must with your friends, as it might give you a big pleasant enjoyable surprise in the end.

Ratings : 3.5 / 5