A warning: this review is much more spoiler-heavy than usual,
because it’s the end of the film that I really want to talk about. If
you don’t want to know how Saat Rang Ke Sapne ends, turn back before it’s too late.
Here’s what Netflix has to say about Saat Rang Ke Sapne:
Here’s what Netflix has to say about Saat Rang Ke Sapne:
“In a rural desert setting, Priyadarshan’s follow-up to the stellar “Virasat” is a love story between an ox-cart driving villager and the woman he ferries across the desert. Features stunning Rajasthani desert photography.”Lies!
Or rather, not the whole truth. The desert photography is as
stunning as advertised (especially when dotted with brightly colored
parasols) and there is a romance between Mahipal, the ox-cart driving
villager (Arvind Swamy) and Jalimaa, the woman he ferries across the
desert (Juhi Chawla), but SRKS is really a Shakespearean
tragedy with a twist, about Mahipal’s employer, Bhanu (Anupam Kher), and
the insane lengths he goes to to possess Jalimaa.
Bhanu and his sister Yashoda (Farida Jalal) live in Jane Austen poverty - they’re poor, and their servants are poor. Yashoda’s marriage ended in tragedy, and Bhanu has vowed never to marry until he takes revenge on her behalf.On a routine business trip with Mahipal, however, he changes his mind. The pair run across Jalimaa, a travelling performer stranded by a bus strike, and her “uncle”. Bhanu insists on giving them a lift, while Mahipal complains bitterly and takes an instant dislike to the passengers.
Bhanu likes Jalimaa a lot, though; when the cart has stopped to rest, he hides behind the wagon and declares his love to her. When she doesn’t respond right away, he tells her to refuse him if she wants, but he’ll take silence as acceptance, and then he doesn’t stick around long enough to hear her delicately worded refusal.
Jalimaa is delivered to her next gig, but Bhanu discovers that the village headman who arranged it has designs on Jalimaa; he stays to see her perform, then attempts to rescue her from a Fate Worse Than Death. The rescue is muddled, and Jalimaa and Mahipal end up stranded together. Naturally, they argue a lot, then fall in love.
Mahipal takes Jalimaa home with him, but they decide to keep their love a secret for the time being and pretend to still be arguing. (I’m really not sure why.) Bhanu still loves Jalimaa, but he’s been advised by the local soothsaying parrot not to say anything out loud until after Holi.
Misunderstandings pile upon misunderstandings. Yashoda discovers the truth, and asks Mahipal to give up Jalimaa; since Yashoda has been like a mother to him, he reluctantly agrees, but when he attempts to break things off, he’s overheard by another servant, Baldev (Satish Shah), who promptly runs to Bhanu and lies outrageously.
Bhanu slips into Othello mode, with Baldev as his personal Iago, and sets out to destroy MahipalH. e does a good job of it, too; Mahipal remains decent, and vainly tries to keep his life on track, but he suffers disaster after disaster. Like MacBeth or Othello, Bhanu continues in a spiral of moral degredation, sinking lower and lower, until he finally manages to drive away Jalimaa for good. Then we reach the twist in the tragic formula I mentioned earlier; Bhanu realizes what he’s done, and tries to fix the situation. More shocking still, he mostly succeeds, emerging from a bus in the nick of time to save the lives of Mahipal and Jalimaa.
It’s a surprising ending, but ultimately believable thanks to Anupam Kher’s performance. He shows an impressive range here, going from bumbling lover to heartless villain to a man who realizes he’s lost everything thanks to his own actions. Farida Jalal is great as well. Juhi Chawla is only asked to look beautiful and run from the occasional mob; she does both well. Jalimaa actually has a fairly interesting backstory, but it’s dealt with in about five minutes, and she’s offscreen at the time.
If you can accept the notion of a tragedy with a happy ending, then SRKS is worth a rental. Kher puts in a strong performance, and Netflix is right about the stunning desert scenes.
Bhanu and his sister Yashoda (Farida Jalal) live in Jane Austen poverty - they’re poor, and their servants are poor. Yashoda’s marriage ended in tragedy, and Bhanu has vowed never to marry until he takes revenge on her behalf.On a routine business trip with Mahipal, however, he changes his mind. The pair run across Jalimaa, a travelling performer stranded by a bus strike, and her “uncle”. Bhanu insists on giving them a lift, while Mahipal complains bitterly and takes an instant dislike to the passengers.
Bhanu likes Jalimaa a lot, though; when the cart has stopped to rest, he hides behind the wagon and declares his love to her. When she doesn’t respond right away, he tells her to refuse him if she wants, but he’ll take silence as acceptance, and then he doesn’t stick around long enough to hear her delicately worded refusal.
Jalimaa is delivered to her next gig, but Bhanu discovers that the village headman who arranged it has designs on Jalimaa; he stays to see her perform, then attempts to rescue her from a Fate Worse Than Death. The rescue is muddled, and Jalimaa and Mahipal end up stranded together. Naturally, they argue a lot, then fall in love.
Mahipal takes Jalimaa home with him, but they decide to keep their love a secret for the time being and pretend to still be arguing. (I’m really not sure why.) Bhanu still loves Jalimaa, but he’s been advised by the local soothsaying parrot not to say anything out loud until after Holi.
Misunderstandings pile upon misunderstandings. Yashoda discovers the truth, and asks Mahipal to give up Jalimaa; since Yashoda has been like a mother to him, he reluctantly agrees, but when he attempts to break things off, he’s overheard by another servant, Baldev (Satish Shah), who promptly runs to Bhanu and lies outrageously.
Bhanu slips into Othello mode, with Baldev as his personal Iago, and sets out to destroy MahipalH. e does a good job of it, too; Mahipal remains decent, and vainly tries to keep his life on track, but he suffers disaster after disaster. Like MacBeth or Othello, Bhanu continues in a spiral of moral degredation, sinking lower and lower, until he finally manages to drive away Jalimaa for good. Then we reach the twist in the tragic formula I mentioned earlier; Bhanu realizes what he’s done, and tries to fix the situation. More shocking still, he mostly succeeds, emerging from a bus in the nick of time to save the lives of Mahipal and Jalimaa.
It’s a surprising ending, but ultimately believable thanks to Anupam Kher’s performance. He shows an impressive range here, going from bumbling lover to heartless villain to a man who realizes he’s lost everything thanks to his own actions. Farida Jalal is great as well. Juhi Chawla is only asked to look beautiful and run from the occasional mob; she does both well. Jalimaa actually has a fairly interesting backstory, but it’s dealt with in about five minutes, and she’s offscreen at the time.
If you can accept the notion of a tragedy with a happy ending, then SRKS is worth a rental. Kher puts in a strong performance, and Netflix is right about the stunning desert scenes.
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