Yeh Saali Zindagi

What the famous screenplay writer and Director Sudhir Mishra had started with his famous cult movie Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin hes trying to finish an... read more

What the famous screenplay writer and Director Sudhir Mishra had started with his famous cult movie Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin hes trying to finish and make it more believable with his latest attempt on Yeh Saali Zindagi. His attempt sort of paid off with his new venture but alas his most famous movie of all still with us few movie buffs remains as Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. The same old lads with fresh zeal the plot revolves around the new age two protagonists and their simple love stories that ends in violence.

For a change Priti played by Chitrangada Singh is again brilliant and repeats her flawless performance similar to one delivered in Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi. She is a club-singer with the shades of grey not even thinking twice on her actions of deceit even. And when Irrfan Khan takes the shots then his character Arun the chartered accountant can be said an impressive one with his plausible looks of sophisticated working man with a dash of crook behavior thrown in. Character of Kuldeep played by Arunodoy Singh is a hoodlum of Old Delhi who is trying hard to settle down from his usual ways to a life of peace with his lovely wife and kid. Aditi Rao Hyderi who plays the character of Shanti gives a fine performance regardless of her sophisticated looks to match her role. Sushant Singh also lays well his part of a corrupt cop who embezzles people.

The film surely contains another aspect of Delhi with its famous lingos and dialogues though the songs are a little out of sync and screen jarring at times for the audience. The assembling of the cast had been done with hard work which is even noticeable but the movie is still a moody one, a very particular trait of Mishras films. Last but not the least, Sachin Kumar Krishnan as the films cinematographer successfully captures the metropolitan city of Delhi in an intriguing way. And a definite watch for all who have previously loved Sudhir Mishras work and still would like to see something new from him.
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Bc, mc, chutiya, gandu...our audience loves to listen to gaalis. This film has it in high doses and thank god the censors passed it but why they be... read more

Bc, mc, chutiya, gandu...our audience loves to listen to gaalis. This film has it in high doses and thank god the censors passed it but why they beeped out kutiya and some other words is a wonder!

Anyone who has seen Iss raat ki subah nahin will end up comparing this to that. That came in 1996. I was 19 years old and I remember it was playing only in Minerva that too only one morning show. I must have seen it almost 3 times in theatres and the first time I saw it I became a fan of Sudhir Mishra. Later was when I saw Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi, I thought, will this director ever be able to match this or surpass this? The answer is not yet.

Yeh Saali is about Arun (Irrfan) who loves Priti (Chitrangadha) who is seeing Shyam (Vipul Gupta). How this love triangle involves a lot of other characters is what this film is about. The problem with the film is that it throws in a lot of characters together and has an almost schizophrenic screenplay on speed but in this attempt to provide racy entertainment it engages but does not connect. So you see Irrfan Khan playing him rather than the character and you seem to enjoy that because that is why you like him in the first place. An actor trapped by the audience taste. Chitragandha is HOT!!! But thats about it. When it comes to delivering lines or acting she is too thanda. Arunoday's character looks like a shadow of Lallan from Yuva. His is the only character you care for throughout the film and Arunoday's performance makes the character connect with the audience. Aditi Rao Hydari is gorgeous but doesnt get a meaty role. I wanna see more of her soon. I wonder why their track was forced into the film if the director wanted to focus on Irrfan & Chitragandha.

What works for the film are the dialogues (Manu Rishi & Sudhir Mishra) and a couple of scenes & moments but as a whole the film is all over the place. The flashbacks dont help in establishing characters and the screenplay tries very hard to impress the younger generation of viewers and in doing that it turns out looking like a wannabe film or rather a wannabe version of a Guy Ritchie film. I have seen all Sudhir Mishra films, from Dharavi onwards and I look forward to his films. Every film has some things which engage & entertain but as a whole only two films have reached the level of almost perfect. This lies somewhere between those two and the rest.

Final few words: If you love to see people give gaalis on the big screen and clap on it & are willing to enjoy a movie in parts then this gaalilicious film is for you.

Rating: **

Ticket Meter: Worth a 150 buck ticket
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This was the one which postponed Tera Kya Hoga Johny. And boy, whatta decision !!YSZ is one helluva ride where Sudhir Mishra interweaves tense narr... read more

This was the one which postponed Tera Kya Hoga Johny. And boy, whatta decision !!
YSZ is one helluva ride where Sudhir Mishra interweaves tense narratives amidst the expansive canvas of the Capital city. And Helping him excel are stellar, realistic performances by some truly talented actors.

The film has a non-linear and hitherto unknown storyline, so here's a quick dekko: Irrfan falls in love with Chitrangada, who starts loving another guy. The guy is engaged to the daughter of a minister, and gets kidnapped for ransom by Arunodaya Singh. Now since Irrfan loves Chitrangada loves Guy-getting-into-trouble, the poor sod has to save his nemesis for love.

Meanwhile, Arunodaya life is in trouble too, as his wife is threatening to leave him and the minister's daughter's engagement is off which means that nobody's gonna give him a penny for the guy he kidnapped :-D !!

This is the only problem with the film: A lot of people are going to say, "Kuch samajh hi nahee aaya, aur bas beep-beep sunaai diya (that's the censor board performing cleansing for you)". If the plot was ironed out well and the narrative slowed down a notch, there was a massive audience for this flick: this is pure Front Stall stuff. But Sudhir Mishra had to do it in style - the Indian film maker has truly arrived, and he wants the public to do a bit more effort than simply shelling out a hundred bucks.

Everything's a treat in this film - the dialogues and the lead actress (nobody can stay immune to her devious charms) included. You just need to excuse the gaga Matrix style tomfoolery at the end, and remember to leave the kids at home. view less

Frankly, I have always found Sudhir Mishras films in the middle line neither bad nor great. To me, he has been too much of a loudmouth but his fil... read more

Frankly, I have always found Sudhir Mishras films in the middle line neither bad nor great. To me, he has been too much of a loudmouth but his films have been just about good, away from the exceptional bracket. His last movie, Khoya Khoya Chand, had a great movie in potential but failed because of treatment. Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi was good but I never found as great as people claimed it to be. Yes, without taking anything away from the movie, it was novel and different with great performances by the leading trio especially Shiney.
Yeh Saali Zindagi follows the same line. Perhaps this time, the treatment saves the script. When a director says that Indian films are not moving ahead because we are not doing anything new, you expect him to attempt something novel. But, the novelty in this case was the 100 characters he introduced with names, some 100 thousand gaalis and kiss-n-make up scenes between Arunodoy and Aditi Rao. Besides these, it was just another thriller plot without one single new thought.
If there are few things that work for the movie are:-
a)Irrfan Khan why in the world did he do a Knock Out? The man known for outstanding performances like Maqbool, Rog and Life in a Metro is back and how! He is simply brilliant in the film. The movie is a gem in every scene that he stars. Alas, its not when he doesnt.
b)Saurabh Shukla if you want to make such a small role look like a masterpiece, you need an actor of his capability. I still remember having watched a telefilm, based on phone conversation between him and Suhasini Mulay and it remains one of my favourites till date.
c)Cinematography though a bit too dimly lit at places, but its the camera work which enhances the feel at many places. Sachin Kumar Krishn, the man behind the lens, deserves a huge applause.
d)Dialogues though too many expletives, what works with the dialogues is the wit. Its humorous and side-splitting at times.

Chitrangada was nice. Cant help but notice her looks more than her performance. She needs a role to come out of her sexy image, though it has paid off till now. Aditi Rao, the demure Rama Mausi from Delhi 6 plays the petite wife with low cut blouses, and does that quite well. Whoever claimed Arunodoy was good, needs to see the movie one more time. The fellow is so disappointing in so many scenes.

The 97 remaining supporting artists are okay. Of them, Prashant Narayanan stands out in his weirdo designer role.

One thing that could have saved the movie is the editing. Chop it by another 20 minutes, you had a far better entertainer. The first seemed endless after a point. If not anything, chop the idea of freezing so many frames for so many characters just to show their names.

On the whole, YSZ is an interesting attempt stuck between good and bad. It is worth a watch sans any repeat value and with some yawn factors in between.
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Yeh Saali Zindagi is a contrived film. Trying too hard, at times extremely so, to look and feel young, contemporary and world-cinema-isque, Sudhir ... read more

Yeh Saali Zindagi is a contrived film. Trying too hard, at times extremely so, to look and feel young, contemporary and world-cinema-isque, Sudhir Mishras latest outing on the big screen comes across as pretentious, yet not totally unwatchable.

The film starts with a very non linear storyline, random characters come into the plot only to crowd and confuse the audience. The principal characters of Irfan Khan, Chitrangadha and Arunodhay are well sketched no doubt but lack the edge to transform them into iconic noir pieces like the foreign films YSJ so desperately is trying to emulate.

Arunoday, a thug, is in an affair with Chitrangadha, while already married to Aditi. Irfan Khan is in love with Chitrangadha, and thats about the only linear storyline the film has. What happens in between, are very erratically placed sequences that only add to the confusion clutter the canvas. Perhaps a deliberate attempt by the director, YSJ ends up being pseudo intellectual stuff.

For at heart, YSJ is a typical masala Bollywood entertainer with all the goons goondas guns and cuss words added to effect. It is also a story of smoldering passions and unrequited love aka Devdas or Dev D. The treatment is noir-ish but the stuff is still the same old wine in a new packaging.

Irfan as always leads the pack with a brilliant performance. Chitrangadha builds a sensuous and smoldering mystery around her character using her good looks to perfection. When it comes to Arunodhay and Aditi though, it is difficult to go beyond his hulky body and her kiss-a-thon to actually concentrate on their acting abilities.

Another redeeming factor in the film is the music and the way all this mayhem falls into place towards the end like a bewildering jig saw puzzle. The audience has no time to think back and find how and where the pieces fell into place slowly but surely. It is only long after one leaves the theatre, that one realizes that there was a sense to the madness YSJ dishes out.

The problem though is that this could have been achieved with a little more subtlety and grace. The film is excessive in its quirkiness and its indulgence. Irfans voice over is a perfect example of this. Give it a miss if a plain entertainer is what you are looking for.
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