Notebook Review: Beautiful Cinematography But A Bland Story line That Makes Way For A Bland Film

Film: Notebook

Actors: Zaheer Iqbal, Pranutan Bahl

Director: Nitin Kakkar

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

My Verdict: Watch this film if you don’t have anything better to do or wait for it to come on television.

The film is adapted from the Thai film, Teacher’s Diary. More than anything else the cinematography of the film is BEAUTIFUL. The film is shot in Kashmir and every frame looks oh so picturesque. The cinematographer Manoj Kumar Khatoi seemed to study Kashmir in a way no one else did. It was a splendid job done. From the colour palette to the movement of the cameras everything looked pretty.

So, Zaheer plays the role of Kabir, a Kashmiri Pandit who has retired from his army background to become a teacher in a remote Kashmir village which is deprived of even the basic necessities. Point to be noted here is that the reason why Kabir retires is not apparent.

Coming back, the school he is tricked into teaching had been started by his late father and is located in the middle of Wular lake. As I previously said, there is no water and neither electricity and there are just 5 students who attend the school.  One fine day, Kabir finds a notebook that is shoved inside the desk. And after reading it, does he come to know that it belongs to the previous teacher Firdaus played by Pranutan Bahl. Initially, Kabir isn’t good with the kids but the notebook comes to his rescue and gradually he becomes adept in the art of making the children his own. Firdaus kind of becomes a voice that propels him to look at circumstances in an uncomplicated manner and also teaches him to “thank the universe” for everything. The man slowly but steadily falls in love with Firdaus without having met her. He falls in love with her thoughts, her ideals and stances! This part was quite semblative to the 1999 hit ‘Sirf Tum’ where the guy falls in love with the girl through love letters without even having met her.

Zaheer was good, given the fact that this was his debut film, the poise and restraint that he displays with his Kabir is commendable. Pranutan does her bit but doesn’t quite seem to look convincing with her Firdaus act. She is the daughter of actor Mohnish Bahl and the grand daughter of the legendary actress Nutan. Which is why precisely, there was a lot of expectations from her, unfortunately, she could have done a lot better with her part. The children in the film took the cake, they were the only reason the film became alive. The at times cheeky and at times innocent demeanour of those tots infused life in the film.

The film looks and feels innocent, the story and the treatment have an old-school touch to it all. It is not believable. There were certain points that the film just touches and passes. We don’t quite get to know what significance is Kabir’s Kashmiri Pandit background has in the set up! Another fact mentioning is that the parenting aspect has been really touched upon in a good way. The child psychology vis-à-vis the adult psychology has been deftly handled.

The direction by Nitin Kakkar is bland, because we have seen this in many films and he doesn’t add anything extra-ordinary to it. His last outing Filmistan was way better than this one.

The music by vishal Mishra is an okay job done, again nothing that would stay with me or anyone else after you leave the theatre, having said that it does go down well with the screenplay and the way things happen and unfold.

All in all, a bland film that doesn’t leave any sweetness it is so meant to.