TAAL (1999)

Writer, Editor, Producer and Director: Subhash Ghai
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna, Amrish Puri, Alok Nath, Mita Vasisth, Saurabh Shukla Supriya Karnik, Jividha Sharma
Music: A R Rahman

Reviewed by Baradwaj Rangan on August 22, 1999.

Plot: Industrialist (Amrish Puri) lands up family in tow at a hill station to close a deal. While there, his son (Akshaye Khanna) romances a local singer's beautiful daughter (Aishwarya Rai). The lovers are forced to part when Puri leaves with his family, but Rai lands up in Bombay looking for Khanna. Circumstances cause their break-up, and she runs into a self-made music mogul (Anil Kapoor), who initially, and expertly, exploits her singing/dancing talents   professionally, and then gets involved with her personally. Meanwhile Khanna realizes what he's lost and returns to Rai, leading to the inevitable love triangle that must be resolved.

Review: 'Taal' is easily Subhash Ghai's best film to date. In the photography, choreography, acting, and music departments, the film comes up aces. The entire affair is very classy, but... very sedate. I thought this was really curious, as I really enjoyed the film, but it did not give me the high that, say, 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (easily one of the high points of commercial Indian cinema) did. If the latter was old wine in a brand new bottle, 'Taal' is old wine in an old bottle with just a brand new label. It doesn't disappoint, but leaves you wishing something more had been done.

The music/choreography, though great, do not electrify the way the sequences in 'Dil Se' did. Even though this film overall is far superior to 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam', not one sequence registers as strongly as the latter film's first half (Now THAT was a true musical, too bad about the second half though), considering that this is supposed to be a musical extravaganza. Ash, though great in looks and performance, strikes no sparks with either hero, unlike Shah Rukh/Kajol in practically every film of theirs. And the film itself is extremely restrained.

Restraint is all very good, especially from the director who displayed Dilip Kumar's patriotism in 'Karma' by having him spray an India map around Anupam Kher's villain (Dr. Dong? Dr. Dang?) with bullets from his machine gun, but 'Taal' is a bit too restrained for its own good. None of the scenes do the 'twannng' on your heart. For such a predictable story, the twannng-o-meter registers pretty low. Maybe that's what he wanted, avoiding the cliches, but then he should have told a different story, for this story itself is a hoary cliché. I mean, isn't there a middle ground?

Enough complaining, though. If you thought Ash was good in 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam', she's mind-blowing here. I mean, she's no Shabana, but easily the most impressive commercial actress around. There's a 30-second sequence during the 'ishq bina' song involving a Coke bottle passing back and forth between her and Akshaye (BTW, is that just his hairstyle or really a receding hairline?) that is so naturally done! Plus, she looks ethereal (I still cannot get over how wonderful she is in that 'ramta jogi' song) and is a great dancer! Akshaye is good too. I didn’t care for him in 'Border', but I thought he was good in 'Aa Ab Laut Chalen', and he's good here. Of course, due to his looks, he's going to be given the softie-Rishi-Kapoor-type roles, but... And just when you are worrying that the film is getting nowhere real fast, Anil Kapoor single-handedly revives the film's second half with a brash, amusing performance. A R Rahman's music is simply sensational throughout.

So I guess, I'm being unfair when I say this could have been so much more, when there are so many films that are not half as decent. It's not great, but definitely good.

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Aishwarya Rai

 

 

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Anil Kapoor

 

 

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Akshaye Khanna
and Aishwarya Rai