Present day Ladakh, portrayed in all it's beauty. Mountains, the sweltering sun and spiraling roads carved in rock solid hills. A puff of dust and an officer in Khaki comes riding a Bullet like a man on a mission. THAT very instant you will hold your breath and fall in love with Major Samar Anand.
Cool as a cucumber, hot as himself, he sets to work with his characteristic furrowed eyebrows. And what is it that he is doing? Defusing his 98th bomb.
And if that isn't enough to get you drooling, then watch him do it without his bomb-suit. Watch him face death in it's face, without batting an eyelid or breaking a sweat. Watch him and ask yourself, why he is "the Man Who Cannot Die."
What begins as the rhetorical question of why Samar Anand cannot die, becomes one hell of a story. Told with gusto, grace and a great degree of romance, the movie will make you believe in love and miracles.
Now settled in his tent, with a cup of tea, Major Anand fills out his diary. A dairy that keeps an account of each bomb he had rendered worthless. The dairy that- as we learn later- is his way of mocking God. Why he does that, is disclosed over the next 2 hours.
Enter Anushka Sharma aka Akira Rai, like a whiff of fresh air. She dives into ice-cold Ladakhi water for no apparent reason, only to be rescued by the Major himself. A brief resuscitation later, Samar zooms away on his bike, leaving Akira with a smile and his Khaki coat.
Back with her troop of documentary directors, Akira stumbles upon Samar's Diary, the one shoved in the jacket pockets. And from then on, page after page, we see Samar Anand in the days of his struggle as a Londoner.
Working two shifts a day and singing throughout, he sure knows how to charm his way into people's hearts. And charm he does! One song and dance sequence later, Katrina aka Meera is fluent in Punjabi and irrevocably in love with Samar. Samar proposes to Meera and she decides to approach her father and call off her engagement with Roger, a family friend. Fate doesn't agree, and Samar meets with a near-death accident, right in front of Meera's eyes. Meera, the damsel in distress, falls to her knees in a fervent prayer and begs for Samar's life in lieu of giving up the one thing she loves the MOST- Samar himself.
And thus begins their struggle, of staying away and still together. The struggles of living up to promises- one made to God and the other- made to each other.
It wasn't their time. It wasn't meant to be. Hence a dejected Samar Anand returns to his home base to fulfill his family legacy and we now see the birth of Major Samar. The intense persona, the definite signs of a traumatic past, the hallmarks of a man mellowed by life's tortures.
Concern for his safety had deprived him of his lady-love. He retaliates by plunging himself into unimaginable dangers each day. His life was his tool against Fate itself, he had bared himself to the wrath of Destiny.
An eventful turn of incidents later, Fate sends Akira back into Samar's life. This time, with a camera, i-pod and a laptop. It was her Fitoor that had brought her back in Samar's life, but it was Samar's life that had made her fall in love. Love in the truest, purest meaning of it. A girl of the present times, Akira's ideologies of love had been blurred. But as she watched the Major work, each passing day, the fog was beginning to clear.
The most heartwarming moment in the movie was where Samar, after having defused a bomb, retreats into total privacy to sing. To sing the song he had first sung for Meera. To sing of a wanderer...Challa....himself...
Challa hansda phire
Challa ronda phire
Challa gali gali rulda phire
Challe tu sab da
Challe tera koi nai
Challa gali gali rulda phire
Challa ki labda phire
Akira confesses her love. Fate frowns upon this and Samar meets with yet another accident.
And if life wasn't complicated already, it gets so, now. A severe head injury takes Samar 10 years back into time. The Samar of 2012 now barely recognizes himself. Now suffering with Retrograde Amnesia, Major Samar Anand is back to being a London newbie. Carefree, happy-go-lucky and insanely in love with Meera.
What follows next, is chaos. Not in Samar's life, but in the life of those around him. A cross angle between the present generation and the generation of the yesteryears, both Meera and Akira are determined to bring Samar back. Meera, at the price of defying her treaty with God and Akira, at the price of love.
You will laugh, you will spill tears, you will marvel at the power of love as you watch Samar fight his battles with life. You will go weak in your legs when you hear him say, "Zindagi ke halaat toh roz humein maarte hain. To maut se kaisa darna?" And when you watch Meera and Samar embrace at the end of their tryst with destiny, you will think of Love as undying, unyielding and simply...beautiful.
He is the King Khan of Bollywood, and he leaves no stone unturned to convince you. You won't doubt him as he plays a 21 year, you will adore him as a 30 year old. You will not question how he switches from the Samar of 2002 to the Samar of 2012 within a matter of minutes...you will only drown in his dimples.
Katrina, as Meera, is stunning. A 'gori mem' nurturing a wild child inside. Sizzling chemistry between the two, especially in the track Ishq Shava. It's bound to get your feet tapping. :)
Anushka Sharma, as Akira Rai is refreshing. An absolute delight to watch, as she struggles with the concept of love. You will feel her energy, the fresh peppiness of a girl in her youth. Untroubled and unpolluted, beautifully presented in the song 'Jiye Re.' As she gropes in the dark with feelings she can't understand, you will want to reach out to her and sympathize.
And finally, the man behind the lens who made us fall in love over and over again. Yash Raj Chopra, you've left behind you an entire generation that will sing your songs, dance to your music and quote dialogues from your movies for a long long time. This leads me on to think of a famous poem by John Keats:
~Bards of Passion and of Mirth,
ye have left your souls on earth!
Have ye souls in Heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?~
Yes Yash Uncle, you have left us a classic to love! <3
Cool as a cucumber, hot as himself, he sets to work with his characteristic furrowed eyebrows. And what is it that he is doing? Defusing his 98th bomb.
And if that isn't enough to get you drooling, then watch him do it without his bomb-suit. Watch him face death in it's face, without batting an eyelid or breaking a sweat. Watch him and ask yourself, why he is "the Man Who Cannot Die."
What begins as the rhetorical question of why Samar Anand cannot die, becomes one hell of a story. Told with gusto, grace and a great degree of romance, the movie will make you believe in love and miracles.
Now settled in his tent, with a cup of tea, Major Anand fills out his diary. A dairy that keeps an account of each bomb he had rendered worthless. The dairy that- as we learn later- is his way of mocking God. Why he does that, is disclosed over the next 2 hours.
Enter Anushka Sharma aka Akira Rai, like a whiff of fresh air. She dives into ice-cold Ladakhi water for no apparent reason, only to be rescued by the Major himself. A brief resuscitation later, Samar zooms away on his bike, leaving Akira with a smile and his Khaki coat.
Back with her troop of documentary directors, Akira stumbles upon Samar's Diary, the one shoved in the jacket pockets. And from then on, page after page, we see Samar Anand in the days of his struggle as a Londoner.
Working two shifts a day and singing throughout, he sure knows how to charm his way into people's hearts. And charm he does! One song and dance sequence later, Katrina aka Meera is fluent in Punjabi and irrevocably in love with Samar. Samar proposes to Meera and she decides to approach her father and call off her engagement with Roger, a family friend. Fate doesn't agree, and Samar meets with a near-death accident, right in front of Meera's eyes. Meera, the damsel in distress, falls to her knees in a fervent prayer and begs for Samar's life in lieu of giving up the one thing she loves the MOST- Samar himself.
And thus begins their struggle, of staying away and still together. The struggles of living up to promises- one made to God and the other- made to each other.
It wasn't their time. It wasn't meant to be. Hence a dejected Samar Anand returns to his home base to fulfill his family legacy and we now see the birth of Major Samar. The intense persona, the definite signs of a traumatic past, the hallmarks of a man mellowed by life's tortures.
Concern for his safety had deprived him of his lady-love. He retaliates by plunging himself into unimaginable dangers each day. His life was his tool against Fate itself, he had bared himself to the wrath of Destiny.
An eventful turn of incidents later, Fate sends Akira back into Samar's life. This time, with a camera, i-pod and a laptop. It was her Fitoor that had brought her back in Samar's life, but it was Samar's life that had made her fall in love. Love in the truest, purest meaning of it. A girl of the present times, Akira's ideologies of love had been blurred. But as she watched the Major work, each passing day, the fog was beginning to clear.
The most heartwarming moment in the movie was where Samar, after having defused a bomb, retreats into total privacy to sing. To sing the song he had first sung for Meera. To sing of a wanderer...Challa....himself...
Challa hansda phire
Challa ronda phire
Challa gali gali rulda phire
Challe tu sab da
Challe tera koi nai
Challa gali gali rulda phire
Challa ki labda phire
Akira confesses her love. Fate frowns upon this and Samar meets with yet another accident.
And if life wasn't complicated already, it gets so, now. A severe head injury takes Samar 10 years back into time. The Samar of 2012 now barely recognizes himself. Now suffering with Retrograde Amnesia, Major Samar Anand is back to being a London newbie. Carefree, happy-go-lucky and insanely in love with Meera.
What follows next, is chaos. Not in Samar's life, but in the life of those around him. A cross angle between the present generation and the generation of the yesteryears, both Meera and Akira are determined to bring Samar back. Meera, at the price of defying her treaty with God and Akira, at the price of love.
You will laugh, you will spill tears, you will marvel at the power of love as you watch Samar fight his battles with life. You will go weak in your legs when you hear him say, "Zindagi ke halaat toh roz humein maarte hain. To maut se kaisa darna?" And when you watch Meera and Samar embrace at the end of their tryst with destiny, you will think of Love as undying, unyielding and simply...beautiful.
He is the King Khan of Bollywood, and he leaves no stone unturned to convince you. You won't doubt him as he plays a 21 year, you will adore him as a 30 year old. You will not question how he switches from the Samar of 2002 to the Samar of 2012 within a matter of minutes...you will only drown in his dimples.
Katrina, as Meera, is stunning. A 'gori mem' nurturing a wild child inside. Sizzling chemistry between the two, especially in the track Ishq Shava. It's bound to get your feet tapping. :)
Anushka Sharma, as Akira Rai is refreshing. An absolute delight to watch, as she struggles with the concept of love. You will feel her energy, the fresh peppiness of a girl in her youth. Untroubled and unpolluted, beautifully presented in the song 'Jiye Re.' As she gropes in the dark with feelings she can't understand, you will want to reach out to her and sympathize.
And finally, the man behind the lens who made us fall in love over and over again. Yash Raj Chopra, you've left behind you an entire generation that will sing your songs, dance to your music and quote dialogues from your movies for a long long time. This leads me on to think of a famous poem by John Keats:
~Bards of Passion and of Mirth,
ye have left your souls on earth!
Have ye souls in Heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?~
Yes Yash Uncle, you have left us a classic to love! <3
