Aaja Nachle Movie Reviews

Last shot of AAJA NACHLE has Akshaye Khanna (yes, he is there in the film) offering one large STARBUCKS coffee to Madhuri Dixit in the US of A. Curtains on the screen go down and my next seat cinegoer tells his girlfriend - "You know what, STARBUCKS may be coming to India soon". As I walk down the aisle, another IT type patron is heard grumbling with his friend - "I have to go to office this weekend to work on my Monday presentation".

And absolutely killing comment comes from close by as I take the elevator down to basement parking. A woman says, "Good there is not too much of crowd around. When I watched GOAL last weekend for the same show, it took me more than 30 minutes to get my car back on road - it was so crowded then."

Get the picture? Those who watched this two and a hour long movie had everything to talk about ranging from coffee to presentations to parking hassles but nothing about the film or it's USP - Madhuri Dixit's comeback. It is plain indifference to what director Anil Mehta brings to screen that proves to be undoing of AAJA NACHLE.

AAJA NACHLE isn't the case of first half being better than the second half or vice versa. Instead it remains consistent throughout but on an average to below average side. There are possible a couple of high points in the first as well as the second half but that's about it. When Madhuri decides to get back to Shyamali (her home town) to save Ajanta (the theater) from being fed to land grabbers, you get to hear her past when her Guru (Darshan Zariwala in long locks wig which justifies the tag of 'pagalchi' given to him) taught her how to 'dance' and 'live', in her own words.

While the sequences which follow are strictly ho-hum, what brings the spark is introduction of a young phoren-educated MP - Akshaye Khanna - who is only fair to let Ajanta stay on if Madhuri can get the folks of Shyamali do a show all by themselves. Though a couple of scenes here are dramatic and revive your interest in the film, the sheer concept of making a team to bring on screen the legend of 'Laila Majnu' and make a team of actors is hardly inspiring.

You have a goon (Kunal Kapoor), a big mouth (Konkona Sen), a Government officer (Vinay Pathak), an insurance agent (Jugal Hansraj), a hotel-wallah (Ranvir Shorey), a we-don't-know-who (Asha Sachdev - was she a prostitute?) and a local politician (Akhilendra Mishra) coming together to be a part of this song and dance routine but how they become actors and dancers from being nothing at all is 0% convincing. This is because the script doesn't even tell how they were trained nor is any justification to their mere presence in the show. Madhuri's 'mantra' in this town, which cares least about this 'naach-gaana', is to catch hold of anyone and everyone who is willing to join in her mission to save the theater. Hmmm...not happening!

Cliched situations follow and you feel something may change for better as the character of Irrfan Khan is introduced. Shockingly his mere consent to have accepted the role of a builder looking at grabbing the land for the creation of a shopping mall is a major compromise for this supremely talented actor who is cruelly wasted. As for his wife Divya Dutta, less said the better as one would have accepted at least a decent performance from the woman who more often than not has always made her presence felt. In AAJA NACHLE, she doesn't!

What kills the film completely is the climax 'nautanki' which lasts for as long as 20 odd minutes. 'Laila Majnu' story is told in song and dance format as varied genres and range follow one after another to create a collage of boring proceedings on screen. In fact the only high point here is a jig by Vinay Pathak who thoroughly seems to be enjoying a dancing part.

Even though the 'nautanki' choreography here is just about ok and the story telling plain average, you are forced to witness some really hammy scenes featuring couples discovering love for each other, goons turning moist eyed, hearts changing and every other cliché that is the hallmark for a film that should not work. Sorry Jaideep (Sahni), one expects nothing less from the writer of CHAK DE INDIA, COMPANY and KHOSLA KA GHOSLA!

This bring us to the USP of the film - Madhuri Dixit. Does her comeback work? Well, not quite. She is fine with her act (good) and dance (very good) but the film fails her completely. First and foremost on paper itself the subject line doesn't excite. And the final nail in the coffin is the execution which is only marginally better than YRF's last no-show LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG.

But can one blame the audience? Certainly not. "Ok, so we have sold enough of NRI dreams so let's bring on a story about a small town and it's 'sadiyon purana' theater which is turning into a 'khandhar" - folks at Yash Raj Films must have thought. Errr, but with a subject like this which is offbeat for sure, won't it have helped to sprinkle it with enough masala (could have been either drama, comedy or sheer feel good factor - something which YRF has taught to many bigwigs as well as newbie film makers)?

Sadly, this is where the film fails the second time around since if just the subject by itself was not enough, the treatment is absolute letdown. And treatment by the way includes everything from storytelling to performances to music placement. The film plain and simple bores which results in the feeling of complete indifference, as mentioned above.