Kajraare

The director Pooja Bhatt had done some good films in the past, be it her previous flick 'Dhokha', or her debut film 'Paap'. But, Pooja Bhatt was often termed as an offbeat director. So, since the day the news of her doing a film with Himesh, the buzz was that she would be doing a fully commercial masala movie this time. Also, the hopes were high, as Mahesh Bhatt is the writer. So, the fans of Himesh Reshammiya, including me, didn't lose hope even after the box-office failures of Karzzzz and Radio. Everybody hoped that Kajraare will be a breakthrough for Himesh. The hopes were not shattered even after the release of the first promo and the Official Soundtrack of the movie. The songs looked quite innovative and good.

But, the sequences of mismashes started then. Bhushan Kumar indefinitely delaying the film, stopping the promos and songs of the film to be aired in TV, and we, the fans were disappointed. Still, we had hope, and I remember we used to send lot of mails to T-series asking about Kajraare. Let me also say that we never got any reply for any of our mails. And then, one day we come to know that the film got released in 2 theatres, that also 1 show each. I was so sad on this, that I couldn't even do my job properly that day. All our expectations were let down by this Bhushan Kumar. What all we thought, the movie will be good, and it will be a slap on the faces of the people who says Himesh is useless. We expected critics giving the movie ratings of 3.5 or 4, saying "Himesh has improved a lot in acting, and it is one of the main highlights of the film ,along with an engaging screenplay, soothing music and stunning locations", but nothing happened, no critic bothered to watch it and write a review.

The only hope left was it to be aired in some TV channel, and we expected it to be shown in TV for Diwali. Thank God, at least our expectations were right this time. Tata Sky and Airtel DTH started showing the movie from Diwali day. The DTH rips were out the next day, so everybody finally got a chance to watch Kajraare, at least on small screen.

Well, the movie started with Mahesh Bhatt's narration, and the titles were shown. The name of Bhushan Kumar was mentioned nowhere, no credits were given to the Producer. The credits show Himesh walking here and there, through desert and such things, and from the lyrics, he is in search of somebody ,presumably his 'Mahiya' (Lover). But why this desert and all? No answer. And, then the heroine's introduction, it is quite confusing. After this song 'Rabba Luck Barsa' only Himesh meets the heroine, then who is his 'Mahiya' in that song?? Any previous affair?? And, later we come to know that this Himesh can't live in India, so he travelled to some other country ,I think Dubai. Now, I come to know what was shown in the first song. Yes, he was walking to Dubai from India, I guess!!! Later, the song 'Kajraare' follows, and the song doesn't match the situation, especially the female rap portion by Sunidhi Chauhan. Had it been an unplugged solo version of that song, the impact would have been excellent.

There is an implicit rule that Himesh Reshammiya's films should have songs in a gap of 8-10 minutes. The same pattern has been followed from his first movie AKS, to Kajraare. The songs are, however good. The first half proceeds in songs and meetings with the heroine, and a disturbing dream from his past. While watching the movie, I didn't feel that I'm watching a 2010 movie. It looked somewhat old, the script and all were like that.

Later, in the proceedings of the movie, the flashback and the reason for Himesh running away from his identity are revealed, and they don't look so convincing. Seems the director did that in a hurry, that it ended up in just one scene. There are few beautiful scenes individually, but on the whole it doesn't make much of an impact.

Himesh Reshammiya had shown a refreshing performance in his previous film Radio. But again in Kajraare, he is not upto the mark. His expressions are not that strong, but I like his dialogue delivery. It is good. This guy is simply wasting his career by sticking into his policies, but let us not lose hope, and wait for his next album to come out. But I advise, stick to composing and singing, Himeshji.. Please..

The new girl Mona Laizza has no charm at most of the places. Of course, he character is grey-shaded, but she could have been showcased more beautifully. Acting wise, she has done a confident debut. Hope she gets more roles in future.

The remaining cast includes a cold-faced Amrita Singh, who maintains the same expressions throughout the movie, Jaaved Sheikh who has nothing much to do other than begging 'maaro mujhe, maaro mujhe', and Gulshan Grover who does a typical clichéd character. The villain character played by Adnan Shah was fine, in my opinion. The rest of the cast was okay.

The film boasted of great visuals, but nothing so great was found in real. The locations of Jordan and all looked nothing extra ordinary.

The music is the main highlight of the movie, there are few excellent tracks, and the songs are also picturised well, except for 'Kajraare' song.

On the whole, Kajraare doesn't reach my expectations. Mahesh Bhatt has come up with a loose screenplay, and it affected the movie so badly. I really expected this movie would be a tight slap on the face of those haters, but nothing happened.

My rating for the movie would be 3/5 as a Himesh fan, but otherwise it is 2.25/5.