Maya

I had to laugh when I saw this in the adult section of a movie catalog. It is definitely an older movie. The soundtrack isn't very good, and can be rather slow, but that's not the selling point. There are two bed scenes with Shahrukh Khan in them. KANK is the only other movie that has a bed scene in it. Maya is about tormented soul who can't seem to say no to the men who enter her life and will give her the attention she craves for their own benefits in return. Shahrukh Khan's character is the most interesting in the movie. He's very young in the film, and his youthfulness shows. He makes the film what it is. Without his character, the film wouldn't be anything. It's worth watching once. He's very creative in an uncreative set. My favorite scene is when his character is playing with Maya in the wet snow. He makes the unbelievable believable.

This movie was a journey - either perfectly paced for its themes, or incredibly slow for some of its audience

i choose the latter, the movie has not been made to be for the masses, but made to gain critical praise

Maya Memsaab is tormented by her search for non-fleeting, unconditional love, perhaps to distract her from her own lost and wandering thoughts

very universal themes made in the Indian sense, with similarities to such classics as Lekin or Rudaali, sharing the combined force of the Mangeshkar siblings and Gulzar, and now-stalwart actors when they were starting out

An art-house movie which lived up to what i had heard and expected

Acclaimed director Ketan Mehta's desi adaptation of Madame Bovary completed twenty seven years this month. It was on a rainy day of 1993, July 14th to be precise, when I had ventured to a nearby theatre to catch this movie.

Mehta's wife Deepa Sahi played the titular role of Maya, a small town lady, who seeks true love and ends up having extra marital affairs only to get heartbroken in the end.

A young Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) played one of Maya's lovers and the film became quite controversial for his sex scene with Deepa Sahi. Expectedly, the Indian censors imposed several cuts which delayed the film. Moreover, the final theatrical version didnt have this much discussed scene which disappointed the audience.

Maya Memsaab had an awesome score by Hridaynath Mangeshkar with "Ek Haseen Nigah ka" and "O Dil Banjaare" topping the music charts that time. Technically, it is one of best films of those times shot in natural light in scenic locales of Simla.

Ketan Mehta's direction was competent like his earlier works (Mirch Masala and Sardar to name a few). Deepa Sahi looked beautiful as Maya and won the National award for her brilliant performance. SRK left mighty impression even in a small role. This was one of his earlier films and he was still two years away from turning superstar with 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' (1995).

Overall, Maya Memsaab was a good retelling of the classic novel Madame Bovary with some brilliant performances and outstanding music. Unfortunately, the film got bogged by the nude scene controversy and audience didn't see it the way it was intended to. Underrated classic I would say...

An ingenious but not entirely successful translation of Flaubert's classic novel to contemporary India. A nice idea, but it doesn't capture much of the sense of the original. Maya is shown as fey rather than bored and it's difficult to see this Madame Bovary as a doomed temptress. If you've read the original and are prepared to stick with it, it's not bad, but it's definitely on the slow side and on the whole you wonder why they bothered.

I did not! But that does not at all make the movie bad. The start is wonderful, the scenes of poetic romance etc. are mesmerising. Photography overall is also great. But there is more to who killed Maya.

The story goes on as Maya dies and detectives try to unfold how that happens. It turns out that she had a husband and many lovers. The interesting bit is she wanted love, period. She wanted real love, a love that does not see anything else than love, it is pure, serene. She saw her husband put practicality in front of love and got disillusioned from him, tried many other lovers but all were real people, with real, natural earthly issues, they couldn't give her unconditional love.

I don't know what to say next, you have to see the movie and feel, but if you get an answer to what exactly the director's saying do let me know as well. But its surely one of those movies, which one doesn't understand as to what happened, but feels good about, in the end.