Lakshya

Enjoyable, good story, well told. Farhan Akhtar has done it again, after his first movie Dil Chahta Hai.

Hrithik Roshan's character grows up from being a confused young lad to a man with a mission. Shades of An Officer and a Gentleman, Guns of Navarone, and a little of Saving Private Ryan.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have created more of their world music, and it rocks. The first two songs were fabulous; the other songs should be skipped, I thought.

As in Dil Chahta Hai, the parents are all ultra-supportive. They also dress and decorate in expensive nouveau handlooms, rattan furniture, slip covers, etc. Boston Brahmin did a good review.

Very nice and straightforward; none of the Hindu Family Values reactionary material that Bollywood routinely churns out.

I found Lakshya to be a refreshing step up in the quality of Indian films. It depicted courage, loyalty and other exemplary values in an interesting storyline. The musical song-dance numbers were well done, and the background musical scores were also emotive. I found the cinematography really stood out in this movie as above par, showing off the scenic landscape of the mountainous Kargil region.

Regarding krishnam's commentary, I really have to disagree. Firstly, it's silly and petulant to single out this movie for such criticisms while ignoring the glaring errors and inaccuracies typical of most other Indian movies. I feel it should be judged relative to Indian cinema in general, although it could even compare favorably with various Hollywood hits.

I thought the director, composers and cast did a very good job, and hope this film becomes a benchmark for future Bollywood creations to be measured against.

Lakshya is a very well made war, coming of age movie, which can compete with anything from the west.

I personally, feel it ends two debates, other than the fact that it establishes Hrithik as the ultra star-great actor mould (la Kamal Hassan),

a) Farhan Akhtar is the talent to watch for, A Mani Ratnam in the making for Hindi Cinema

b) Prabhu Deva can hand over mantel of the best ever dancer on screen to Hrithik Roshan (you have to see to believe what happens on the screen in the song "Main Asia kyun hoon", which Prabhu Deva himself has choreographed).

Just go and enjoy, this wonderful clean entertainer, which has great music and cinematography to complement the performances from the actors, and the skillful direction of Farhan Akhtar

Badri

Farhan Akthar has to live upto his debut 'Dil Chahta Hain' - a feat which will be difficult to match. FA will carry the DCH label forever, much like Ramesh Sippy was labeled with the Sholay tag. Comparing Lakshya with DCH is inevitable. And FA does score in many places. The story is quite simple. The setting is in late 1990s - just prior to the infamous Kargil. Roshan is Karan Shergill, the younger sibling in a well to do Delhi business family. Karan is a happy-go-lucky naive kid who has nothing to worry about in his life. His lady love, Romila Gutta aka Romy (Zinta), on the other hand, is a career minded young lady who has a clear idea what to do with her life. When placed at crossroads when all his friends are deciding about their future career prospects, Karan is influenced by one of his friends' decision and plans to join the Army. And to his own surprise finds himself in the Army training school. However, this sudden transition from his Bohemian lifestyle to army life proves to be more than he can handle and he quits the course. However, Karan realises that things will never be the same again with Romy, who clearly sees him as a quitter, a loser with no ambitions, no goals(That's Lakshya in Hindi) in life. Hurt and dejected, Karan joins the Army training again and comes out as a hard-boiled Lieutenent.

Karan is posted in the volatile Dras sector, Kashmir. Here meets the stiff, focused Col. Damle (Mr. Bachchan) and his troops who make Karan realize that his Lakshya is to serve the country. Before long, there is a war brewing in the mountains, with Pakistani insurgents blocking out the supplies to various army bases high up in the mountains. Karan suddenly finds himself responsible for his country's safety and plays a key role in winning the battle against the intruders. His Lakshya is met. Technically, the film is brilliant. One of the first army movies made in Bollywood without an overdose of jingoism. German cinematographer Christopher Popp captures the night war sequences beautifully. The natural beauty of the rugged Ladakh has been brought to the screen in its whole. FA is a fine eye for the minor details, e.g., the name plates on the vehicles are in white letters written on black boards, like they were prior to 2001-2. The tense screens between Roshan and his father (played by the inimitable Boman Irani) are excellent. The film was conceived very very well. However, since nothing is perfect, no review is complete without some criticism. Lakshya has its faults - and most of these are because we had expected otherwise from the director of DCH. For one, there is not much of a script, so people watching for killing time will be bored. Unlike most war/army movies, this is more of a drama. Unlike DCH, we hardly have a light-hearted moment in the movie. Javed Akthar has returned to script writing after a long gap BUT I had expected more. Second, there are too many characters. Many actors in "special appearances" prove to be more distractions than integral elements of the story. Amitabh has his moments, but Om Puri, Lillette Dubey and Shushant have been wasted. At points, we feel that FA had a hard time to decide whether to keep pop-patriotism away from the movie. Songs distract and do not fit in the script, unlike DCH. My rating - 6.5/10 - for the sincerity with which the movie was made, for FA's dedication to his work, and for Hritik Roshan's performance.

The movie is all about having a LAKSHYA (aim) in our lives. It would'nt be inappropriate at all to comment that this film in one way points out at today's indecisive youth who are not clear about what they are going to do of their lives, and change their focus every now and then.

The story is about Karan (Hrithik Roshan) who is very talented but utterly confused about his future. Rather his girlfriend Romila (Preity Zinta) has since the very beginning ambition of being a news channel correspondent. Karan's indecisiveness widens the gap between him and his father (Boman Irani) who expects nothing from his son and the same thing ultimately results in his breakup with Romila too. This changes Karan's life and he gets determined of getting in the army and passes out from the IMA (Indian Military Academy) with a very enviable record. At the same time Romila too becomes a successful news channel correspondent. But both of them don't know what their futures has in store for them. They meet again after the turmoil in Romila's life from a broken engagement and this time the backdrop is the picturesque Kashmir valley and the event being the Kargil war. Karan has been deputed there as an army officer and Preity comes for a live coverage of the war. The story now flows ahead with the attempt of Indian forces to get back peak no.5179 from the Pakistani forces and the intersection of Karan's and Romila's lives at many instances acting as the currents. The ending is predictable but yet you would love to watch it.

The movie is yet another masterpiece from Farhan Akhtar,the Director after the tremendous success of "Dil Chahta Hai". This is also yet another testimony of Javed Akhtar's writing prowess. The lyrics and dialogues are superb. Moreover the choreography (Prabhu Deva) and photography (Christopher Popp) are worthy of praises. Hrithik Roshan gives another flawless performance after "Koi Mil Gaya". Another attraction is Colonel Sunil Damle (Amitabh Bachchan). Amitabh Bachchan gives those dialogues a beauty and charm which is so characteristic to himself. Preity Zinta is good in her role too. You can't pinpoint anybody or anything specifically as that would diminish other's efforts as all of them have performed commendably. The backdrop of Kashmir valley and the Himalayas has been so beautifully captured in the frame. Also the war scenes look so much authentic which is very tough job to do. The running time of the film is above 3 hours but you can't realize that ( you can't help it as you get fully engrossed in the film.....). Hrithik's dancing skills are unveiled so beautifully yet again. He can easily claim to have a rubber body--so flexible,so much in tune with the rhythm. Good music from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio once again. Actually i could'nt think of any flaw in the movie as every aspect has been given it's due attention.

I would claim it to be a must watch movie and rate it a hefty 8.5/10