Saathiya

Shaad Ali's Saathiya is one of the best films of 2002. Everything about it -- from the story line, the cinematography, locations, emotions, performances to A.R. Rahman's beautiful soundtrack -- makes it a worthy film. The film marks the directorial debut of Shaad Ali, and it shows he has not gone far from his father (the great Muzaffar Ali) in terms of talent and imagination. He extracts good performances from his actors, he has a sense and understanding of emotion and clearly has a knack for capturing the complexity of marriage and relationships, which are infused with impressive lifelike sensibility in this film. Basically the story's success boils down to the fact that Ali portrays it with authenticity. This is a fantastic directorial debut (although he would ruin that image in his future projects BAB and JBJ). Rani Mukherjee is the main highlight of the show, the soul of the entire film. This is her career-best performance. She is simply flawless in every single scene - beautiful, vibrant, natural and convincing. Vivek Oberoi is a talented actor and acts very well, though he is not as good as his female costar. He does have to work on the more emotional expressions, but otherwise gives a complete performance. Gulzar and A.R. Rahman give life to the film with a superb list of songs, each of which is a gem. My favourite songs include "Saathiya", "Aye Udi Udi", "Chhalka Chhalka Re", "Chupke Se" and "O Humdum Soniyo Re". To sum it up, Saathiya is a very impressive, entertaining and realistic picture on relationships and marriage. I highly recommend you to see it.

Saathiya is a romantic drama film directed by Shaad Ali. The film stars Rani Mukerji and Vivek Oberoi with Tanuja, Sharat Saxena, Sandhya Mridul, Satish Shah, Swaroop Sampat in the supporting roles and Cameos by Shahrukh Khan and Tabu.

Aditya and Suhani runs away and get married as they weren't supported by their parents. However, cracks soon begin to develop in their fairy-tale romance.

There is no doubt that Hindi film industry specially big giants like Yashraj films and Dharma production has a long obsession with romantic films and they have even gave some of the memorable films to Hindi cinema such as Kabhi Kabhie, Silsila, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Veer Zaara from Yashraj films with Kuch Kuch Hota hai, Kal Ho Na Ho from Dharma prodution and in 2002 Yashraj Films comes with another romantic film Saathiya which might not be in the league in these class films but still has a cult following and often considered as one of the good romantic films if not best.

The good or bad with any romantic film is that the films are very predictable and almost all the films have happy ending as none of the film maker wants to take risks by trying any unconventional method of film making in this genre and Saathiya is no exception. The film has some good twists and turns but soon gets into the conventional method of film making and will surely be liked by the set of viewers who likes romantic films but for the rest this will be other predictable cliched drama.

The screenplay of the film is good with a superb climax but the end of the film might pinch to few of the viewers as though the film ends on a happy note but ends abruptly and off course we would've loved to see Shahrukh and Tabu little more on screen.

The acting in the film is top notch and all the characters were superb with Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukerji the most impressive of them all. Vivek Oberoi is one of the most underutilized talent of Indian Cinema and the true lovers of Hindi cinema will never forgive Salman Khan for ruining the career of this supremely talented actor. Supporting cast like Sandhya Mridul, Satish Shah, Sharat Saxena, Tanuja and Swaroop Sampat were also very impressive.

Music and BGM were good. The title track of the film along with Chalka Re, Aye Udi Udi Udi and O Humdun Suniyo re are treat for ears. Thanks to the music maestro A. R. Rahman for such mind blowing music and the wizard with pen Gulzar Sahab for such mesmerizing lyrics.

For the typical romantic films fan they will surely like the film but for the others this will be another one time watch predictable film.

All same old stuff...love love and hell lot of songs.. Pata nahi kab sudhrenge yeh loooooog.. Now a days all the love stories are the remake of the movies from south india.

Yes, the film is almost like any other hindi film and yes its unbelievable how far better it is, than any of its contenders. A fabulous love story of a boy and a girl who marry each other against the wishes of their parents and society, 'Saathiya' shows the human side of love, stressing on the problems human beings deal with and work through in order to maintain a relationship.

The songs are amazing and their picturization magnificent. The movie has good doses of fun, emotion and tragedy. Rani Mukherjee looks ravishing and will take your breath away, she almost looks and acts like the perfect wife for any young man. Vivek Oberoi, who is very clearly the find of 2002 as far as the Hindi Film industry is concerned, turns in another great performance, he is absolutely flawless in the film, portraying the many emotional facets of his character 'Aditya Sehgal', with an almost unrecognizable ease. Shaad Ali puts in a fantastic effort for his first film, picking the perfect actors with the perfect locales to create a near perfect film. I cannot yet comment on the replayability of this film as I have only seen it once, but it is almost a surity that the movie would be as good on the second watch. A 10/10 film, and a must watch.

Very simple love story, but shown in an angle that makes it interesting and definitely worth watching. And it has great music. The singers and musci director, AR Rehman, all do a great job. The choreography is also great. Most of the songs are well-placed in the film...probably apart from the Chori Pe chori one. It's got the high quality you would expect from Yash Raj, and the sweet simplicity of Mani Ratnam... Definitely worth a watch.