Madhoshi

I ignored this movie like a rash when it came out. We were not in the mood in late teens / early 20s to watch such concepts. But now when I watch this in my 30s it is actually good. You can understand the characters and why people do what they do. Good acting by everyone but wish the songs were better. Overall I just watch for John and Bips. Miss them as onscreen pair.

Bipasu plays a dominant role in this movie, who is badly affected by 9/11 incident as he her sister and her sister's husband become victims. Years later Bipasu is mentally affected with illusions which makes her to break her engagement.

Bipasha is most definitely the scene stealer in this movie. Yet to adorn the conventional role, she plays a way out-of-the-ordinary character that demands as much of her as Bhoot demanded from Urmila. Now I don't know if Bipasha did as good as a job as Urmila, but it was pretty darn close. The story is excellent. There are a couple parallels between this film and "A Beautiful Mind" in that the protagonist's condition is the same and the ending is very similar. However, I feel that the similarities end there. John Abraham was OK. Priyanshu wasn't impressive. Music was pretty okay; the title track was good. The film does a great job of maintaining the suspense and shocking the audience with sudden twists and turns in the plot.

The story and concept is very realistic. Movie shows the impact of the past and current actions. Scenes like duplicate people are unrealistic, has become norm during the era, but emotional movie.

It is said that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. This must be why the Hindi film industry is known as Bollywood because it regularly turns towards Hollywood for inspiration. Is there any doubt that films such as Baazigar, Murder, Deewangee, Dharmatma and Chachi 420, to name just a handful, are reminiscent, to put it kindly, of Hollywood favorites. But we must give credit where credit is due. You see Bollywood never copies a Hollywood movie straight up; it always adds it's own brand of 'masala' and 'gana bajana'. Madhoshi is no exception!

The creative team in this case took "A Beautiful Mind" - and a neat gimmick out of "Face/Off" - and transformed it into a darn good modern Bollywood saga that is entertaining with enough twists and turns to keep one interested from beginning to end. Bipasha Basu gives a good performance in the title role of Anupama with strong support from Priyanshu Chatterjee and John Abraham. The musical score is entertaining as well, especially the playback singing. Also, there is a reference to a recent catastrophic event that is ingenious in conception but amateurish in execution.

If you are looking for a Bollywood movie that is a bit out of the ordinary, Madhoshi is definitely a good pick. Now I'm just waiting for a Bollywood filmmaker to adopt "Scent of a Woman". If there was ever a Hollywood movie tailor made for Bollywoodization, this is it. I see Amitabh Bachchan in the title role. The only question is what car showroom he'll end up at. Hoowah!

PS - If "Scent of a Woman" has already been Bollywoodized, do let me know!