Guzaarish: What I think of it

Guzaarish (which means "A request" in Urdu) is the latest Bollywood film by the acclaimed director Sanjay Leela Bhansali who has given us brilliant pieces such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Black, and Devdas. Guzaarish comprises of a stellar cast with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan as the leading characters.

The story is set in Goa, where Ethan Mascarenhas' (Hrithik Roshan) story revolves. Ethan, once the world's best magician, is now a quadriplegic who has been living in that condition for the last 14 years. All this time, Sofia (Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan) has been taking care of him as his nurse. Ethan has a few other people frequenting him, such as Divyani (Shernaz Patel) who is Ethan's best friend and also his lawyer, and Dr. Nayak (Suhel Seth) who is Ethan's neurologist.

The film begins by showing a typical day in Ethan's life - how he needs to be brushed, cleansed and changed by Sofia. It then moves on to show Ethan's radio programme called "Radio Zindagi" where he speaks to his listeners and inspires them to live, as life is so beautiful. A brief time in to the film and Ethan requests Divyani, his lawyer friend, to file a petition on his behalf for euthanasia, or mercy killing, since he has had enough of living with the help of machines. After some convincing, Divyani agrees and files the petition which they lose. At about this time, in comes Omar Siddique (Aditya Roy Kapur) who pleads Ethan to teach him his famous magic tricks. It takes Ethan some convincing, even though Sofia shows her disapproval very openly all the while, and Omar starts to stay with Ethan and starts to learn the magic of Ethan. In the meanwhile, after losing the first petition, Ethan tries to garner public support through his radio programme and calls it "Project Ethan-asia". There are mixed responses from his listeners, where most of them urge him to live on. However, some of them understand his condition and stand by him. What happens after that - does Ethan get his guzaarish, or does he have to live in a way he doesn't want to?  How does his guzaarish affect the people around him, especially Sofia? That is, in short, the gist of the film.

Guzaarish is a typical Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie - the warmth of the scenes are riveting. The cinematography is brilliant where each shot is exquisitely crafted with artistic perfection. The actors have done justice to their roles, and Aishwarya is exquisite. Only thing I found a bit odd about her character was the really red lipstick she would have on most of the time - maybe it was to contrast the dark background of the shots, but personally, I thought that bit was slightly overdone. Hrithik is brilliant as Ethan Mascarenhas. The way he shows strength in his suffering, the way he humorously takes everything in his stride - it is just commendable. Probably one of Hrithik's finest performances till date, I think. He is the one for whom you should watch this film. Aditya Roy Kapur in just his second Bollywood film (he debuted in Action Replayyy in the same month!) is quite good as the slightly kiddish, slightly irresponsible lad with a heart of gold. Nafisa Ali, who plays Ethan's mother is still as beautiful and, although she has a very short performance, exceeds herself.

I haven't written a movie review in over a year but this was one movie which I couldn't resist writing about.  I would give Guzaarish 4 out of 5 stars, and one of those stars is solely for Hrithik's stellar performance.

This film is a journey of how a man, who once had the world at his feet, now only has his mind under his control. It brilliantly depicts the anger, the frustration, the strength, the little joys in that man's life. Guzaarish is a ride which you should not miss. If you've read this far, then my guzaarish to you would be to just go and watch this film. It is truly a piece of art.