Guzaarish Review

'Guzaarish' is a Hindi feature film produced under the banner of SLB Films. Its producers are Ronnie Screwala and Sanjay Leela Bhanshali. In recent years or months a couple of films were released based on the disabilities of the central characters which gained lots of recognition and some of the films did well at the box office. To name a few films in this category are: 'Paa; (Auro-Amitabh Bachchan, suffering with Progeria), 'Tare Zameen Par' (A child suffering from Dyslexia (A mental disorder), 'Ghajini' (Aamir Khan suffering from Anterogra Amnesia also known as short term memory loss), 'My Name is Khan' (Shah Rukh Khan suffering from Asperger Syndrome) etc. In the film 'Guzaarish' too the protagonist suffers from Paraplegia.

Cast and Crew: Hritik Roshan, Aishwarya Bachchan (Aishwarya Roy), Aditya Roy Kapoor, Monikangana Dutta are the main casts of this film. Some other casts of the film are Pralhad Kakkar, Shernaz Patel, Nafisa Ali, Priyanka Bose, Aayam Mehta, Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal, Markand Deshpande etc. The director and the music director of the film is Sanjay Leela Bhanshali. Lyrics of the film have been penned by A.M Turaz and Vibhu Puri. The songs have been sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, Shankar Mahadevan, KK, Kunal Ganjawala, Francois, Harshdeep Kaur, Shail Hada and Rakesh Pandit. Cinematography has been done by Sudeep K. Chatterjee and Tubby and Parik have given the background score.

Story: 'Guzaarish' literally means a request. In this film a person requests the law of our country to allow him to die. What can be the reason behind any person who requests court to allow him to die? And in this film none other than the protagonist, the hero Ethan (Hritik Roshan) desires death. What has he done for which he desires death?

Well, he has done nothing. But surely fate has done something to him which can be said to be very bad. Ethan (Hritik Roshan) was a famous magician around 14 years back. He used to entertain his viewers through his fascinating and charming performance. But unfortunately, in an accident, his spinal cord faced some major injury which affected Ehan's life very much. He became paralyzed. The part below his waist got paralyzed completely. He could not even move himself without the help of others. Though all his well wishers had sympathy with his condition yet he found his life too miserable to live.

Presently Ethan is a Radio Jockey in Goa for the show Radio Zindgi. He makes his audiences smile, laugh and solves their problems via radio guidance. He inspires them to live happily; fight and face all the problems in their lives. How ironical it is that the person who motivates others to live wants himself to die; how contradictory it is that the person who presents a show called Radio Zindgi wants to end his own Zindgi (life)!

Sophia (Aishwarya Roy) is a nurse who takes care of Ethan. But there isn't just nurse and patient relationship between them. There is love relation between them which is silent. Sophia is attracted towards him and loves him.

A time comes when it becomes public that the great magician of his time has appealed to the court to grant him permission to die. Ethan seeks permission for euthanasia.

Meanwhile Omar (Aditya Roy Kaoppr) enters into their life. He wants to learn magic from Ethan. Ethan starts teaching teaches him all his tricks but there is something which is abnormal in that student. Something which makes a big twist in Ethan's life!

What is the intention of his student? What happens to Ethan? Is he killed or allowed to kill himself or the result is something different? These are the questions which are answered in the rest of the film.

Performance: Hritik has performed brilliantly. He has proved that he is one of the finest actors in Bollywood. He has proved that he is as good in his acting department as he is in dancing department.

Aishwarya Roy is as good as ever. Apart from her excellent performance, she also looks gorgeous. It seems to be very good chemistry between Hritik Roshan & Aishwarya Roy.  This is the 3rd film in which Aishwarya worked with Sanjay Leela Bhanshali. Her earlier two films with Sanjay were 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' and 'Devdas'. Coincidently this is also Aishwarys's 3rd film with Hritik Roshan; 'Dhoom 2' as the 1st one and 'Jodha Akbar' as the 2nd one.

Music: Music of the film is average, even though it is given by the director of the film.

Script: Script of the film is okay. Since this film is inspired by the Hollywood film 'The Prestige' the writer got good scope to write well. Characters are well defined.

Direction: Direction of the film is good. Sanjay had made his actors to deliver their best performances. Hover, he could not get proper diction from them (since the back drop of the film is Goa; he could not succeed his actors to talk like Goans). Also you won't be able to digest Aishwarya smoking openly.

Conclusion: Sanjay Leela Bhanshali is expert in making films on disabilities. In the past he had made 'Black' on a blind girl and Amitabh Bachchan in it which was a heart touching film. In 'Khamoshi � The Musical' also his characters had some disabilities. Except 'Saawariya', almost all the films of Sanjay were hit or semi hit. 'Guzaarish' lacks entertainment so it may not earn expected revenue at the box office. However, it's a good and meaningful film and for all.

Verdict: Worth watching!