Parineeta Reconsidered

As I was telling my husband about Parineeta - that it was a same-old same-old love story that's very well done - he picked up on something in my tone of voice, I guess, and insisted I had really liked it but wasn't admitting it.

I hate to say it, but he was right. I find myself thinking back on the little things that were beautifully done, the big things that were subtly conveyed, and I find I like this movie, really, quite a lot.

When the source material for a movie is a literary classic, there's a ready-made bedrock of internal unity and external finesse to build on, and given Saratchandra Chatterjee's play, Pradeep Sarkar, the director, does build on it. Sure, the plot is one that has been overdone in Bollywood. Shekhar, a rich, bratty young man and his childhood friend Lolita are in love with each other without knowing it. Enter rival love interests - Lolita's older benefactor Girish and rich heiress Gayatri Tantia - complications are already setting in. Throw in an avaricous businessman as Shekhar's controlling father, money problems for Lolita's family, a few giggling siblings here, a sultry special appearance by Rekha there, and you have the whole story. But I have begun to look beyond the obvious irritants in this bare-bones plot (greedy capitalist dad as the villain, I ask you?). In the telling of any story, execution is everything, and here it is quite marvellous.

The important things are all conveyed with great restraint and style rather than the clobber-over-the-head style of most Bollywood fare. The rivalry between Girish and Shekhar is never a shouting match cum tug-of-war with Lolita as rope... instead, it is amply communicated in Shekhar's light rebuke of Girish for serving cold rotis. The nearly wordless love scene between Shekhar and Lolita is the entire statement of their devotion to each other. Shekhar is freely irrational when emotional, as real people often are. No textbooks hero there. Lolita's only acknowledgement of her jealousy over Gayatri Tantia is to repeat Shekhar's father's dictum, I won't waste time on an unprofitable venture. No passionate entreaties, no wringing hands, no teary-eyed damsel in distress, and you've got to admire this movie for that. The only exception came in the end, when Shekhar physically breaks down the brick wall separating him from Lolita. What pushes this scene over the edge into cheap melodrama is the wedding party around him, which turns into a cheering squad: Break it down, Shekhar, break it down! But that was five minutes. In the larger balance, it doesn't upset things too much.

The sountrack, like everything else in the movie, is elaborate but nicely understated. If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, let me put it this way: the music is lavish and very sweet, but it is used as merely a setting for the characters, rather than the other way around. I really like Soona Man Ka Aangan, and the breathy eroticism of Hui Mai Parineeta.

It was easy to look at Parineeta with a critical eye at first, and dismiss it for its flaws. I'm sure the parenthetical narration by Amitabh Bachchhan had a little to do with it, as did the superfluousness of many characters (I hate it when the law of economy of characters isn't observed). But really, it's a sweet tale, beautifully told. The actors - Saif in particular - were brilliant, never allowing their star personas inhibit their portrayal of the character. The direction is great, the sets superb. I don't know what I was complaining about before.