The Last Leaf- Unflinchingly!. Review on Lootera

“You Hate me, that’s your right and I will never ask you not to do so- But you don’t deserve this Life where you are just fading away everyday, and I promise you that, that Last Leaf is never going to fall”

Did O’Henry ever imagine in his entire Life-that his soul-touching saga will ever be adapted in this way! That Hope which Binds Two Strangers- One Fugitive and Other a Common Girl with an Ailment. He has an Agenda and she has None. He knows his ambitions clearly- “of painting a masterpiece, living the goals of his mentor and never doing the mistake of falling in Love”, She has no such ambitions. With their different backgrounds, upbringing and the only thing common among them is a Poetry which they recite together. He goes Away-Unwillingly, She doesn’t-Willingly. He takes away everything she had- the Trust, The Belief and the Hopeless Love. Seasons later and Costing Few Lives they meet again, this time to Fall Back in Love strongly or to Realize that they never stopped loving each other, albeit with a difference

This time She’s Dying and and He’s a Marked Man..

In this present world where slowly this Belief is rooting in the Minds that “Love is a Cliché” – Lootera is an Offering from the World of Hope, Alive Dreams or must say “Mustak’bill Khwahishen”. The Characters of Varun and Paakhi are not of that of a Superhero or a Larger than life Dream-Girl. With their temper outbursts, angst and the bitterness of being ditched, Paakhi is what a normal Girl is. The times when she mulls over the same fact again and again “Usne mere saath aisa kyun kiya”, runs and re-runs the scene in her mind, she’s every bit a woman scorned. Varun with his multiple names and identities accepts the Grey areas of his life (symbolizing the Grey sweater which he donnes in the second half)- but with a Crystal Clear fact that He knows this time He cannot leave her to Die.

And Then He Paints His Masterpiece..

Sonakshi Sinha is soothing and picture-perfect in the first half of the flick, with very Bengali style cotton and lace lined blouses, Crochet kurtis and gold jhumki. A little amiss is the fact that the accent carries no Bengali or for that matter the dialogues have any trace of Bangla. She acts every bit a pampered daughter of a Zamindaar , but never in a loud way. Second half sans the makeup and an ailment the dark-circles under the eyes bearing the brunt-of-fate-lass cannot be called one anymore! Ranveer Singh is not the Guy you know from earlier movies- the loud character of Ricky Bahal and Band Baaja Baraat, is a very charming, soft-spoken and clean-shaven Bedouin of this Picturesque Story. In certain instances, the viewer connects with him as he acts very much Male of being tight-lipped about his Emotions. The second half sees him more Vocal, with a stub and every bit adamant as to what he wants.

The Story travels from a smaller village of Bengal to a very scenic Dalhousie- as one of the Trivia stated that the Crew actually travelled miles away from Dalhousie to capture the heart of the Snowfall. The silences and the spaces of the Protagonists are filled by beautiful Music creations of duo Amit Trivedi-Amitabh Bhattacharya, as a very respected Co-writer rightfully suggested that this duo is the blessing which has happened to Music industry recently. Swanand Kirkire also lends his voice for a Song “Monta Re”, while “Shikaayetein” stays my personal favorite, it was the picturisation of  “Zinda” that left moisture in my eyes.

Vikramaditya Motwane has taken a Huge Risk- for Reasons best known that to Paint a Masterpiece there are Very few who shall empathise with the Toil, Honesty and all that Blood-Sweat it takes! Audience might reject it as “Too-dreamy”, to me its beyond “Thousand Words”.

The “Magnum Opus” of Love!