Review : Silsiilay

Khalid Mohammed brings to the screen another story of strong women, and their lives and struggles. The film unfolds episodic fashion, with a narrator (Sharukh Khan in a small, comedic (??) cameo). Other than that there is no coherence or tie-up between the 3 female protagnists. Yes, there is a split-second meeting-together of the three at the end, but that doesn’t realy add meaning to the film or the script.The 3 stories in order of appearance, are of :

1. A film-actress Zia (Chawla), and her splitting up with her boyfriend Neil (Bose). Neil has hitched up with another woman Nandita (Priya Badlani), because he doesn’t agree to Zia’s demand of a baby out of wedlock. But since Zia doesn’t have what she wants, she isn’t done with him yet.

2. A secretary Anushka (Sen) in love with slimy womanizer Nikhil (Asmit Patel), and loved by her boss Tarun (Shergill).

3. Rehana, the second wife of businessman Anwar (Menon). Anwar is having an affair with airhostess Preeti (Jaitley), while Anwar’s son (from his 1st wife) Inayat (Karan Panthaky) secretly lusts for Rehana.

The stories end when the women extricate themselves from their difficulties, and supposedly “find” themselves. However, story #1, and #2 were weak, with Zia’s character needing more development and depth, while Anushka’s reasons and decisions were unexplained and too vague to garner viewer sympathy. Ms. Sen, looks good, but does not do well in a scenario where acting is required. The 3rd story stands strong because of competent acting by all involved (Tabu, Menon and Panthaky). Bhumika Chawla, acts well enough, but her character does not leave the impression it could have, due to poor character development. Rahul Bose as the boyfriend, is adequate, as is Badlani. Jimmy Shergill, as knight-in-shining-armor Tarun, has a small-role, and is good at projecting an honest, nice-guy persona.

Although Kalid Mohammed attempts to do something novel, his production lacks coherence, and a strong tie linking the 3 stories. The film could have been split into 3 separate plays, without any loss of effect. All through the film, I kept waiting for some profound truth to come crashing out on screen, but none did. I waited for links to tie the three women, to make them sisters in similar predicaments, but none appeared. A film which could have sizzled with passion and feeling, could have been a much-awaited, glorious jaunt into modern-day, urban sisterhood, instead appeared enigmatic and upper-class, redeeming itself only in the end, with Rehana’s middle-class naivete.

This is a film in the right direction, because we do need films, which potray women asserting their right to live life on their own terms. However, more research, and detail and development will help considerably. All in all, a good effort – watchable.