Talaash is the alter ego of OMG

**** Spoilers Galore******

Story:

The story is about 4 characters. Kareena plays a prostitute who has a dalla named Shashi.He has a langda assistant(nawaz) .A film actor named armaan and his two friends , kejriwal and Nikhil.Aamir plays an inspector and rani is his wife.

The film starts with the car accident of armaan . Aamir takes up this case.

There is a side story to aamir which I will mention first.Aamir has lost his son due to an accident leading to both aamir-rani having a depressed life. His son drowns himself while boating.Aamir blames his irresponsiblity for his death.His wife rani doesnt speak much until she meeets shernaz patel who practises blackmagic and claims that she can talk to his son’s aatma.She even gives her a practical demonstration which convinces rani that ghosts/aamta do exist. But aamir doesnt agree.He is an upright well educated policeman and he has seen OMG.This son-track doesn’t seem relevant to the talaash case but later its link is given.

Now the main case is this. Kareena was sent by his dalla Shashi as the gangbang bitch for the pleasure of armaan, kejriwal and Nikhil.When she is making love to Nikhil in car, accidentally the door of the car opens and they both fall down. Nikhil is rushed to hospital by the two guys but kareena is left stranded,wounded due to fear of police case.Kareena dies and becomes a ghost to revenge her death.

She can be seen only by aamir but he doesn’t know this.She assists him in finding each of the people associated to her death and they get killed one by one,sometimes by her act and sometimes situational. The dalla gets killed first bcos he was blackmailing kejirwal for extortion money. Nawaz gets killed later for the same thing by kejriwals henchmen but this incident leads aamir to one of the henchmen as witness. He tells him about kejriwal.Kejriwal tells aamir that kareena was the one who was killed. Aamir is shocked.When they both are travelling in his jeep, kareena appears from nowhere and aamir loses his control. The jeep dives into the sea nearby.Kejriwal is dead but the ghostly kareena saves aamir.Aamir realizes the power of ghosts and starts believing in them. He now has sympathy with his wife rani who was a firm believer in this. That completes the relevance of the son-track.

Acting:

Aamir is in SMJ mode. He has acted quite well in two scenes particularly the scene where he recollects about the death of his son in his car and the one where he imagines the options that he could have used to save his son. Kareena has acted well and she overshadowed aamir in two scenes. One is the lift scene and the other is the scene at the seashore.Rani has very little role and has acted well.

Learnings :

In OMG,akshay taught us that we should not believe in superstitions.In talaash,aamir teaches us to start believing in ghosts.

Tags:
63 Comments
  1. Ritz 11 years ago

    Basically being a atheist I dont see OMG and Talaash at opposite ends at all.

    OMG was more about being against the rituals than being against the god or one’s belief. Though Kanti bhai was against god to start with, the film ended on a note which did not hurt even the ones who believe in God – it just made them aware abt stupid rituals they do to please God.

    Talaash does not have any character which believes in rituals or makes one believe in rituals.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      doesn what rani perfomed with shernaz patel qualify as a stupid ritual? or do you believe in black magic and you do believe aatmas can be communicated?

      • Ritz 11 years ago

        @Baba – yes that was a scene which was inspired by other movies and some Legends. It does not have any religious rituals btw in that scene.

        “do you believe in black magic and you do believe aatmas can be communicated?”

        As for me, I don’t believe in anything ritualistic – I am at a stage where I dont believe in anything and yet dont oppose to the ones who believe in some stuff which I dont like or believe in – unlike what I was few years earlier. Some events have changed my view. People are better left to their beliefs until and unless it hurts them …

        I only oppose or speak out when they follow the rituals which harm them or their family – mostly its financially. or emotionally when it destructs them and take them in a route which has no meaning but to follow some stupid rituals which hurt them and their families emotionally and financially..

        Rani’s scene in the movie did not come across as a ritual per say – she was just a mother intrigued by things – and hope that the stranger neighbour would make her meet her son – Rani’s character didnt do it on purpose. She also didnt keep some promise(as in rituals) or didnt donate anything financially for that….or troubled her near one’s to believe in the stuff in a way that if they dont believe in that…something bad will happen to them.

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          rani was fully convinced that her son indeed communicated to her through shernaz. ; which by default proves she believed in the rituals shernaz performed as well.In the climax, after his experience with kareena,even aamir is shown to have become a believer in that. He is convinced that his son wrote that letter.

          • Ritz 11 years ago

            Well, did the rituals hurt them in any way – as in financially or in a way made them do things which they wouldnt have done otherwise – which hurt other ppl or benefited someone else undeserving?

          • Bored 11 years ago

            Yes agree with the basic tag of this post – Talaash is more about believing in ghosts than anything else – they made the climax like that. The story ends with a letter from his dead son from the other world that asks him to be happy!

            Thats a cheesecake even by Bollywood standards.

          • Sneha 11 years ago

            @baba – You thinking too mch.. Here the neighbor tells rani some facts that makes her believe her and similarly Aamir believe cos he sees a ghost.. There is a reason for them to believe in it.. Nobody other then aamir n rani believe in supernatural powers simply because they are not confronted with what aamir n rani are. The fact that talaash promotes black magic is like saying JTHJ promotes men to join Army 😛

          • Baba Ji 11 years ago

            sneha – i already said this in another thread. this philosophy of finding peace within oneself is what talaash endorses. But in doing so, it conforms to the world of superstitions/black magic.

      • Sneha 11 years ago

        @Baba – does KMG promotes to believe in alien 😛

  2. sanket porwal 11 years ago

    Hilarious..hahaha..

  3. Bored 11 years ago

    Really hilarious!
    Thanks for the laughs BABA – as I said before, the story is ridiculous. I am surprised that Zoya shared script-writing credits for this!

    • Ritz 11 years ago

      @Bored

      btw, I had told this earlier that I kind of knew the ending well before the movie release – courtesy one of Talaash team interview.

      Reema had mentioned that story is based on an urban legend and it was something which Zoya experienced on the way back to home after a party – so Zoya initiated this. Based on this bit “urban legend” I did read lot of urban legends on net and kind of knew the climax well before. But then I had the expectations set right for the movie – it being a emotional drama at core.

      • sputnik 11 years ago

        Aamir talking about the urban legend that inspired Talaash.

        • Ritz 11 years ago

          Interesting. But I had read more about Urban legends which lead to the hint abt climax.

          Btw – who is “Honey Aunty” ?

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      Thanks bored 😀 The film is decent if you are ok with the ghost angle. I liked everyones acting. Kareena has the best lines. Some scenes are directed well and some are stretched beyond limits like the under water scene of kareena-aamir in climax.

      • Bored 11 years ago

        @Baba – My problem was just not the ghost thing, its hammers on human emotions too much, overdoing it – aamir kinda saves this aspect by not overacting – but with another khan this would have been intolerable!

        The entire stretch in the end after the underwater WTF climax was simply redundant – an attempt to apply glycerine on the audience eyes – that is one reason some emotional people are liking this one.

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          yes those scenes after the car accident in climax is added for BO purpose. Aamir thought public might not understand everything. so he spoonfeeded them.he does this often. Throughout the film, there are enough hints to guess kareena is the ghost. No one responds to any of kareenas comments except aamir. She even gives away the suspense in one of her lines saying ” kab tak neeche rahu,mujhe kabhi to upar aana hi tha” or something. There were enough hints.

          • Bored 11 years ago

            Actually if they had ended the movie with that underwater scene then there may have been some repeat audience.

            Also that would had been an apt ending for this genre… But Aamir man! Too much emotional drill can spoil it badly.

            That last letter reading was so cheesy – it was almost like a scene written by our great Karan Johar!

          • Sneha 11 years ago

            Baba again u got it wrong here.. The lines said by rosy is hinting bout Sashi’s body wch after killing in thrown into the water

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          You are talking about the lift scene i think.There is another scene in the film when the same line of kareena is shown in conjunction with another scene where the episode of a women with 3 men is talked about who was killed in accident .She meant her own death as a metaphor.

  4. sputnik 11 years ago

    @Baba,

    So you have written the whole story of Talaash as you promised 😉

    I think I first saw this quote on a Enigma CD – “If You Believe In God, You Have To Believe In The Devil”. So if you believe that there is a positive force you have to believe in a negative force too. But this is all up to what one wants to believe or not. What may be perfectly fine for believers may be stupid to atheists and what may be perfectly fine for followers of one religion may be stupid to followers of another religion.

    Just because a movie has a ghost angle its not a bad movie. Otherwise The Sixth Sense should be termed as a bad movie too but it is considered one of the best movies ever.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      ppl who like ghost angles might like it. You liked OSO too. I dont like ghost angle unless the genre is a horror one. even horror genre isnt among my favs.

      • Bored 11 years ago

        Ghost angles is expected to have a spooky feeling – here it makes you laugh! Thats poor direction in my book.

      • sputnik 11 years ago

        I have liked a few ghost movies starting with Ghost, The Sixth Sense, Ring and The Others but these are not typical horror genre movies.

        “Throughout the film, there are enough hints to guess kareena is the ghost. No one responds to any of kareenas comments except aamir. ”

        Yes Baba thats why I said in my review if one is intelligent or have watched The Sixth Sense they can easily guess the twist. Lot of Kareena dialogues were double meaning and full of clues.

        But I think they did cheat a bit by showing Kareena in mirrors or Kareena touching Aamir or Kareena being able to open doors since people usually assume that ghosts cannot do this based on other ghost movies.

        I think there is a big loophole in the movie. If Kareena can do all this by herself why does she even need the help of Aamir. She could have tracked and killed those people by herself.

        As for that Rani scene with Shernaz I did not like that scene. That scene is like standard “aatma” bringing scene that kids try in school. Shernaz looked so stupid writing down the message. They could have done that scene differently. Or may be the intention was to show how stupid it was so that Aamir could lash at her.

        “rani was fully convinced that her son indeed communicated to her through shernaz. ; which by default proves she believed in the rituals ”

        She is told to concentrate but she keeps looking at shernaz with a WTF expression so she does not believe in the ritual but she wants to make herself happy (as she herself admits to Aamir) thinking that her son was communicating to her. Her believing Shernaz can also be attributed to Shernaz telling her things about her son that only she knew.

        • Bored 11 years ago

          @Sputnik – Plz dont compare this with Ghost, The Sixth Sense, Ring and The Others – these are intelligent movies, they dont spoonfeed the obvious to the audience. These movies make you rewatch after the suspense is revealed – here everything is pushed down your throat.

          As I said before, this is total B-grade stuff. In Bollywood terms – this is a Vikram Bhatt movie!

          Dumbing down memento into ghajini was atrocious, and this only shows another poor grasp on the suspense genre by the respectable makers.

          • sputnik 11 years ago

            I think this movie can be compared to The Sixth Sense because it directly borrows the concept from it. I hated the spoon feeding scenes too. I already mentioned in my review that the underwater rescue scene is so WTF and that spoon feeding scenes were so unnecessary. There was no need for that digging scene either. Go straight to letter scene after accident and there’s your end – your closure. No spoon feeding nothing.

            But it seems that we underestimate the intellect of our audience. We are so concerned about whether some uneducated person or someone in SS will understand that we explain what is already obvious in the previous scene.

            This no where as atrocious as Ghajini was. Ghajini was a really really dumbed down version of Memento.

          • Bored 11 years ago

            Agree 100%! These bollywood makers (including those who claim to indulge in ‘different’ stuff) underestimates the audience so much that it kinda hurts!

            I usually dont blame actors for any problems with film-making (here I didnt mind anyone’s acting bit) but then Aamir is the guy who guides his movies, anyways ….

            Sixth sense had a basic premise where a certain guy/child can see ghosts but others cant – here its upto the ‘superhero’ ghost to be visible to only those she chooses. Bruce Willis’ ghost didnt hang around to avenge anything – he wanted to rectify his mistake.

            The only commonality here was that the climactic suspense that a main character is a ghost. Its a lose comparison.

            btw, isnt the ‘car accident on seeing a ghost’ concept lifted from Gothika?

  5. sunil 11 years ago

    So talaash is not a good film.Aamir is not in top 3 Now.

  6. Bored 11 years ago

    OMG is by far the best entertainer this year (that also with a social message).

    Surprisingly both Aamir and SRK have come up with underwhelming movies this year – SRK doing his romance and Aamir doing his ‘different’. And ETT turned out to be the better movie among Salman’s recent hits!

    Hrithik and Ranbir both rose above expectations with Agneepath and Barfi. Agneepath is the dark movie of the year (those claiming Talaash as dark has probably not seen it yet). Barfi is the best feel good movie.

    Khiladi and Dabangg will determine who is the ‘Star’ of the year.

  7. mate 11 years ago

    I thought it’s Babaji review that I was waiting anxiously after his JTHJ epic review. 😀
    Don’t know whether Aamir is in SMJ mode or not coz I don’t watch a single episode of it, but IMO he is in his ‘own’ mode, whether he plays an inspector, student, teacher, lover, or his real life persona, he remains in the same mode forever.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      I liked aamirs acting and those two scenes i mentioned in my post are very good.I think sputnik also mentioned it in his review. Its of hollywood std. But i felt that his role limited his acting. He had to play a depressed man . Kareena has the most scope for acting and she suprised me. Rani has very less role but she did well in that roadside scene with aamir when she is confronting about what keeps her ticking in life.

  8. Ritz 11 years ago

    Today is Boman Irani’s Birthday.

    His longest running play was “I am not Bajirao” which ran for record 10 years. I tried to find youtube links for it but the play is not there.

    Boman always came across as a theatrical actor – but a very good one at that.

    Here is a interview on the play:

    https://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/reviews/bajirao.asp

  9. Ritz 11 years ago

    @Bored

    “Yes agree with the basic tag of this post – Talaash is more about believing in ghosts than anything else”

    Then OMG should have ended after first 60 mins – without Akki’s cameo as Krishna – as Kanji bhai believes that God does not exist.

    • Bored 11 years ago

      Cant believe I am down to writing this but OMG was a satire – God coming down to earth to teach humans not to believe in God.
      Here the Ghost does everything and the humans gain faith on ghosts.

      Is the two same?

      • Ritz 11 years ago

        You didnt comment a word on what i said earlier in my comments.

        Did the ghost made ppl do any rituals which hurt them ?

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          you first said rani didnt believe in the ritual .In the film,she clearly says that she is convinced her son wrote letters. whether the ritual hurts her or not is the new stance that you are taking now, which honesly isnt of much concern here.

  10. Ritz 11 years ago

    This is more interesting topic to me than Talaash or Aamir.

    Thanks Baba for such a heading. It opens up a lot of things for discussion..

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      Thanks ritz 😀

      • Ritz 11 years ago

        🙂 you r welcome

        “whether the ritual hurts her or not is the new stance that you are taking now, which honesly isnt of much concern here”

        Not a new stance. I was speaking of that from my point of view of how I wont oppose to ppl who have such beliefs. Maybe I was not clear enough in my definition of “ritual” and hence multiple comments. I have this habit – unlike Sputnik I end up making multiple comments and dont summerize all in a single comment.

        • Baba Ji 11 years ago

          In your opinion, ritual is ok if it doesn end in financial or other kind of loss. what is your POV on tabeez/amulets worn by ppl? its pretty harmless superstition per se. But its just the tip of the iceberg.

          • Ritz 11 years ago

            Tabeez/amulets are not harmless – they just dont stop there. As you said they are just “tip of the iceberg”. People who believe in such things dont just stop there. They have a habit of blaming something else for all the bad things.

            I have always seen such ppl resort to insisting on something which harms their relatives/friends financially/emotionally or some other way…..And they do harm and influence other ppl who believe in them or such things.

  11. Ritz 11 years ago

    Bored not responding to me directly is a suspense more than sixth sense or talaash 🙂

    (Not only in this thread but in couple of others too I observed)

  12. FS 11 years ago

    i thought many people would say this after watching talaash but you are the second person to say this which is true… Yes its alter ego of omg or a kind of anti omg film…

    • Ritz 11 years ago

      @FS

      Would you please explain me how?

      Maybe I saw OMG in different perspective then. (a perspective which had no meaning – and it means meaningless film )

  13. sputnik 11 years ago

    @Bored,

    I already said this in a earlier comment in this post itself.

    “I think there is a big loophole in the movie. If Kareena can do all this by herself why does she even need the help of Aamir. She could have tracked and killed those people by herself.”

    The concept of ghosts wanting to convey a message or revealing the truth about how they got killed is from The Sixth Sense. Karan wanting to give a message to Aamir is similar to the scene where Haley’s grandmother wanting to tell her daughter that she saw her daughter dance.

    Aamir being able to see and talk to the ghost Kareena is similar to The Sixth Sense and the ghost basically helps in coming to terms with some thing they are having problem with. But the difference here is that Aamir does not know she is a ghost while she knows that she has died. So it is basically an inversion of The Sixth Sense.

    Had not seen Gothika but saw the trailer just now. Yes car accident on seeing a ghost’ concept seems to be lifted from Gothika.

    • Bored 11 years ago

      I think there is a whole bunch of Hollywood movies (usually B grade stuff) about this concept, recently watched Lovely Bones in DVD – and similar stuff keeps popping up on TV all the time. those who watch nothing beyond masala may find this ‘different’.

      Also can anyone explain why some are calling this one as a dark movie? Becoz it has lots of night scenes????

      Anyways, time to move on instead of harping on my disappointments.

    • sputnik 11 years ago

      Saw the first episode. It was hilarious. LOL

      Thanks for the link.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      LOL. Thanks hithere . Very interesting. He is right about the Indian chicks.

  14. Ritz 11 years ago

    ” Bruce Willis’ ghost didnt hang around to avenge anything – he wanted to rectify his mistake.

    The only commonality here was that the climactic suspense that a main character is a ghost. Its a lose comparison.”

    Agree.

  15. Ritz 11 years ago

    @Bored – Maybe its not right to call it a dark film but imo its a dark movie because it has characters who are grieving over something, in search of something – and basically how the story is told – only the cusses and murders dont make a dark film.

    • Bored 11 years ago

      Neither do sad stories necessarily mean dark film.

  16. Ritz 11 years ago

    Anyone who feels Ending was stretched or unnecessary or too long needs to read the tagline of the film.

    The answer lies within

    It is more about characters and their search within.

  17. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    Time for Heart-attack. Utkals views on Talaash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Utkal Ranjan Mohanty
    14 minutes ago near Bangalore, Karnataka ·
    Saw Talaash last night. ( Spoilers galore ahead. Don’t read on if you haven’t seen the film)
    And I am afraid this ghost business spoilt it for me totally.

    The God business spoilt Jab Tak Hai Jaan , but then there was nothing much in the film to spoil and I had mentally switched myself off from the film after first ten minutes or so. The God business spoilt Life of Pi for me too, but then the God line comes only in the beginning and end of the film and thankfully, the main narrative tract of the film is not contaminated by the corny and glib validation in the belief of God. So the tale of the boy , the tiger and the sea could be enjoyed as a great cinematic achievement.

    Talaash is different.

    It had so much going for it. Right from the first frame with the hobo, the stray dog who foretold the chronicle of a death, the crazed car diving headlong into the sea.. and the striking opening scene segueing into the night lights of Mumbai streets, the film looks seductively dark.

    The cop with a troubled past, the hooker with a mysterious aura, the grief-stricken wife being sucked into the succor of séance sessions and the colourful denizens of the Mumbai red light area caught up in their acts of deceit, double-dealing and debauchery set up a drama that thankfully unfolds languorously like a delicious slow acting drug.

    Things are a little listless after the interval but the narrative gathers its wits and speed once again, as Inspector Sekhawat begins to get even more unhinged , Taimur gets shot and Rosy begins to look even more seductive than before.
    That’s when the ghost thing happens.

    Now I have no problem with either God or ghosts in films. Oh My God was wonderful. So was Sixth Sense and The Other. But being entities that are outside the pale of normal human phenomenon , God and ghosts call for special handling. You cannot use them to work out resolutions to dramas set in pure human terms. It takes the genius of Shyamalan to write something like The Sixth Sense.. . and make it work. But my problem with Talaash is not about reaching that level ( How many films since then have?) . My grouse with the ghist elemnent in the film is that it is a total cop out. And mixing this supernatural business with the wonderful police procedure drama, the noir atmosphere and the human story of coping with loss and guilt was to me as aesthetically revolting to me as the mixing of that Alzheimer angle to the simple story of a teacher teaching a blind girl to learn. In my book, it’s not done.

    Look at the damage.

    The film had a number of things going for it. The noir atmosphere of Mumbai was so well established. There were this seedy characters like Shashi and Taimur, Madam and Mallika involved with a seedy drama of murder and blackmail. There was a payoff to be had. There was the story of the parents o had lost their son, the father being doubly afflicted, by grief as well as guilt. There is payoff to be had in the resolution of their story. And it comes in the brilliant letter from the dead absolving ‘dadda’ of all guilt.. But our savouring of these payoff is interfered with by this cheap gimmick.
    I call this a cheap gimmick even though Kareena is wonderful as Rosie and her appearance in the car and as the mermaid saving Sekhawat under water is appropriately spooky and poetic . Because this wronged woman’s ghost seeking revenge upon the wrongdoers is at its core a B-grade Hindi film cliché. And there has not much been done to elevate it to anything of a higher level. Now amnesia is another stupid Hindi film cliché and it rightfully belongs in a third rate film like Jab Tak Hai Jaan. But look at how it was elevated in a film like Ghajini. With all those notes stuck all over the wall, all those body tattoos and all the detailing in the process of searching for the culprit it creates an engaging cinematic paradigm. The physiognomy of Aamir Khan with his bald head gives the talea texture. And of course he does not get back his memory by another blow or something. The amnesia of Ghajini does not remind you of the amnesiacs of earlier Rajendra Kumar or Sunil Dutt films. The avenging fallen woman in Talaash and the template of her revenge on the other hand is not much different from those seen Ramsay Brother’s films. (I am not talking of the films as a whole but just this ghost element. ) It’s a kind of imaginatively challenged script solution.

    I feel angry because there was so much mythical and metaphorical riches to be mined here if the script had just played it straight. Like when Rosie says , “ We are invisible. So how can we disappear.? ” and all atht it implies. There was this water angle for Sekhawat..his son drowning and his own last minute escape from under water. There was this delicious irony of a superstar getting caught up in this hooker business. One did not need a ghost to bring it all together.

    I played it in mind many times after I walked out of the hall ( That’s why I am writing it today instead of yesterday.) How it could have been done different. My ground rules for using the supernatural are three simple ones. One: You set your story in a world a little removed from the ordinary and base the story largely around the supernatural…don’t mix it up with other flavours. Two: If you are setting it up in a more normal setting, give scope for ambiguity. With room for a possible rational explanation as well. Three : Use it as a little aside, without affecting the main narrative too much ( Like Ang Lee did in Life of Pi . Or even better, like Reema herself did in Honeymoon Travels.). What I did not like at all is Rosie helping Sekhwat with actual solving of the case by informing about Arman Kapoor and Nikhil visiting Hotel Lido. If she had to be there as ghost, her interaction with Sekhawat had to be more ethereal, she not speaking too much or giving any actual information , making it possible for us to explain it as a hallucinatory image born out of Sekhawat’s stressed mind. ( The séance thing lends itself to such a rational explanation. The Shernaz character could be just making it all up after finding bits of information by talking with Roshni and snooping around… and using her knowledge of human psychology.) A second alternative could be to have Rosie as a real character…a friend of Simran, a twin sister, whatever. And she could devise ways of killing people through perfectly human means..if a fly could, surely a woman can. Here I would create little more palpable sexual chemistry between Rosie and Sekhawat, giving more meat to Roshni’s assertion that he was having an affair. He would pull back just in time ..triggered by some form of memory of his dead son..and water. That would also provide a break from the single note performance that the script has confined Aamir to ( though I must say, he is wonderfully in character throughout.) I would perhaps create another strand of narrative, making Sekhawat involved with the murky world of red light Mumbai in his younger days. And I would end it with Sekhawat getting rid of all his demons and willing to concede to Roshnis desire for having another baby. The film is dark. But there is a promise of a brand new day at the end of it.

    But then I am not the scriptwriter and only the viewer of the film. So did I like it? Not quite. But then I am not the scriptwriter and only the viewer of the film. So did I like it? Not quite. ( Apart from the ghost angle, I thought the listless manner in which the mystery was unravelled in the second half lacked tension and control.) Will I see it again? Absolutely. And perhaps a couple of more times. Because right until the ghost revelation, it is a delicious film viewing experience. I liked Nawajuddin performance so much.. and also that of Kareena. I liked the whole atmosphere at the Madam’s establishment. I liked the collision of this seedy world with that of the genteel Sekhawat and the respectable Surjan. Was glad for the privilege of entering the world of Mallika and Shashi. I liked Mumbai by night as captured in the film. It was James Elroy. It was Murakami. I loved the moody music conjured by Ram Sampat..all of them.. Jee Le Zaaraa more than others perhaps.

    And I loved Aamir Khan for making this film…. for not playing it safe, for showing Bollywood how superstars need not take on only parts of super heroes, and how they need to be in every frame with concocted double roles, or singing dancing fighting and providing variety entertainment, instead of just playing a character and being a part of sincere, passionate storytelling.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      ” God and ghosts call for special handling. You cannot use them to work out resolutions to dramas set in pure human terms.”

      exactly the msg that should get across. Putting everything on the ghost is the most convenient thing to do.I am also hearing few alternate viewpoints that If God exists, ghost must also exist.this thoery has no basis.left this comment on MIhirs blog.

      Fever Baba Roy • 17 minutes ago −
      Firstly Ghost is not a parallel/opposite of God. Check any religious scripture,it says God has no parallel. also ghosts are not recognised in any religion.

      secondly,believing in God is not the same as believing in superstition.Now i will explain you its scientific reasoning.John Buchan, a famous Scottish novelist defines Atheist as “the man who has no invisible means of support”. I will now tell you how the definition of an atheist fails in real life.

      I am not sure how many of us have heard or understand the term “Chi” so I give a brief introduction to the same.

      There are two kinds of strength :- The outer, physical strength is obvious, fades with age, and is dissipated by excess. The inner strength is by far the more powerful of the two, but it must be developed through constant practice and study. The Chi (pronounced “chee” and Ki in Japanese) is the life-force of the Universe, which flows within and through and around all things. It can be collected, cultivated, and circulated within the body to perform the will. But, not one in ten thousand will ever know the true Qi. This, like many transcendental subjects, cannot be adequately described in word or print. But, it can be experienced.

      The Chi is the internal energy present in every human being which when harnessed properly ,can be controlled by the person to do unimaginable stuff like breaking iron rods with head,standing on index finger etc.Live example are the Shaolin disciples.

      Now there is debate whether this Chi is for real or is it just a hoax.Those who think it is hoax can and will never experience this internal energy in them.Those who have faith in it will experience it with gradual practise.Its all about the power of faith.It has been scientifically proved as well that Chi energy exists and can even be measured (!) and its practical demonstration is a common phenomenon in Shaolin temples.

      A simple example is when people fast.Where does this superhuman ability come from?It is the power of faith.An invisible force.

      https://mihirfadnavis.blogspot.in/2012/11/movie-review-talaash.html

  18. sputnik 11 years ago

    @Baba,

    You will like this 😉

    ‘Satyamev Jayate’ vs ‘Talaash’: Should Aamir Khan practise what he preached?

    For close to three months Bollywood actor Aamir Khan made Indians squirm with guilt and denial and forced them to face their dark side over a series of well researched and executed social documentaries on rampant social inequalities.
    The straight talking, intense host of ‘Satyamev Jayate’ tore apart the moribund traditions that manifested in gender specific selections of foetuses, caste discrimination and abuse of the elderly. He made a nation sit up and take notice of the hypocrisies that its people passed off as convention. He even moved the stone-hearted with stories so grim that they’d make your skin crawl.

    All the more reason why ‘Talaash’ was such a letdown because its lead protagonist and social torch bearer compromised the stand he took months ago on showing the uneducated, ill informed, misguided and superstitious Indians the light of reason and rationalism.

    ‘Talaash’ was a letdown because its protagonist and social torch bearer compromised the stand he took months ago.
    (There are Talaash spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen the film yet, we advise you to come back to this article once you have.)

    Aamir roused in his ‘Satyamev Jayate’ audience a strange sense of patriotism. Of course we knew of the deep rooted corruption that plagued our medical profession. The urban Indians were also vaguely aware of the cruel Khap Panchayats diktats. We weren’t ready to look the evil in the eye until we were made to.
    In a format that was ’60 Minutes’ in treatment and Oprah Winfrey in emotional impact and reach, Aamir told his audience in a carefully constructed, understated but firm tone that it was NOT all right to demonise lovers. It may have made you uncomfortable or even alarmed but week after week, the actor went beyond his brief to use his star image to bring about change. He succeed in moving India’s lethargic bureaucracy to an extent to be the change that we wanted to see.
    But his supernatural thriller ‘Talaash’ clashed horribly with what he preached for months on his scheduled Sunday morning slot on television, and was clearly unwilling to practice.

    It must have been about the same time that ‘Satyamev Jayate’ aired that Aamir was packing up the post production work of ‘Talaash’ and gearing up for the promotion – which on hindsight was remarkably low-key for a Khan film. Khan films starring any of the four Khans – Salman, Aamir, Shah Rukh and Saif – have become yearly outings for families looking for a good time.

    The rational Aamir – who has come to be known as the ‘thinking man’s Khan’ – must have known back then the message that ‘Talaash’ would send out to an audience that hung on to his every word, and more so because he has painstakingly and deliberately established a clean, uncontroversial and intelligent image. His films reflected his real reluctance to portray any role that would compromise his social image.

    ‘Talaash’, simply put, endorses the supernatural, establishes bluntly that séances are real, the spirit world is constantly trying to reconcile with its living counterpart, and the reconciliation and therefore closure – real, mind you, not imagined psychological gibberish – comes in the form of an actual note from a dead son to his father who is racked with remorse.
    For years Indian rationalists have debunked theories of the supernatural with reason and logic. It hasn’t stopped believers from putting their faith in the nether world either. So why then does Aamir have to accept the onus of blame?
    Well, for one, he did hold the moral compass every Sunday that ‘Satyamev Jayate’ aired urging us to rise above our pettiness, our established evils, our superstitions and our base nature. So forgive us if we ask him now what good a film, watched across the country by people from various social and economic classes, has done by re-establishing those same superstitions?
    If he was any other actor, the lapse, if at all, would be easier to work around. However he is self-admittedly conscientious and particular about the kind of social message he conveys through his films – which is why his ‘3 Idiots’ takes on the country’s competitive education system.
    Short of facing the camera and telling everyone ‘Yes, I Aamir Khan say that ghosts exist because it is possible to see one, talk to one and even touch one’, Talaash did everything to take the theory forward that spirits live among us and seek out the unhappy. So it can be assumed that the climax of the film in which Kareena Kapoor is shown as a spirit, was filmed after Aamir’s approval.

    Thankfully, the average educated adult has the maturity to understand that it’s just a film and to take it at face value.
    However Aamir would have failed miserably in the social responsibility he took on earlier this year if he did not debunk the theories in his film that might lead to blind superstition, misplaced faith in frauds claiming to be middlemen between the supernatural and the living world and people in real world making money off the miseries of people who have lost a loved one.

    https://ibnlive.in.com/news/satyamev-jayate-vs-talaash-should-aamir-khan-practise-what-he-preached/309236-8-66.html

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      thats good. Tanqeed is popular.ppl read stuff from here.As they say,One persons opinion is another persons news.

    • Ritz 11 years ago

      I will never miss a chance to say that Aamir has changed my life 🙂

      Thanks to Satyamev Jayate!

      (I have not read above article – it doesnt matter to me anyways after all )

      • Ritz 11 years ago

        will explain the meaning of this to all of u sometime later.

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