YEH SAALI ZINDAGI MOVIE REVIEW

Film: Yeh Saali Zindagi

Cast& Crew: Irrfan Khan,Arunoday Singh,Chitrangda Singh,Aditi Rao Hydari
Music :Nishat Khan
Director :Sudhir Mishra
Producer :Prakash Jha
Cinematography :Sachin Kumar Krishnan
Distributed by : Cine Raas Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
Released date: February 4, 2011
Theater watched : Bigcinema's Hyderabad
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Yeh Saali Hindi Movie Review:
Sudhir Mishra returns. And he does that it style! Yeh Saali Zindagi is a complex plot told with the maturity that is expected out of a seasoned director like him.

Story and Movie Analysis:

The film has quite a two clear parallel stories. One story is about Arun (Irrfan Khan) and love of his life Priti (Chitrangda). However while he is away for a month his friend Shyam (Vipul Gupta) sweeps Priti off her feet. The other story is about Kuldeep (Arunoday Singh) and his wife Shanti (Aditi Rao). Kuldeep is assigned the job to kidnap Shyam who is supposed to get married to the daughter of the Home Minister. And he kidnaps Priti along with Shyam as they believe she is his fiancee. Arun decides to get Priti out of the trouble but realizes that he will have to help Shyam too to see her happy! Political leaders and underworld dons are also pulled into the story taking it into a chaotic zone. But never for once does the film move away from the actual plot.

What works for the film is Mishra's grip on every department of filmmaking. While he comes up with a super tight and well paced script, he converts it into an equally impressive film. Each character stands out beautifully, up to the smallest goon. Yeh Saali Zindagi is shot very effectively and the director shows great understanding of cinematic language in the effects he uses. The narration goes back and forth into the past and also the characters doing the voiceover change quite a few times. But it never gets confusing for the audience. The music too is used very well as a part of the narrative. One of the strongest points of the film is its dialogues. While they are very fitting of the characters they also keep the humour alive. The high frequency of profanity might be an issue for many though.

Artist Performance:
The performances are top grade. Irrfan Khan scores above all with his impeccable timing - something he is known for. Chitrangda Singh does her bit but for some reasons has quite an anglicized Hindi accent. Arunoday Singh fits into his character very well and so does Aditi Rao. The chemistry between the two is expressed well and the 22 kisses (that made a lot of news) they shared on screen never seem out of place or forced. The supporting cast has its own impact on the story.

Technical and Other Departments:
The soundtrack of YEH SAALI ZINDAGI bears a different sound, especially the title track. Sachin Krishn's cinematography is perfect [the locales of Delhi and outskirts are well captured], but the only problem is that most of the shots have been dimly lit up, which may not be a problem at city plexes having good projection systems, but would pose a problem at smaller towns for sure. Something that even Vishal Bhardwaj had agreed with my viewpoint during KAMINEY. Dialogue [Mishra and Manu Rishi], like I pointed out earlier, are straight out of everyday conversation. The hoi polloi in particular would relish the cuss words, which are generously interwoven in the narrative. Background score is electrifying and the editing [most parts] makes the goings-on impactful.
udhir Mishra has worked on a taut screenplay to ensure that at no point in those 2 hours monotony sets in. Multiple stories are running concurrently, but unlike other films, these stories are linked to each other till the very conclusion. There're twists aplenty and the punches that come at regular intervals startle you since they don't follow the set blueprint that most Hindi films follow.

Final View:
On the whole, YEH SAALI ZINDAGI is a striking example of new age cinema. A daring film with a brand new approach, it's impulsive and engaging with skilful direction and power-packed performances as its strong points. This is one more solid attempt that takes the graph of Hindi cinema to a greater level.