Andhracafe.com- BABUL: Starring; Amitabh Bachchan, Hemamalini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham. Direction: Ravi Chopra. With the season’s flavour being sequels one is bound to see Babul in the context of Baghbaan. Even in terms of the genre they come as a package. In fact only as a genre and the cast, not otherwise.

The story line is about Balraj (Amitabh) his wife Shobana (Hemamalini) and their son Avinash (Salman) The rich family is living life on a song. All is fine when Avinash falls in love with Mili (Rani) who has a great friend in Rajat (John) Mili and Avi are married and also have a cute son in Ansh. Tragedy strikes with the death of Avinash in a road accident. Dreams come crumbling down.

Colourful lives nose dive to a barren black and laughter is replaced with tears and sorrow. The elder patriarch- Balraj then discerns the need for bringing the smile and joy back into the life of his widowed daughter in law. Faced with the opposition of an emotional wife and an orthodox brother (hammed by Om Puri) he decides to walk alone.
The film is bound to be compared with Baghbaan the surprise hit from Ravi Chopra.

This time the film is surely more authentic and purposeful than earlier but it simply lacks energy. It is an engrossing as the last day of a cricket test match where the first innings is still in progress. Meandering beyond redemption the first half is too syrupy and sweet. The later half of the film is where the entire story is dealt with and in spurts. Thankfully the film does not get over dramatic and the Director understands the need of contemporary audience- given the theme. He fails in the treatment of the script. It is very superficial and borders on being half hearted. Thanks to the calibre of Bachchan the wholes in the script can covered.

Salman Khan brings a degree of energy into the film. His chemistry with his dad and his son is good but with his wife is dull. A puffed up face helps little. Strangely his exit from the film does two opposite things: one gets things going but also removes the energy level from the narration. His return in a few moments is very insipid. Hemamalini returns to her old days. Gone again is the grace of Baghbaan. She sighs her way with her dialogues and simply lacks the class to be aside Big B. As a sophisticated rich lady- the choice should have fallen on La Tagore- but then the Chopras have always their own casting logic-(incidentally La Tagore has done only one film for the camp, Dastaan, if you overlook Yash doing Waqt).

She does not have much to do and even the little she mucks up. John Abraham looks good and fit- not a trifle tired like Salman. Yet he looks lost. Dazed and sleep walking his character too suffers from consistency. Rani Mukherjee is the fulcrum of the film and in my very definite view has failed to deliver. Even as people go overboard with praise we must distinguish the role from the performance. The role is a challenging. The performance is challenged.

Every time a good role comes by to a heroine and she fails to deliver it is a loss of double opportunity- one the role and the other the fact that such roles are rare to come by. The mainstay of the film is and not surprisingly Amitabh Bachchan. Yet again he gets so much of credibility to the role that you yearn for more even when the proceedings are drab. The scene where he talks to the star filled sky with his dead son warrants a standing ovation. Thankfully he does not go over board. A lot of restraint characterises the performance. Just for him, like ever so often give the film a try.

The film is for a long afternoon or a leisure filled evening with the family. Three films are on: Vivah Dhoom 2 and now Babul. The market place is sure offering variety- if not quality

L.Ravichander