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Aaja Nachle - Notepad
Aaja Nachle
quick review:
Aaja Nachle is another ordinary story narrated pleasantly and in a digestible manner. So, you know the end, but you wait for the next obstacle that the protagonist will face. The dialogues are a good spread between funny and casually profound. A good first half and the magnificent climax makes you forgive the multiple glitches in characterizations and a few in the script. There are only so many things you can do with a feel good movie.
This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.
Plot Summary
Dia (Madhuri Dixit) wants to revive an old and long forgotten dance theater. A theater that she is in love with. There are people who don't want this to happen. We see the drama unfold with a lot of singing and dancing.
What Worked
- The opening sequence - Cut to the chase, no riff-raff, straight to Madhuri Dixit dancing.
- The crane shots - beautifully framed.
- Editing in all of the songs. Nicely interspersed with the story.
- Costumes in the flashback - reflected the trends from 11 years ago.
- The exchanges between Madhuri Dixit and Akshaye Khanna.
- The way Sushmita Mukherjee delivered one of the most clichéd dialogues.
- The way the crowd cheered Irrfan Khan's entry!
- Madhuri Dixit's graceful hip movements - would put Shakira to shame.
- Too much energy is not spent on the action scenes. Smart move, since the movie is not about the action. The camera takes over and is done with it.
What did not
Note: This section simply lists the things that I did not like in this movie. This is not the overall impression about this movie. Please read the full review here
- Yet again, a white is portrayed as a dimwit - chews off a chili as if he doesn't even know what a chili looks like and that it is supposed to be super-hot.
- What was dada's source of income? How does he get money to get himself filmed? Is pizza was supposed to be an indicator of how educated and "foreign return" Raja saahab (Akshay Khanna)?
- How did Dia organize the first dance!? Overnight everything is cleaned up and the stage is set for a grand performance. All too easy.
- The abrupt cut into Akshaye Khanna playing golf. Very distracting.
- The one glaring loophole - the entire village knew about Dia's infamous past. Then why does her friend's statement make any difference at all. Not a very smooth way to get the friend into action. There surely must have been a better way.
- Divya Dutta's dialogue delivery in the scene where she comes to clarify things. Too melodramatic.
- Najma's husband's (Irrfan Khan's) transformation in the end. Totally uncalled for and unnecessary.
Nitty-Gritty
This section lists things that I think are not important to the overall impact of the movie. In most cases, it could be explained away by something like, "we noticed the glitch after the scene was shot and there were schedule/budget issues and thus we could not re-shoot it". I like giving the makers the benefit of doubt, but I am amused nevertheless. Hopefully, they will tickle you too.
- The difference in height between Kunal Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma seems to magically disappear in the scene where he has an outburst and tells her off.
Aaja Nachle - Movie Details
- Official Sites: Website
- Producer: Aditya Chopra
- Director: Anil Mehta
- Lead Cast: Madhuri Dixit
![[Has twitter account]](/site_media/images/icons/twitter_small.png)
, Konkana Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor - Supporting Cast: Vinay Pathak, Ranveer Shorey
- Story: Aditya Chopra
- Screenplay: Jaideep Sahni
- Dialogues: Jaideep Sahni
- Cinematography: Mohanan
- Editor: Ritesh Soni
- Background Score: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant
- Choreography: Vaibhavi Merchant
- Music Director: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant
- Lyrics: Jaideep Sahni, Piyush Mishra
- Costume Designer: Manish Malhotra , Dolly Ahluwalia
- Art Direction: Sukant Panigrahy
- Running time: 150 minutes
- Reviewer: meetu
- Categories: Hindi Movies
- Genres: Melodrama, Musical, Social
Aaja Nachle - Trailer
Aaja Nachle - All reviews summary
External Reviews
27 reviewers have given Aaja Nachle an average rating of 2.6/5.0. 8 yays, 7 nays, 12 so-so. See all external reviews »
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Comments (25)
i like the new wogma look, very imdb-review-ish! nice :)
about the movie, i was going to watch it for madhuri anyways(just like the rest of the bolly-world, the yash-raj formula works for me :D) the fact that it's a movie worth watching in theatres is like extra whipped cream on my choclate sundae :)
[...] enjoys Madhuri’s comeback film, Aaja Nachle. Aaja Nachle is more a comment on the onslaught of commercialization. About how politicians and [...]
it looks like the imdb review webpages.
wogma generally looks a lot more organized. the ads look better.
Madhuri or Madz as she would like her to be called (I guess), mother of two, aged 40, but still sizzles in her truest form. And I do not care if all those critics fail to recognize it. Probably they should get their lenses checked, or perhaps change their retinas.While I’d give this movie 2 stars out of 5, add another one coz a Star is already there. Madhuri did "Show her Jalwa".
I wish the music of the film was promoted better. Considering its a musical, you need memorable tracks. Kudos to Jaideep Sahni once again. He knows the pulse of the audience so well by now, for mass market films.
Although the ever-jabbing critics have been no good to such a lovable movie,the audience have appreciated it,even the non-fans.just for the fact that the ensemble cast is one of the best ones of recent past and when you are watching Aaja Nachle,not for one moment does it occur to you that this movie is only about Madhuri..
all the characters are pleasant and realistic.their interactions are believable(thanks to the screenplay) and the songs are well-placed.
to comment about Madhuri would be as unnecessary as unrequired.just that they dont make them like HER anymore...!!
one of the better movies of 2007,simplistic(just like the movies of a time gone by),the right amount of everything,makes for a feel-good viewing..one only wishes the critics had their heads in place while reviewing it..but then again,whoever said the critics fit their jobs??
highly recommended,just like Dancing when you feel happy :)
Sujoy, Acropol, Rohan - I am really glad you guys liked the movie too. I was wondering, why so many people did not like it. Well...to each his own...
Acropol, I think the songs are better to watch than to listen to. And once you have watched them, they grow on you.
this is perhaps the most accurate description and evaluation of the movie that I've come across. sadly, though, other reviews have done their bit and some of us might lose out on a good film.
well a big "thumbs down" to all the "so called" CRITICS............I've been to the theatre twice and would still look forward to seeing the film again.........as mentioned, and quite appropriately so, "Not glitch-free, but enjoyable nevertheless"
Thank you, unlikelypal! I have watched it twice too and don't mind another go :)
I visited your blog. Very interesting thoughts you have there. I am sure you have had more than four. Do update regularly.
I found the movie interesting, refreshing and different. I specially enjoyed the casting-ouch! ... LIC agent and all.
happy new yer.
ALL THE PRESUMSSIONS OF A DESPERATE MUCH MARRIED ACTRESS WANTING TO MAKE A DESPERATED COME BACK HAS BEEN PROVED FALSE.I LOVED THE MOVIE.
AS ALL MOVIES HAVE FAULTS POINTING FAULTS IN THIS ONE IS MINDLESS,THE CHOREOGRAPHY WAS FLAWLESS AND SO WAS THE EXECUSION.
Thank you amrendra anand and wish you the same!
madhuri u are rocking be like this only
hey i saw the movie to man~~~its a pretty cool movie and yes as the movie says madhuri is back—- its true. its a very family entertainer type of a movie~~~must watch 3.5on 5( the music rocks
its a great movie.i found it very interesting and different.MADHURI you rock..... & keep up the good work.
it's nice movie.maduri is really beautifull like those days
This was a great movie. Maduri was really pretty in the movie. i watched it so many times.
i love aaja nachle it is a great movie my mum was crying
Somwhow it work just OK for me; yes I watched in the theater and all that (for Madhri anyway) but guess my performance expectations were too high overall.
The Story is still good and a few characters really etched quite well; good pace and grip; Akshay Khanna disappoints though.
The climax setup got TOO grand to be believeable; through the rest of movie was quite.. but as Meetu says; that's Yashraj.. right!
Still with all that; I was disapponted with the Box-Office reaction; I think it deserved better.
Oh, and I did manage a couple of teary (short) episodes myself...
oh me too, vivek! Not the tears bit though :)
dis movie iz really gr8!!!
Oh, this is one of The All-American Bollywood Movie Night group's all-time favorite movies! I'd read about Madhuri Dixit but never seen her in a movie before this - she is an amazing dancer and actress, all the more so for having been a fortysomething wife and mother of two at the time of this film. I actually got the rest of the gang to reach back into the Nineties to watch DIL TO PAGAL HAI after this, since it starred her and Shahrukh Khan (FYI, meetu - Never underestimate the power of Shahrukh the Shirtless's washboard abs to female college grads or middle-aged women writers!).
When I wrote a Customer Review on this movie for amazon.com, I mentioned how impressed I was by the maturity of the story. Ms. Dixit's Dia may be the female hero, but a large part of the conflict in the movie is of her own making:
- Her running off with an American photographer not only disgraced her family who had arranged her marriage to the son of the local hotel owner, but deeply hurt the young man in question who still carries a torch for her more than a decade later as well as her dance instructor who had been grooming her as his successor.
- Her blithely arrogant assumption that "progress=bad, art=good" gets a few kicks in the teeth, many courtesy of the Americanized District MP/Rajah's son Uday Singh played by Akshaye Khanna, who is marvelous here as an intelligent, slyly humorous pukka sahib determined to do right by his people (whether that means building a shopping mall, or revivifying the arts in his District) and no hot-shot choreographer from New York City is going to push him around, no matter how attracted he is to her!
- Her dragging her New York City-born and raised, never-been-to-India-before tween-age daughter Radha to Shamli - which from the movies I've seen set there is more picturesque than vibrant, especially for a New Yorker like Radha! (New Yorkers are notorious snobs about their home town - and I should know, because I used to be one.) It's quite funny that the first person Radha really hits it off with in Shamli is Uday Singh - a fellow cosmopolitan as well as potential stepfather material.
As Dia accepts Uday Singh's challenge to rebuild the arts community in Shamli and thus save the theatre she learned to dance in, we see her face the results of her rash behavior as a young woman, and reconnect with her desi heritage by staging a performance of "Laila Manju" starring all-local talent - including her former best friend and fellow dancer Najma, now married to the closest thing the movie has to an actual villain, a developer who stands to benefit from the proposed shopping mall played by Irrfan Khan. It all culminates in the live performance of "Laila Manju" - which is well worth the price of admission or DVD/Blu-Ray by itself.
I know Indian movie fans don't seem to be very fond of AAJA NACHLE. I have to say I can't see why - I think it's a truly marvelous and intelligently-written musical with incredible dance numbers (not a combination you usually expect!). I own it on DVD, and am planning to get the Blu-Ray so I can enjoy the dance numbers on full HD.
@TimELiebe you might not get the sense of how i was/am laughed at for liking this film so much from the comment space here, but believe me, i've heard quite a few nasty things. :) comes with the territory :D
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