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Aaja Nachle - External Reviews

Aaja Nachle

wogma rating: Buy the DVD already (?)
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.
[Poster for Aaja Nachle]

27 reviewers have given Aaja Nachle an average rating of 2.6/5.0 (?)

8 yays
7 nays
12 so-so

Warning: clicking on "full review" will take you to an external website that could contain spoilers.

So-So by Naresh Kumar Deoshi, Apun Ka Choice ...It is Madhuri and other actors of the film that make you sit through this elaborate musical, and at times boring, saga called ‘Aaja Nachle’.... full review

So-So by Jaspreet Pandohar, BBC ...Her dazzling smile and skilful ability to liven up ordinary song and dance numbers reinforces her deserved reputation.... full review

Thumbs up by Baradwaj Rangan, Blogical Conclusion, The New Sunday Express ...A potential detour into high histrionics is dissipated with a flash of a mega-watt smile... full review

Thumbs down Bollyvista.com ...This film is an ideal example of a promising plot (though not novel!) let down by half-baked development of script and characters... full review

So-So by Rachel Fernandes, Bollywood Mantra ...Jaideep Sahani’s screenplay lacks the punch to keep viewers riveted to the film’s proceedings... full review

Thumbs up Buzz18 ...The music is the kind that gradually grows on you.... full review

Thumbs up by Bikas Mishra, DearCinema ...However filmy the story could sound but it has been done so well that leaves one impressed... full review

Thumbs down by Shubhra Gupta, Express India ...And though she’s not as lissome as she was, she still has killer moves. But she’s not played to her strengths.... full review

So-So by Martin D'souza, Glamsham.com ...in the implementation of the age-old Laila Majnu kahani, Anil does the trick.... full review

Thumbs down by Khalid Mohamed, Hindustan Times ...Vaibhavi Merchant’s choreography, like it or not, is nowhere in the league of Saroj Khan’s vintage hits with La Dixit... full review

So-So by Rajeev Masand, IBN Live ...To a large degree the holes in this screenplay are covered up by the excellent characters Sahni creates, and the actors who pump life into those roles... full review

Thumbs down by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM ...She's top notch, but how one wishes the script would've done justice to her talent... full review

Thumbs up by Praveen Lance Fernandes, indiatimes ...The music is cleverly inculcated into the screenplay and neither once do you feel that the film could have done without them.... full review

So-So Indicine ...Aaja Nachle is not the perfect comeback vehicle Madhuri Fans would have been hoping for.... full review

So-So by Sidin Vadukut, J.A.M ...While everything is nice and feel-good and also intermittently funny, it is also a little blah... full review

So-So by Vaibhav Wankhede, M TV ...Sometimes the movie comes across as too gaudy and loud but it is successful in maintaining the light mood... full review

Thumbs up Movie Talkies ...Without trying to dissect the success of Chak De India, one can safely say that the obstacles in Aaja Nachle are not strong enough.... full review

Thumbs down musicNmovies.info ...The movie consist too many subplots and supporting characters but none of them are powerful and significant enough to smoothly precede the movie... full review

Thumbs up by Subhash K Jha, Now Running.com ...Jaideep Sahni has given the gorgeous Dixit a role she can sink her teeth into.... full review

So-So by Shailesh Limbachiya, Passion for Cinema ...Apart from Madhuri, another hero of the film is Choreography and Music... full review

Thumbs up by Shruti Bhasin, Planet Bollywood ...The music is average but luckily incorporated into the scenes to not make it tedious.... full review

Thumbs down by Hanumant Bhansali, Radio Sargam ...The screenplay moves smoothly without any hitches and that hurts the most... full review

So-So by Raja Sen, Rediff ...Adi, boss, you need to understand that while we are all desperately craving escape, it doesn't necessarily translate to excess... full review

Thumbs down SearchIndia.com ...In several scenes, Madhuri's face lacks the sparkle or vivacity that endeared this luminous beauty to millions of Indians in the 1980s and 1990s... full review

So-So by Nikhat Kazmi, Times of India ... Every little twist and turn of the meandering plot is predictable... full review

So-So Upper Stall ...Thankfully for once Salim-Sulaiman’s background score has been kept at a lower level so as not to intrude on the film... full review

Aaja Nachle - Movie Details

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 »

Readers' Ratings

6 readers have given Aaja Nachle an average rating of 2/5.0. 2 yays, 4 nays, 0 so-so. See all reader reviews »

Comments (25)

pooj:

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 :)

Aaja Nachle review | DesiPundit:

[...] enjoys Madhuri’s comeback film, Aaja Nachle. Aaja Nachle is more a comment on the onslaught of commercialization. About how politicians and [...]

pooj:

it looks like the imdb review webpages.
wogma generally looks a lot more organized. the ads look better.

Sujoy:

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".

Arcopol:

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.

Rohan Tribhuwan:

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 :)

meetu:

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.

unlikelypal:

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"

meetu:

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.

Kamaal Mustafa Sikander:

I found the movie interesting, refreshing and different. I specially enjoyed the casting-ouch! ... LIC agent and all.

amrendra anand:

happy new yer.

VEENA JOG:

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.

meetu:

Thank you amrendra anand and wish you the same!

sana:

madhuri u are rocking be like this only

rambhai:

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

Tehreem Sikandar:

its a great movie.i found it very interesting and different.MADHURI you rock..... & keep up the good work.

dulanthi:

it's nice movie.maduri is really beautifull like those days

neetu:

This was a great movie. Maduri was really pretty in the movie. i watched it so many times.

amreeta bhui:

i love aaja nachle it is a great movie my mum was crying

Vivek:

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.

Vivek:

Oh, and I did manage a couple of teary (short) episodes myself...

meetu:

oh me too, vivek! Not the tears bit though :)

Ashley:

dis movie iz really gr8!!!

TimELiebe:

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.

meetu:

@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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