Aashayein - Preview

Nagesh Kukunoor and John Abraham - 3-4 years ago, these two names would be most unlikely to be found together in one sentence, let alone in one film's credits. John Abraham carried the image of a hunk. But, a glance through some of the titles he is associated with in these years, and I realized just how wrong that image is. It is no surprise now, that he appear in a Nagesh Kukunoor film.

Also, in these years, Nagesh Kukunoor tried a little off-track yet "commercial" stuff and disappointed big time with Bombay to Bangkok and 8x10 Tasveer. And failed miserably at the box off too. Yet, it's very difficult for me to write-off the maker of Teen Deewarien, Iqbal and most importantly Dor. And Aashayein sounds like a deserving candidate too since its being propagated as an emotional film. It also sounds like the entire story revolves around one character, that played by John Abraham, so there is lots of scope for character development. **fingers crossed**

Meanwhile, my respect for John Abraham has multiplied manifold, ever since No Smoking. In fact, even his commercial films, are not the typical ones, there's always something 'different' about them. I understand his choice of films though doesn't make him a good actor. Adjectives like 'furniture', 'brick', 'frozen', etc have been used to describe his acting. And they somewhat hold true even now. He still has that 'model' stance and walk. This reminds me of this discussion with my husband about the next big "star" in Hindi films some 4-5 years ago.

He: mark my words, John Abraham will be the next big thing.
Me: I hope not!

Today I'm willing to eat my words, just because he lends his names to projects other "stars" might not easily do. Also, he comes across as a very sincere person in his interviews. For instance, for Aashayein even dumb sentences like "This film is special for me", "This is my most challenging role" sound less fake than otherwise. Because along with those inane lines, he makes the right noises -

Conforming isn't my cup of tea. How boring is life if you conform. And how dull life would be if all I did was chase success. Sure, I want it. But I also want to take the untrodden path. It's the deviations that make my life exciting. Some of what I did last year might not have worked. But the fact that there was debate about them was enough for me. At least the kind of films I do make people curious.

Along with my selfish motivation of watching a good film from and wishing well for one of the directors I like, I really hope this film which was ready for release 2 years ago, doesn't suffer from the jaded look 'stuck' and 'on-hold' films suffer from. Fortunately, the beginning is right, the music still sounds reasonably fresh.

Milliblog - "Shiraz-Pritam triumph in Salim-Suleiman territory."

Hindustan Times - "A decent album that has much potential."

Music Loud - "8/10"

Filmfare - "The other problem with the OST is that it’s full of ‘sad’ numbers"

Glamsham - "AASHAYEIN is a well-etched compilation of Indi-pop flavored soundtracks with quality singing talents from big-names in the business."

Sounds like this will be enough till release time - August 27, 2010. Till then,