ARMAAN

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Gracie Singh
Director: Honey Irani
Dialogue: Javed Akhtar
Cinematography: Ravi Verman
Music: Shankar - Eshaan -Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

RS RATING: 5/10

Aarti Enterprises' Armaan, inspired from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, revolves around medicos. A doctor (Amitabh Bachchan), who runs a hospital in a small town, dreams of having a well-equipped hospital. He is struggling to get his loan sanctioned so that he can buy new equipments for the hospital. A bachelor, he has a son (Anil Kapoor) whom he had adopted right on his birth when he was orphaned. The son is a neuro-surgeon working in the same hospital which is in urgent need of upgradation.

There's a lady anaesthetist too and a romance develops between her and the neuro-surgeon. Enters an arrogant girl in their lives. She is the daughter of the tenth richest man in the world and can never take 'no' for an answer. She falls in love with the young doctor but is aware that he would turn down her marriage proposal as he loved the anaesthetist. She then gets her rich father to fund the hospital and, in return, ask for the neuro-surgeon's hand in marriage.

The old doctor, also aware of his son's romance, resists the temptation and refuses to trade his son's happiness for the favour. But he soon dies and the son agrees to marry the rich and arrogant girl, if only to fulfil his late father's dream of upgrading the hospital. This is because the loan application has been turned down by the lending institution.

Once married, the rich girl creates hell for her husband as well as the lady anaesthetist. Fearing that the old romance could be re-ignited, she tries to force her to quit the hospital. Her childishness also results in the untimely death of the anaesthetist's mother. Unable to take it any more, her husband deserts her and vows never to return to her. Humiliated, she follows her husband but meets with an accident that threatens to take her life. It now falls upon her unforgiving husband and the anaesthetist to operate upon her head and they manage to bring her back from the jaws of death. Realising her folly, she ultimately sets her husband free by giving him a divorce so that he can marry his first love.

The story is good but the screenplay (Honey Irani and Javed Akhtar) treats it in a very class-appealing manner. Besides, the screenplay is also flawed. The neuro-surgeon giving in so easily to the arrogant girl's demand for marriage looks completely unheroic even if he agrees to the alliance to fulfil his later father's dream. This is so because the audience has not seen the sacrifices made by the father for the son - these sacrifices are sought to be established merely through two dialogue! When the impact of those two dialogue would be so far-reaching as to prompt the hero to do an unheroic act, prudence demanded that they should've been complemented by scenes.

Everybody talks of raising money for upgrading the hospital but alternatives like sub-leasing part of the hospital property are not even considered. Such alternatives crop up in the audience's mind but they've not been addressed by the writers. What's more, the hospital is so huge and proper that the viewer is not seized of the urgent need for scaling it up. To create an impact, the writers and director should've, perhaps, shown a make-shift hospital in a dilapidated shed or hut. But may be, the writers and director sacrificed authenticity for opulence! Moreover, the senior doctor should have been shown as being helpless for want of medical equipments/facilities while trying to save a life or two. Yet another weakness lies in the over-importance given to the main characters so that there appears to be no other living soul in the whole town.

While the first half has its share of light moments which are entertaining and enjoyable, the post-interval portions are quite dull. Rather than touching the heart and emotionally moving the viewer, the scenes in the second half often leave him unaffected. The senior doctor's reappearance at regular intervals (in the son's thoughts) after he is dead and gone does not have the desired impact. This may be due to the fact that the death looks contrived. For, if the father wouldn't have died, the son wouldn't have got married to the rich girl. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the film 'dies' as soon as the father (Amitabh) dies! For, the audience feels terribly let down by the early demise. Dialogue (Javed Akhtar) are natural.

Amitabh Bachchan acts splendidly. If he is excellent in the light scenes, he is extraordinary in the scene in which he runs to the hospital with the grievously injured child and in his dying scene. Once again, Amitabh proves that there's hardly anybody in Hindi cinema who can touch him in histrionics. Anil Kapoor delivers a fantastic performance. Underplaying with alarming consistency, he shines in his scenes and once again displays his immense understanding of the medium. Preity Zinta is first-rate as the brash and arrogant girl. She evokes laughter with her comedy and also wins applause for her vampish scenes. Gracy Singh does a fine job in the role of the anaesthetist.

Now coming to the physical appearances of the four stars. One fails to understand why Amitabh has been given such an outlandish wig to wear - one that makes him look anything but a doctor! Being different is not always sensible. Preity Zinta's wig may not be as weird as Bachchan's but it is not impressive either. Anil Kapoor looks good in some scenes and tired in some others. Gracy Singh looks fat and more unglamorous than was necessary.

Randhir Kapoor acts ably. Aamir Bashir leaves a mark. The rest of the supporting cast does what is required of it.

Honey Irani's direction is good but only in parts. Her handling of dramatic scenes is not too impressive. For instance, the interval scene should have moved the viewer to tears but it instead leaves him unaffected. However, Honey has been able to extract wonderful work from out of her cast.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music caters to the elite audience. 'Mere dil ka tumse hai yeh kehna', 'Meri zindagi mein aaye ho' and 'Jaane yeh kya ho gaya' are tuneful numbers. Song picturisations are ordinary except for 'Mere dil ka tumse hai yeh kehna' which is good. 'Tu hi bataa zindagi' has immense lyrical value (Javed Akhtar). S. Ravi Verman's camerawork lacks consistency. Production and other technical aspects are of a good standard.

On the whole, Armaan, with all its hospital backdrop, bears a striking resemblance to television serial Sanjeevani. It becomes monotonous after a while. It has more class appeal than mass appeal. The film has chances in multiplexes and good cinemas but that's not enough to recover its huge cost. Except in Bombay circuit and some big cities, the film about doctors and hospital will itself need to be admitted to the ICU! In monetary terms, it will entail heavy losses to its producer who has released the film in his account in most of the territories.

REVIEWED BY KOMAL NAHTA