Taal

Taal -- Rhythm (sometimes translated as "Music")

MAIN CAST:
Aishwarya Rai -- Mansi
Akshaye Khanna -- Manav
Anil Kapoor -- Vikrant

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW:
Manav is the son of a wealthy businessman, Mansi is the daughter of a poor folk musician. In typical love story fashion, Manav and Mansi fall in love, but part on a bad note due to a misunderstanding between their families. Mansi becomes a famous singer who never seems to have the same vocal pitch/tone/etcetera while Manav kinda-sorta-inaway struggles to put their relationship back together.

FILM -- 1.5/5
Let's get this out of the way: Taal is brainless fluff. The dialogue is absolutely horrendous, especially when the characters attempt to have dramatic monologues, there's so much padding that I couldn't help but fast forward through a good half hour of the scenes, and the "famous singer" plot thread is a really poor excuse to: 1) bring the poor girl up to the rich boy's level, and 2) shove more songs in to the film. That being said, Taal is popular for a reason: it's pretty brainless fluff. The scenery and the song picturizations are absolutely gorgeous, the make-up and costumes are flashy and really pop, the camera work is excellent, the choreography is simple but intuitive, and a lot of those padding scenes do manage to make use of India's breath-taking landscapes. There are a few cute moments in the film, although the Coca-Cola product placement really bothered me and ruined some of said cute moments.

CHARACTERS -- 2/5
Aishwarya Rai is beyond beautiful, so much so that it's almost worth renting Taal just to look at her. She doesn't get to do a whole lot of acting, and her character is jarringly static, but she manages well enough with what she's given. Akshaye Khanna, however, is one of the worst actors I have ever seen. A more charming or talented man could probably make Manav interesting and memorable, but Akshaye's portrayal just makes the character seem bipolar in a very unremarkable way; I actually had to look up his name when I wrote this review because I paid so little attention to him. Seriously, every time he walked on screen, I just rolled my eyes. Anil Kapoor is the opposite. Vibrant, somewhere between grating and great, and that makes him more praise-worthy than anybody else in the cast. (It probably doesn't hurt that his character is the only one who seems to see shades of gray and has an ambiguous purpose in the film.) The supporting cast is okay. I was especially pleased with Amrish Puri, whose over-the-top masala villains rarely show the fact that he is capable of much more, like the more mellow "villain" he plays in Taal.

SOUNDTRACK -- 5/5
For most people, Taal is a hit for one reason and one reason only: its soundtrack. Composed by A.R. Rahman and Subhash Ghai, it is an absolute masterpiece that manages to meld traditional Indian elements with modern flavor to keep the pieces individual, fresh, and beyond beautiful. The title song, "Taal Se Taal Mali," is intoxicating, with steady drum beats and lilting flute notes creating a steady rhythm for Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan's passionate vocals. The western hip-hop version is rhythmic and fun. "Ishq Bina" seems slow at first, but it slowly unfolds in to a beautiful love song with great instrumentation. "Ramta Jogi" is one of the most underrated songs on the soundtrack; it's passionate and features a deep, thumping beat that really sticks in your head, although it features Sukhwinder Singh's vocal talents, so I'm probably biased. I think "Ni Main Samajh" gets a little repetitive halfway through, but other than that, it's an awesome dance track. "Kahin Aage Lage" is cute, and while I don't think Asha Bhosle's vocals were a good match for Aishwarya Rai, the picturization is perfect otherwise. "Nahin Samne" is an airy ode to melancholy. "Kariye Na" rounds off the soundtrack with a bang.

OVERALL -- 2/5
If I look at Taal as a whole, I see a vapid and poorly-written love story with rare pockets of charm that barely manage to keep the film afloat, a mish-mash of cliches, bad acting, and misplaced physical beauty. But if I put my cynical side to rest and keep the trusty "skip" button on my remote ready, I see Taal as a series of incredible music videos that are beyond compare. And that's the way you have to think of this movie. The name isn't lying: it's all about the music. If you're curious about Taal, go on ahead and watch it, but don't be surprised if the only thing you walk away with is a renewed faith in Bollywood picturizations or Rahman and Ghai's compositional skills.

TOTAL SCORE -- 10.5/20 (mediocre)