Saathiya turns 20: Vivek Oberoi-Rani Mukerji starrer gives us much room for rumination

Shaad Ali’s Saathiya is one those rare remakes that make sense. Shaad believes a remake should not be faithful. He had assisted Mani Ratnam on the original Tamil film Alai Payuthey and knew every corner of the script inside-out. The remake is therefore a re-creation rather than a blindly faithful replication.

Shaad Ali ’s directorial debut is a love story all right, but it’s a film about real people leading real lives. The hero rides a motorcycle. The heroine commutes to medical college in local trains. Their parents live in homes, not palaces. From the trade point of view, and knowing the predilections of the masses, that might not be the smartest thing to do.

But as a specimen of good old storytelling, Saathiya is a real triumph. Mani Ratnam ’s screenplay is refreshingly crisp. It is reminiscent of the writer-directors early days as a filmmaker when gloss and stylistic flourishes hadn’t begun to overwhelm content. Gulzar’s dialogues, as always, are informed with both veracity and wit.

Sreekar Prasad’s editing imparts an unusually clipped rhythm to the narrative, while cinematographer Anil Mehta, despite working within the limits imposed by the constricted scale of the film, comes up with wonderfully chiselled and lively images. But nothing in Saathiya takes precedence over the story. Aditya Sehgal ( Vivek Oberoi ), falls in love with Suhani Sharma ( Rani Mukerji ). But it’s not a typical teenybopper’s love affair - it is fraught as much with youthful ardour as nagging doubt. It begins as an infatuation and then blossoms into full-blown ardour.

Complications arise because of misunderstandings between the two sets of parents and the young lovers are compelled to elope. As marital responsibilities grow, their relationship faces severe strain. It takes a near-tragedy for the couple to rediscover the real core of their love for each other.

Saathiya isn’t designed for seekers of cheap thrills. It’s a gentle study of love and marital blues in urban India, with all its pressures and shocks. It does occasionally tend to sink into mush, especially in the climactic hospital scene, but for the most part, the film is marked by spontaneity.

Both Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukerji are brilliant, etching out believable, well-rounded characters. Saathiya also benefits immensely from a clued-in support cast. Especially noteworthy is the monstrously underused Tanuja, who plays mum without the predictable trappings, and Sandhya Mridul, as the heroine’s helpful elder sister.

Also, watch out for a delectably restrained Shah Rukh Khan and Tabu in a surprise appearance as a couple. This is the only film where they have come together.

For all its propensity towards an auteur authenticity, Saathiya isn’t a rough-hewn, unattractive film. It is as stylish and technically sophisticated as any candyfloss romance. Only, it refrains from playing to the gallery.

An absolute heartwarmer, the songs of this Shaad Ali-directed film are romantic vivacious and lilting. Melody it at a premium in Chupke se and Chalka re. The focus here is on creating variety without tampering with the basic romantic mood of the theme. Some of my enthusiasm for the songs evaporated when I came to know that Rahman had almost wholesale recreated the songs from the Tamil original(Alaipayuthe)into Hindi.

But that’s okay. If Salil Chowdhury and Hemant Kumar Mukerji could recreate their Bengali songs into Hindi why not this?

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.

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