The married woman Vs The unmarried man

Someone wrote that Parineeta is Devdas-revisited, both stories are based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhya's novels and based in Sonar-bangla but thats where the similarity between Devdas and Parineeta ends...

Parineeta works where Devdas had failed...

If I understood correctly, Devdas was essentially the story of a failed lover's self-destruction. But what I saw were the bright colours, the dazzling lights, the frescoes on the walls, coloured stain-glass windows, lots of jewellry and yards of flowing sarees and shimmering lehengas...where do you get to feel any sympathy for the protagonist?

In Parineeta its all there, but the sets and the back drop don't overshadow the storyline. I haven't read the novel so I can't say but if the director has taken any liberties, they go well with the narrative and unlike in Devdas, where Chandramukhi and Paro suddenly start dancing together.

The acting was good, its hard to imagine the debutant long-haired Saif Ali Khan, dismissed as effiminate at one point of time, give a performance like this one. We have seen his comic timing but the Shekhar of Parineeta is in no way similar to the Sam of Dil Chahta...his performance is restrained and there is no overdoing of either the anger or the jealousy he feels.

Unlike, Shahrukh, who is Shahrukh no matter in which movie he acts, I can't make out the difference between, the Raj, the Rahul and the Deva (I used to belong to the SRK fan and my brother wrote behind a postcard of his I treasured, 'The owner of this is a big idiot'. I was defiant then but I would agree now.)

And if you are wondering what happened to the Sen clan, Raima can hold fort. Her performance is nothing like the one in Chokher Bali but she plays her part well.

Sanjay Dutt, like is often said is like old wine, getting better each day.

But the discovery is surely Vidya Balan, the maan-abhimaan scenes between Saif and her are almost reminiscent of the ones between Amol and Charu (in Charulata).

The smattering of Bengali words in Devdas made me cringe but in Parineeta only the characters who can speak Bengali use these words and you don't feel like tearing-out your hair like you did when you heard shotti or bondhu.

The music is good, some are basically Rabindra-sangeet with Hindi lyrics. Songs in this movie are not for smoking-breaks, they are a part of the narrative.

The only jarring note in the otherwise well-made movie is the last scene, where everyone shouts Tod de Shekhar, where everything else is so well handled, this scene essentially because it is the climax stands out like a sore thumb.

And Dia Mirza should watch-out, a few more days and she will be confused as Ash's twin, as if the looks were not enough, she has now learnt to giggle and matkofy like her. One is enough, we don't need a carbon-copy.

Travelling to Kaushambi in this Delhi heat and after spending a few 100s, I would say its worth a watch. Its not extraordinary but its definitely a good-watch.