Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Cast: Tabu, Katrina Kaif, AdityaRoy Kapoor
Genre: Drama
Charles Diken’s Great Expectations is a classic novel of all times. Though, it has been remade into several movies on Hollywood, none happened to garner much positive response from the audience and critics. Fitoor is the Bollywood remake of the same novel by Abhishek Kapoor and can be at best compared to poetry in motion.
Noor is a young boy who lives in the valleys of Kashmir with his sister and brother-in-law. His life changes when he visits the mansion of a rich old lady, begum and meets her young daughter, Firdaus. He is smitten by the young Firdaus and she becomes the muse for his sketches. But they are soon separated by certain events only to meet again 15 years later. However, their lives seem to be pulled by strings held by another; a story replayed again and again, but never to meet a desired ending. What will the end of their story be?
Fitoor has been shot primarily in Kashmir. Every scene appears to be lifted out of a painting and framed into the movie. Cinematography by Anay Goswamy is picturesque to say the least and the movie ranks high on its aesthetic appeal. The songs Amit Trivedi and Komail Shayan have a soulful aura about it and stay with you for a long time. My favourite song is ‘Pashmina’ by Amit Trivedi, with lyrics that knit together the storyline of the movie. This adaptation of Great Expectations has been written by Amit Trivedi along with Supratik Sen and the duo have managed to spin a tale within an Indian setting without losing out on the essence of Dicken’s Novel.
Tabu is the show stealer in the movie. Her character, Begum, is a woman with changing moods, expressions and emotions. Only an actor with sound theatre experience could have essayed the part as well as Tabu managed. She breathes life into the movie and retains a gripping hold over its flow. Aditya Roy Kapoor has been well cast into the role of Noor, he appears lost as a small time Kashmiri in Delhi and slowly fills into his role as a famous, rich artist in the city. The transition is slowly eased into with finesse by the actor. Katrina Kaif is simply the pretty, irresistibly pretty woman on screen. Her role isn’t challenging as compared to the other two.
Fitoor is an excellent beginning to 2016 and will definitely remain one of my favourite movies. It is abstract in parts and deeply moving in others. An art film in many ways, it retains its commercial aspect to appeal to a larger audience. This is a movie you would certainly not want to miss!
My verdict: ****
