Starring: Mrunmayee Lagoo, Milind Gunajee, Kitu Gidwani, Neena Gupta, Kanlwajeet Singh
Directed by Raja Unnithan
Rating: 2/5
A rebellious teenage daughter Kavita of a traumatized couple doesnt know what to do with her life. So she takes off on a journey away from home with a lonely neglected but brave middleaged woman to Goa where Kavita saves turtlesand herself.
Kavita goes home redeemed. We are not so sure about ourselves. We remain partly involved with largely distanced from this ambitious but flawed look at life through the eyes of teen rebellion.
Director Raja Unninathan has his heart at the right place. He creates a world of gossipy aimlessness sweaty parties tacky repartees and, ahem, one-night stands for Kavita. But the words sound more like replications of the emotional outbursts associated with the generation gap rather than actual situations created in a specific crisis.
A more authentic parent-child crisis would be the one in Ayan Mukerjees Wake Up Sid or better still the television soap Ladies Special where two very talented actors Shilpa Tulaskar and Sandeep Kulkarni played harassed parents grappling with a rebellious teenage daughter.
We empathized with their helplessness.
In Hello Jindagi Neena Gupta and Kanwaljeet Singh specially the latter are in fine form as Kavitas parents.
The writing constantly lets all the actors down. The one performer who manages to hold her head above the material provided is Kitu Gidwani, Playing the dignified unloved but outwardly well-to-do wife Gidwani epitomizes grace under pressure.
Her section of the film with her indifferent though not cruel husband (Amit Behl) have some interesting moments, like the one where Gidwani goes into the kitchen to get coffee made by her husband, and then pours it quietly down the sink.
Gidwanis journey to Goa with the rebellious Kavita is charted with affection. Very rarely do we get to see a movie so gentle and warm about female bonding over differing generations.
What Kitu Gidwani shares with the debutante Mrunmayee Lagoo echoes Jessica Tandys bonding with Brudget Fonda in Deepa Mehtas Camilla.
Except that Gidwani and the girl dont go skinny-dipping. The blackest spot in the film is its lack of sexual energy.
The characters are almost unvariably frigid in their thoughts and desires. A thwarted indecisiveness runs across the narrative -profile rendering the characters weak and unconvincing.
The save-the-turtles message at the end seems forced.
Nonetheless theres enough tenderness and warmth in the relationships shared by Mrunmayee with her screen-dad Kanwaljeet and with Kitu Gidwani to make the film worth a watch.
Hello Zindagi doesnt bowl you over. But it makes you smile even when the debutant director displays that trite and selfsconscious social purpose that makes the film look like a documentary on how to save teenagers and turtles when they dont want to be saved without drowning in the attempt.
Directed by Raja Unnithan
Rating: 2/5
A rebellious teenage daughter Kavita of a traumatized couple doesnt know what to do with her life. So she takes off on a journey away from home with a lonely neglected but brave middleaged woman to Goa where Kavita saves turtlesand herself.
Kavita goes home redeemed. We are not so sure about ourselves. We remain partly involved with largely distanced from this ambitious but flawed look at life through the eyes of teen rebellion.
Director Raja Unninathan has his heart at the right place. He creates a world of gossipy aimlessness sweaty parties tacky repartees and, ahem, one-night stands for Kavita. But the words sound more like replications of the emotional outbursts associated with the generation gap rather than actual situations created in a specific crisis.
A more authentic parent-child crisis would be the one in Ayan Mukerjees Wake Up Sid or better still the television soap Ladies Special where two very talented actors Shilpa Tulaskar and Sandeep Kulkarni played harassed parents grappling with a rebellious teenage daughter.
We empathized with their helplessness.
In Hello Jindagi Neena Gupta and Kanwaljeet Singh specially the latter are in fine form as Kavitas parents.
The writing constantly lets all the actors down. The one performer who manages to hold her head above the material provided is Kitu Gidwani, Playing the dignified unloved but outwardly well-to-do wife Gidwani epitomizes grace under pressure.
Her section of the film with her indifferent though not cruel husband (Amit Behl) have some interesting moments, like the one where Gidwani goes into the kitchen to get coffee made by her husband, and then pours it quietly down the sink.
Gidwanis journey to Goa with the rebellious Kavita is charted with affection. Very rarely do we get to see a movie so gentle and warm about female bonding over differing generations.
What Kitu Gidwani shares with the debutante Mrunmayee Lagoo echoes Jessica Tandys bonding with Brudget Fonda in Deepa Mehtas Camilla.
Except that Gidwani and the girl dont go skinny-dipping. The blackest spot in the film is its lack of sexual energy.
The characters are almost unvariably frigid in their thoughts and desires. A thwarted indecisiveness runs across the narrative -profile rendering the characters weak and unconvincing.
The save-the-turtles message at the end seems forced.
Nonetheless theres enough tenderness and warmth in the relationships shared by Mrunmayee with her screen-dad Kanwaljeet and with Kitu Gidwani to make the film worth a watch.
Hello Zindagi doesnt bowl you over. But it makes you smile even when the debutant director displays that trite and selfsconscious social purpose that makes the film look like a documentary on how to save teenagers and turtles when they dont want to be saved without drowning in the attempt.
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