Yaadein (Memories)
Director: Subash Ghai
Music: Anu Malik; Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Year: 2001
Running Time: 2 hours 57 minutes
Everything goes better with coke. Or so
director Subash Ghai would like us to believe. It is difficult to tell whether
this is a film or a three-hour commercial for coke. Product placement takes
on new meaning in this film as that darn can of coke shows up everywhere like
Zelig. After a while it takes on amusing dimensions as you try to figure
out how the can of coke is going to make an appearance in this scene.
There were two moments in particular that should be voted into the Product
Placement Hall of Shame. Jackie Schroff is called upon to sing at his daughter’s
wedding and so he picks up a can of coke and sings a love song to it – or
to his dead wife – it was difficult to say which had more affection in his
heart. But that is even a minor league effort when compared to the flashback
of the death scene with the wife. She has been run over by a car and the
doctor tells Jackie she has three minutes to live (no more, no less) and
as she lies dying in the hospital bed she somehow manages to find the keys
to the house and hands them over to him – a coke key chain of course. Now
the question is can I get some endorsement dollars if I mention coke often
enough in this review. Get coke, it refreshes.
Melodrama may seem like a blunt instrument at times, but there is a real
art in getting it right. As manipulative as it can be, it has to reach deep
into the sentimental recesses of your heart and connect with something there
that often surprises you as much as anyone. Sometimes though you find yourself
snickering at faux melodrama – all the right elements are there but the mix
and sincerity is all wrong. That is certainly the case with this film. Ghai
throws everything at you – a dead wife and mother, two weddings, a father
and his three loving daughters, a misbegotten love, a “heroic rescue” and
lots of lovely images of coke – oh, can’t you just taste one now – the sound
of coke running over ice sends chills down your spine doesn’t it.
But none of it works. There isn’t a true feeling in this entire film. It
is utterly soulless and thoroughly bankrupt of true human emotion. It is
all melodrama by the numbers – every time we need a jolt of emotion they
show a portrait of the dead wife and have Jackie shed a tear or have a flashback
to when the girls were young and their mother was alive. Remember that day
she died Jackie –sniff sniff - just you and her in the grocery store
– all that coke lined up on the shelves – just waiting for you to pop open
that lid – hear that phsssh sound – Jackie can you recall just how good that
coke tasted right before your wife died?
So he is left alone to raise his three little cokes – I mean daughters –
though they are already quite grown up in the forms of Kareena Kapoor, Himani
Rawat and Avni Vasa. Jackie takes them to India from London to get them married
to good Indian boys. Considering that they are living out in the middle of
nowhere and have to listen to dad talk to the portrait of his dead wife a
lot, they are only too ready to move out. Avni finds her love through an
introduction, Himani marries her boyfriend from London (much to the consternation
of dad) but Kareena is in no hurry and just says sweetly “I will marry whoever
you want me to papa. Love is not important”. Hey Jackie – I have coke in
my fridge – the big 32-ounce bottles – just send Kareena my way and I will
keep you supplied with coke in your old age.
Somewhere along the way to no ones surprise, she falls in love with a friend
that the family grew up with, Hrithnik Roshan, and he can’t help notice that
she has grown up into a rather luscious crumpet – soft and silky like a down
comforter. Of course just as love strikes, they find out that Hrithnik has
been promised to another, Kiran Rathod. Both are from rich families (as compared
to poor Jackie who only owns two huge houses and is considered middle class)
and after the parents see them drinking coke together at a soirée
(honest) they agree to marry them off. Tears follow.
Though this was a high budget affair and Ghai brought in two of the hottest
young actors around – Kareena and Hrthnik – the film sank like a stone at
the box office. Not that the film is really all bad – in fact it has a few
guilty pleasures. A game of who can spot the coke can first should provide
loads of fun for people of all ages. The women are all lovely and beautifully
photographed, Kareena is kool, the island rescue is laughably bad and the
music has a couple good songs. In particular Eli Re Eli in which the three
girls wake up literally and sexually and dance around the house in their
sheets and towels is terrific and Chanakti Shaam is simply a great song that
will get your whole body moving in rhythm. Just remember, coke is the one.
Now send me a check.
My rating for this film: 5.0