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Join UsStar Cast: Radhika Apte, Divvyendu and others
Director: Tisca Chopra
What’s Good: Radhika Apte
What’s Bad: The Premise
Loo Break: Anytime you want!
Watch or Not?: Text
Language: Hindi
Available On: Zee 5
Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
User Rating:
“Tum akalmand ho jo paudhon se pyaar karti hain. Paudhe hi hain jo jagah se nahi hilte. Insaan ki neeyat dekho, sadiyon se paudhon ko nochta khaata hai, lekin paudhe kuch nahi maangte. Paudhon mein bahut Dheeraj hota hai, kyunki unhe pata hai ki ant mein sab unki hi khuraaq banne wala hai,” Radhika Apte gets this heavy dose gyaan from her confidante and mentor in Saali Mohabbat, and if you think this is dark, trust me, the film is more wild!
Saali Mohabbat Movie Review: Script Analysis
Starring Radhika Apte in the lead, the film is neither a murder mystery nor a whodunit. Within half an hour, you know the entire story, you know how, and the whys. In fact after a certain point, you feel like you have seen the film somewhere.
Honestly, the second half is any average murder mystery you would see. The first half is what we can discuss, because it is interesting to a certain extent, only that it takes a major inspiration from a short film, Chutney, starring Tisca Chopra herself! So, there Tisca and here Radhika, average-looking women as per the script, get disturbed when they find their husbands are cheating on them!
So instead of a conversation, because these women are surrendered entities to patriarchy, they decide to take help of their closest allies – their plants and gardens to make sure that they finish the people who have hurt them! Now, the premise, in my opinion, is very interesting, and it would have been brilliant if it could have been used fairly to navigate the thriller!
Saali Mohabbat Movie Review: Star Performance
The entire film rests on the strong shoulders of Radhika Apte, and it is such a burden to carry a film with the weight of a poor script. She tries desperately to make her protagonist gullible, flawed yet lovable, but she fails mostly because of the poor writing.
Apte handles the emotional and moral conflict of her character with immense commitment. But the sharpness she has after committing two murders does not find any space to rest or grow; it seems unwanted! Divyenndu and Anurag Kashyap are also a part of this film but I really find those parts unnecessary. They are good actors, but did the script need them? At least, their parts seem too unjustified.
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Saali Mohabbat Movie Review: Direction, Music
But the film here is an open book. Director Tisca Chopra tries, but she cannot build a world that is intriguing enough, though she herself has been a part of many thrillers. It’s raw, yes, but also chaotic, ultimately proving to be an over-ambitious narrative that does not find a nice, thrilling way to navigate itself to the climax! It delivers the mess, but forgets the emotional intelligence required to make it connect.
The film drags severely throughout the second act, and the final act is an absolute mess. The climax attempts one too many twists, but whenever it finally arrives, it feels utterly hollow. The songs are okayish, but they drag the film further and were totally not required in a thriller like this!
Saali Mohabbat Movie Review: The Last Word
Saali Mohabbat does not chase or preach any moral lesson, but it keeps tripping over the net it weaves. It is a film that should have commanded my attention, but it does not. Though Radhika remains powerful, the thriller falls flat! Moreover, it is high time that we stop romanticizing crime in the name of love – Neela Drum or Hare Paudhe, whatever, they are not acts of revenge or love. It is simply a mental health issue, and looking at society right now, I really feel we should address this with more urgency or clarity! Rejections or cheating are non-negotiable, but celebrating a woman’s victory for avenging that cheating through murders is a little bizarre! At least call it a crime drama!
1.5 stars!
Saali Mohabbat Trailer
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