Most of us are familiar with Bollywood films. We can be guaranteed a musical and visual feast, centring on matters of the heart, with high production values and an extended running time. Although it is on the coy side with singing and dancing substituting the more explicit entanglements, romance between impossibly attractive protagonists blossoms. The intent is to give the viewers maximum entertainment value and throw in a moral lesson as well. Fanaa, however, pushes the Bollywood genre into new ground.
As we are told in the opening scene, “The choice is not between good and evil. It is between the lesser of two evils and the greater.” So things are not so clear-cut when the blind Zooni (Kajol) ventures to New Delhi with her girlfriends for some adventure and falls for the transparent charms of tour guide Rehan (Aamir Khan). While Rehan woos Zooni vigorously and even helps her get her eyesight restored, he hides a dark secret and remains distant. He tells the besotted Zooni that he only believes in needs, not feelings or love. When he is supposedly killed by a bomb blast, we find out that he is in fact part of a militant terrorist group.
The epic continues after a 7-year break with a James Bond-like chase in the snowy landscape of Kashmir. Zooni has returned home, and lives with her father and her son when an injured Rehan lands on her doorstep. There is certainly a great deal of action in this politically inspired Bollywood film but true to form, romance remains at the core of the drama.
Fanaa is the second film on the Bollywood Masala Indian Film Festival. It runs for 168 minutes and screens on 16 February at Luna Cinema.
