Paheli (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Amol Palekar

Writers:

Vijayadan Detha (novel)
Vijayadan Detha (story)

Release Date:

22 June 2005 (Kuwait)

Genre:

Fantasy

Tagline:

A folktale... a story of eternal love... of precious moments... of a woman and her dreams...

Plot:

A folk tale - supernatural love story about a ghost who falls in love with a newlywed woman.

Plot Keywords:

Camel | Ghost | Businessman | Wish | Rose

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Shahrukh Khan	...	Kishanlal / Ghost
Anupam Kher	...	Bhanwarlal, kishan lal's father
Rani Mukherjee	...	Lachchi (as Rani Mukerji)
Amitabh Bachchan	...	The Shepherd
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Male Puppet (voice)
Sunil Shetty	...	Sunderlal
Juhi Chawla	...	Gajrobai, Sunderlal's wife
Dilip Prabhavalkar	...	Kanwarlal
Nina Kulkarni	...	Mrs. Bhanwarlal
Padma Rani	...	Bhanwarlal's Aunt
Sharvari Jamenis
Aditi Govitrikar	...	Kamli - Lachchi's friend
Await Trivedi
Palak Jain
Ratna Pathak	...	Female Puppet (voice)

Also Known As:

The Dilemma (UK) (TV title)
The Riddle (International: English title)

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Film City, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Red Chillies Entertainment

Trivia:

When Amol Palekar narrated the script to Shahrukh Khan, the first question he was asked was if his company Red Chillies could produce the film. The second question was if Palekar could give him a part in the film, no matter how small it was. He got the dual role of Kishen and the Ghost.

Quotes:

Kishen: I'm a ghost after all.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pyare Mohan (2006)

Soundtrack:

Minnat Kare

Once upon a mythical time.......

I went to see this title purely out of curiosity - amol palekar, being more than a revered god in our household and srk's grand charisma covering all promos from head to toe. Also, rani mukherjee and big b in the cast certainly added to the shimmer.

What i found was something more......

The child in me arose as I no longer remained in the theater but, moved to my childhood room with grandma telling me an exquisite tale - of a land far far away. A land where the arid, parched environs sharply contrast with the rich color of the people and melody flowing with the air.

The tale is simple. The narration; funny and colorful.

A childish princess(rani) comes to her groom's (shahrukh) household with hopes of bliss and true love - finding a true-to-bone abacus instead. He leaves her the next day to set up a business in a distant town. As fate would have it, someone who truly loves the bride now enters her life - a ghost! This ghost takes on her husband's appearance (though confessing to her) and lives with her for a few years.

The real groom now returns and everyone is baffled. The bride however faces the real paheli - should her husband be the one who took marital vows with her or the one who loved her?

Though the movie looks like another glitzy tale from lala land, there is much more to it. Beyond the exotic tanishq( the jewel sponsor for the film) stones, CGI effects and tall Khan tales lies a true gem, that brings back a twinkle in the eyes, of a memory long forgotten.