A CONTEMPORARY, IDENTIFIABLE SUBJECT
By Eye TV India Bureau
Critic's I-view
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The movie's title 'Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye' is a contemporary subject and can be easily identified with a lot of people, especially females in India who lose their vibrancy in their respective fields after their marriage with their suspecting husbands denying them enough freedom to rise. In this movie, a talented and charming girl named Maya played by pretty Raima Sen lives in New Delhi and is married to Vikram played by Arbaaz Khan. The latter is chauvinist and a carrot-crunching hottie! He doesn't appreciate his wife playing the harmonium and thus emotionally abuses her though her life is mundane and centers around her family. She has a daughter in Priya played by Eka Kumari Singh.
One evening, Raima overhears a conversation between her husband and another woman and realises that he's having an affair. Her simple, family-centric life around her breaks down and she realises how Vikram had slowly degenerated her confidence and self-esteem in the past few years of their marriage. He stopped her from singing and abandoned all her dreams. During another conversation with her neighbor Mrs. Mathur played by Suhasini Mulay, who is looking for an ideal tenant, she comes across her fantasy man, Jai played by Randeep Hooda who arrives at her doorstep wearing a scarf and does something about her love for music. Through Jai, who keeps reoccurring in her dreams in different avatars, she regains her confidence. He inspires her to pursue her ultimate dream of singing.
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Another good luck for her! She finds just next-door a young talented bunch of youngsters forming a band. They are looking for a lead singer for their band to participate in a competition. Maya not only participates in the competition but also wins it, but after learning the "ways of the real world" including a makeover. Yes, she changes from drab salwars and nighties to knee length summery dresses and a bad job with her curled-at-tips hair and dotting her forehead with red bindis! Meanwhile, her estranged husband Vikram leaves home for another woman. Maya begs him not to leave and stay with her, as she loves him a lot though he had imposed a ban on her only desire to sing.
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Debut director Madhureeta Anand deserves a pat for his choice of the movie's subject as well as its cast. All the members of the cast perform very well. Among them, Raima Sen is seen charming all through the movie, and so is Randeep Hooda. The latter does full justice to his difficult role that comprises several characters ranging from James Bond, a cowboy, to a bare-chested man with a flute! Eka Singh who plays Maya's daughter is charming as well as sweet. The rock band buddies -- VJ Juhi Pandey and Neil Bhoopalam -- play their parts very well.
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The movie's dialogues are very well drafted, but get repetitive at times. Strangely though the music, especially its songs, lack a lot. When the director is fully aware that the movie's backdrop is music, why does he then ignore this vital aspect is not understandable? Besides, the director lacks in concentrating on the subject and is found deviating towards his hero's different avatars like Jai (Randeep Hooda) in brocade, in satin, as a bandmaster, a sailor, a cowboy and a flautist. Thus, the overall theme of the movie about a woman's search for identity is lost somewhere.
Overall, the director has done a wonderful job by making a movie identifying with the women's cause in today's world.
[Bollywood Today]
