Bas Ek Pal Review

Love is not merely a four letter word. Lust. Jealousy. Needs. And then that strange undefined feeling, that makes you cling to even the last vestiges of hopes. Onir's `Bas Ek Pal' attempts to unlock the multi layered dimensions of human relationships in an urban setting based on what is perceived as `love'. Whereas he succeeds in presenting a drastically different story in an interesting manner (The tirelessly slow pace is a deterrent), somehow one doesn't agree with the statement repeated twice in the film, "Our lives are pretty complicated." Agreed lives are complicated, but most certainly not as complicated as `Bas Ek Pal' suggests.

Nikhil (Sanjay Suri) is an MBA just-back from US of A. He lands up in a Mumbai pub (Anti Clock...Now, that's some name) with no partner. Anamika (Urmila Matondkar), a Civil Engineer, bails him out by coyly proclaiming that they are together. Song and dance later, Nikhil is head-over-kneels in love with the pretty babe. She doesn't tell him her name but he promises that they would meet again. He professes to his chaddi-pal Rahul (Jimmy Sheirgill) on a BBC (Basket Ball Court) that he has finally found `true love'.

Rahul introduces Nikhil to his `good friend' Steve (Rehaan Engineer). Now, this son of a big shot builder with a former Miss India wife Ira (Juhi Chawla) is of the opinion that "Love is a delusion". Steve thinks his wife is having an affair and that's making him go crazy (He is unstable anyways). The three buddies decide to go to Anti-Clock (Nikhil goes there everyday anyway just hoping his luck smiles on him). It was Valentine's Day and Anamika was there with Farhad (A friend who wooed her non-stop). She had knowingly taken along Farhad hoping that if Nikhil is there, he'd get jealous and that would be fun. She was proved right. But she had never imagined in the wildest of thoughts that possessive Farhad will pull out a gun. A shot is fired. Someone is hit. Nikhil is jailed. One moment changed the entire course of the story. And Turbulence strikes the lives of the main players.

Nikhil goes through hell in jail. And when he is out, everything has changed. For worse. I wouldn't go into details as it would be giving-the-story-away. There are intense surprises (Though that veering off into the thriller mode was needless) and where `Bas Ek Pal' succeeds is by stating that human beings are not all black or all white. Everyone has shades of grey. But to say that in an urban setting, everyone is having an affair with everyone's wife or girlfriend is definitely going-over-the-top.

Director Onir (This is his second film after the critically acclaimed `My Brother Nikhil') unfolds the drama in a cohesive manner and there are enough surprises till the end. The jail sequences have been shot brilliantly in a very realistic manner. Sexuality between any of the protagonists hasn't been used to titillate. It's more of a refuge from loneliness. There's a growth in all the characters. You are made to detest them, sympathise with them, love them, admire them and then do-away with them.

At the same time, one notices a streak of indulgence. The story drifts towards territories which are difficult to decipher and some of the motives are very shallow. For example, the passionate and obsessive love Nikhil has for Anamika has little justification. He is a well sorted out guy who can control himself in the most difficult of circumstances (Like he does in jail when he is raped by a fellow inmate) then why does he have to stoke an infatuation in a pub to such an extent that it results in shootouts and killings. In other words, the pretext of his attraction towards Anamika doesn't hold much ground. Keeping the context of `Bas Ek Pal' in mind, one feels it could have been an