Movie Reviews

Pinjar

Producer: Lucky Star
Director: Dr. Chandra Prakash Dwivedi
Starring: Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpai, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Sanjay Suri, Sandali Sinha, Ishaa Koppikar, Kulbushan Kharbanda, Lillette Dubey, Farida Jalal, Alok Nath and Seema Biswas

Released on: October 24, 2003

SYNOPSIS -  Pinjar is saga of human strength during trying times. A saga, that is far from being the story of victims. The film actually interrogates not only but how we know it.  Pinjar is the strength and hope that epitomizes the way many people responded to the brutal past. Based on novel by the veteran writer Amrita Pritam, the film Pinjar takes history into an unexplored sphere.  The film is the metaphorical representation of the partition. The story of the division of lives seen and experienced by a young woman, Puro.

Where we know of the recorded facts in the history, Pinjar revisits the spirit of that time.  The desire to live, to combat the circumstances, the will to change the world and suffering for anyone untouched by the mayhem.  Puro is the symbol of undaunted strength and determination. Like Puro, the women's struggle during this time was through silence which eventually transformed in to the silent movement where the Puro's refused to become helpless victims to the crossfire of polity.

Puro like many other women during that time who had dreams and desires. She too loved life and was content with the small pleasures that come with it.  And one incident in her life saw her staring the face of death.  A slow death which was forcing her to survive like a skeleton.  Till, she derived inspired inspiration and reason to live, because she could not see the plight of other women around her.  Puro's mission and inner strength are very poignant nuances the film hi lights.  While there were wide spread riots, there were people who still hoped in love and harmony to survive and were waiting for their dreams to come true.  Puro's undaunted spirit and love broke the shackles of mayhem and misery.

2003 is Urmila's year.  I am very happy that she is FINALLY getting the recognition she deserved.  The Best Villian Award wasn't given to her when she did an outstanding job in "Kaun" either...but it's never too late to finally appreciate Urmi.  She is now being more choosy about her roles because she used to be in films mostly for the songs.  However, her career is rising because she switched from those roles to roles that are harder to act out.  Urmi fits Puro's role very well.  She has that innocent look and her facial expressions are great.

Manoj is good in his role but I've seen him do better roles.  It's a good change from his usual villianous roles.  He's another actor who I think is very underrated.

Priyanshu is really cute in the movie.  I really liked his hairstyle.  He is getting better and better each time I see him on screen.  I wonder why he isn't being offered more movies because he had a surprise hit "Tum Bin."  Even he outshined my Arjun in "Dil Ka Rishta."  I hope people will offer Priyanshu better roles cause he proves again, he's here to stay.

Isha was wasted in the movie.  I really like her and would like to see her in better roles.  The best role she has ever gotten was in "Qayamat" which she had really had little to do also.

Sanjay is really cute and I love him with the glasses.  Again, his role can be done by anyone.  I really liked him in "Jhankaar Beats" but shared the big screen with Rahul Bose too.  I would like him to play the lead role in his future films.

Storyline is really powerful and moving.  "Pinjar" is not a type of film you can watch over and over.  It's a film that makes you think and puts you back in time with the era.  A lot of history is involve.  The film is definitely worth watching.

9.0 out of 10

NiCKi

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