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Lootera-S0E0

Based on author O. Henry's book The Last Leaf, Vikramaditya Motwane's 'Lootera' is a beautifully made, superbly acted film! However, this film is strictly aimed at the pseudo intellectuals, who swear to be enlightened on celluloid with non-commercial, realistic cinema. 'Lootera' Synopsis: In 1953 India, Pakhi, An aristocratic girl falls in love with an archaeologist, Varun. But soon later, Varun's true identity is exposed & they part ways, only to be reunited later. 'Lootera' is beautiful to look at. Each Frame is so wonderfully crafted, that its hard not to be in awe. However, The Screenplay by Bhavani Iyer & Motwane himself, is slow-paced & lengthy. Of course, the Love-Story has some stunning moments, but I truly was under-whelmed by the pacing. There's nothing wrong in letting a story unfold slowly & steadily, but at least there needs to be a proper pace. Also, the film is lengthy by at least 20-minutes. Motwane's Direction is skilled. His handling of the dramatic portions, particularly, deserve a mention. Cinematography by Mahendra Shetty is amazing. Each & Frame has been captured brilliantly. Editing is fine. Art & Costume Design, are perfect. Music & Background Score, are mesmeric. Performance-Wise: 'Lootera' is blessed with superb performances. Ranveer Singh is masterful in a career-defining role. He plays the troubled protagonist with rare ease & understanding. Sonakshi Sinha is simply incredible. Not only does she look gorgeous, she also delivers a career-best performance. The On-Screen Chemistry of Ranveer & Sonakshi, is electrifying. In Supporting Roles, Barun Chanda, Vikrant Massey & Adil Hussain are outstanding. Divya Dutta leaves a mark in a cameo. On the whole, 'Lootera' is certainly a must see for those who have an appetite for artistic cinema.

Lootera (Hindi Movie, July'13) Review -I agree now, I don't understand movies:-). Critiques must have third-eyes or special emotional senses! In onegreat newspaper, I read this movie was comparable to "Gone with Thewind" :-), forgive me!!! I was excited, but unfortunately if you have read O' Henry's "Last Leaf" you can very well understand what is happening and why and can leave the show 30 mins before safely. The backdrop of 1953 is very beautifully portrayed, so is the Zamindar bari where the Zamindar (Sonakshi/Pakhi's father) refuses to believe his era is gone in the independent India. Sonakshi and Ranveer's acting was decent, so are few songs; but the backbone of the movie as a good story is horribly, terribly absent. Yes, you have few twists, but to anticipate those you don't have to have Einstein's IQ! And that's where the movie becomes slow, sometimes very slow. Materpiece by Vikramaditya Motwane?? Sorry guys, No way, "Udaan" was much much better!! My rating 2.5 - "AVERAGE".

Lootera almost lacks to steal the heart despite its haunting images of nature, embodying fleetingly still moments of passion between its two protagonists. While Pakhi's soulful yearning for companionship and love stirs the chord somehow, it does not quite overwhelm you as it is overshadowed by the skullduggery of Varun, her object of passion. I appreciate that no other director in recent times has invested so much into cinematic expressions to make a steady stream of emotions pregnant with meanings through silent glances ; and Silence itself but again the pace is what drives you in a movie that lacks here and hence cannot be commenciated as 'classic' (as some may call it) not just because of its terribly slow pace but lack of content in the story as well. Sadly though there is an underwhelming display of intensity, more by Varun (Ranveer Singh) than Paakhi (Sonakshi Sinha, first serious attempt of actress to soak into potpourri of emotions). The broad brushes of storyline with thin content and matter highlighting the contours more than portraying dark colors of emotional conflicts scorching the two souls who are trying to come to terms of undercurrents of their love, fills you more to that edacity for sheer artistic achievement in every perspective that is sated on the grandiose stage after the simplicity and intellectuality that the director tries to draw from the nostalgic frames or the simplicity of the movie, only to leave you disappointed in the end. Motwane as a director though marched ahead with this venture of modern raconteur of opulent but failed love but the story, screenplay, lacks to convince. Lootera is over-hyped critically acclaimed state-of-art. Again i'd say no doubt that it is a cinematic marvel with its enthrilling visuals, cinematography and painting vision but the pace of the movie is slow, monotonous, predictable and dull. And we must remember that every film that is slow and artistic visually is not 'evergreen' , 'classic' , 'mature' or 'intellectual'. It didn't personally move me to pieces which Motwane tried throughout the movie and I wished I could have spent that time to read a book or eat good food meanwhile. I write stories myself but then, when thoughts like these (on which the whole movie is based) cross my mind, I rather try to pass or avoid scripting them at least because they are certainly beautiful but can't worth a million views as they lack content. So there lies the success and limitations of Vikramaditya Motwane's Lootera though as far as his dedication and direction is concerned, he remains the master behind the canvas, and I truly look for some REAL classic eloquent venture of the director after a era-cult neo-noir Udaan (Definition of class for me). I'd rate Lootera 4/10 and that too for Motwane's appealing direction, beautiful cinematography and strong performances (Sonakshi specially)..and of course the SILENCE.

Good shots, exquisite locales, finest music and gorgeous Sonakshi - does not necessarily mean it's a good film! When you have, 'The Fugitive' running into 'Fanaa' and 10 other films– what you get is a concoction - a Lootera - that sadly trivializes O'Henry's The Last Leaf (unintentional as it may seem)! Sadly, this film pales out several notches below Udaan and is certainly a letdown in terms of it being unemotional and never lets the viewer have an experience. Hope and self-sacrifice are the central themes of 'The Last Leaf' and that gets lost somewhere in this film! The saving grace of the film is Sonakshi Sinha and the soulful music. Despite raving reviews from almost every top newspaper in this country, the film is flawed right from the start, all goofed up, utterly unconvincing, illogical, badly structured and at times even brain-dead! Is it an art film…? NO! Is it an entertainer…? NO! Message oriented…? NO! Popular? Yes, may be! And, I can't understand why!

A young archaeologist arrives to the estate of a wealthy land owner to dig for artefacts, his daughter falls for him, he resists her advances as he knows his time there would be limited. All this occurs on a beautiful backdrop of an idyllic locale. Nothing is as it seems though, particularly when it comes to that young man and his presence there proves catastrophic for the landlords, ruining the infatuated girl. Fate has it that their paths would meet again, under very different circumstances. For starters, the first half was very promising. The build up to the romance was slow and suspenseful as they audience craved to see him giving in and them being together. The scenery was tranquil and the cinematography had an aura of old school attached to it. The revelation about who this young man really were, added to the already charged atmosphere. Then came the second half, which took off on a similar path of intrigue and suspense, until....it got stuck to the climax. The lovers were reunited, both weak and frail, we just know the ending is not going to be a happy one and yet it drags on and on unnecessarily. Instead of a suspenseful finale of 10-15 minutes max, we get some 40 minutes of cheesiness and unnecessary stillness, not to mention that by the way the build up was unravelled the police would have realised the fugitive's whereabouts a lot sooner. Yet their time together dragged on and on bringing a promising film down. Overall, it is a film with lots to like but would be remembered as average due to its corny climax.

This is my first review in IMDb. I went to this movie without any expectation and because of my wife. I was completely blown away by the class of this movie. Direction, music, cinematography and acting by all the actors were top class. I was not a fan of Ranvir Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha. However after watching this movie, I've changed my mind. I believe this is their best performance. Arif Zakaria, Pakhi's father and Adil Hussain impresses in supporting role. Do not miss this movie. I'll rate this 8.5 out of 10.

Spoilers!!! Be forewarned!!! (Disclaimer: I don't understand the language spoken in this film. I watched this with English subtitles. I could have misunderstood something that led to my dislike of the story.) Rats!! I was so mad when I finished this film!* Nowhere did I read that this was a tragedy!! Otherwise, I wouldn't have watched it. I read that there was a "uplifting ending" so I assumed that if I trudged through the bog of misery along with our heroes that eventually something good would happen to bring meaning to their suffering.("David Copperfield", "Gone With The Wind", "War and Peace" style.) Now, I like a good bittersweet and life-is-a-struggle story; however, this ending felt pointless!! I still don't get it. The guy is dead and the girl is dying of T.B. (was the paper leaf supposed to keep her alive?) And he died to save her and atone for his evil ways. But Umm...HE CAUSED her problems to begin with!! So, basically everyone is happiest in the beginning... and it goes downhill from there. *I would like to go on record to say that my criticism is isolated to the storyline. I thought the acting, cinematography, etc. was great.

First of all to begin with i would say that this is romance in its purest of form and Mr. Motwane did it again after his masterpiece Udaan .... form , execution , structure , text , dialogues , score and music works perfectly......... Chemistry between Ranveer and Sonakshi works on various levels and the poetic yet realistic treatment of subject and enigmatic approach towards matter gave the two perfectly written characters... First half is an amazing look into Indian history along with doomed romance which would have given birth to beautiful things but wasn't destined to prosper...... second half is the look into the consequences of the choices and is way too dark and realistic in comparison to the fairy-tale approach of first half........ Might be too 'different' for mainstream audiences , but this movie have one thing that most of the movies now a days from Bollywood lacks , Class.... if you want to witness sheer romance and meditate silence and feel the warmth and cinema is the medium that does this the best for you..... then Lootera is the thing for you..... Anurag You Are Great! Balaji thanks for backing up this classic timeless piece of work And for Mr. Vikramaditya Motwane i would say.... keep Em coming man.....you are the future!

Lootera is not a sample representation of Bollywood. But, having watched it, I would hope that this kind of cinema, be linked with Indian films. This is not a regular run on the mill, pop corn flick. Nor is it your typical rosy love story! Love story, yes! but Lootera bravely unravels what every adult, who has fallen in love experiences but, fails to express! Yes, it is these features of the screenplay and direction that make you fall in love with this movie. The dialogs are so beautiful and hardly wasted. One of the scenes where Ranveer reveals his bucket list to Sonakshi, only to figure out that it had such an important role in the climax is a simple deduction of Vikramaditya Motwane's sheer class! Every character has tremendous scope in this movie because of the movie's affinity to silence. We know how good a weapon it is for directors! Mani Ratnam showed us what silence could do! It helps the characters completely settle and express in a realistic and emotional manner. Emotional - to the exact extent! Wow! Ranveer - a career changing role for him! He is excellent in his subtle avatar of the lootera - Varun Shrivastav. His Varun Shrivastav manages to create mercy in your hearts half way down the movie when one is not supposed to! The final scene, where he breaks down before Sonakshi, literally moves you to tears! This scene is the show stealer! Period. Sonakshi, the next Vidya Balan for sure! Her change of expressions from being ecstatic to heart broken. Anger to sarcasm. Her face does it all! She is there making an impact in each and every scene, through out the movie! The support cast has done an evenly good job. On the whole, Lootera is an achievement for the romance genre itself! Motwane - another coming off age film from him. He is here to stay definitely! On the whole, magnificent! As the cliché goes - Please do yourself a favor by watching Lootera!