Get ready for two ladies’ films this week. Though Khalid Mohamed’s sonorous-sounding Silsiilay has Rahul Bose, Jimmy Shergil and Ashmit Patel in the male lead, make no misatake about the films motivations of muliebrity.
Clearly the ladies—Tabu, Bhoomika Chawla, Celina Jaitley and Riya Sen --take front-seat in journalist-turned-director Khalid Mohamed’s third directorial venture.
Those who have seen his earlier films Fiza and Tehzeeb wouldn’t be surprised by the predominance of the ladies in his plot. Even the films that Khalid wrote for Shyam Benegal (Mammo, Zubeida) had the women at the forefront.
Is the audience up to watching a film that tells episodic tales of three love affairs? The elusive Tabu, undoubtedly one of the finest actresses we have, returns after a longish gap. A product of the Nargis-Meena Kumari-Shabana Azmi school of dramatics, things haven’t been going as well for Tabu as they should’ve.
Her mentor Gulzar had once said Tabu had the potential to usher in a new kind of heroine, like Jaya Bhaduri. Alas Tabu’s potential has been smothered. Suffering a mid-career crisis she now counts on Khalid’s Silsilay and Mira Nair’s Namesake to bail her out.
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