There is something about breaking up with Ranbir Kapoor that lends the leading ladies in Bollywood an ethereal glow. The latest to dazzle in the afterglow of heartbreak is Katrina Kaif, and boy does she look pretty!
Beauty is not in short supply in Abhishek Kapoor’s latest directorial venture, Fitoor. Based on Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, and taking into account his previous record (Rock On and Kai Po Che), it’s legitimate to have decently high expectations from this one.
Fitoor means obsession and here it can be assumed to translate into Katrina and Aditya Roy Kapoor’s obsession with gymming. They both look amazing and if there is one thing that distracts us from their gorgeous selves, it is the beauty of Kashmir itself. The red chinar is in sharp contrast to the pristine white snow, and the serene valley lifts the spirit of the film. Anay Goswamy’s cinematography captures this grandeur in the best possible way, and through his lens, the movie radiates.
If you have read Dickens’ bildungsroman Great Expectations or are familiar with Bollywood’s manual on how to make a love story, you’ll find this one easy to predict. The makers have been smart and a couple of well known faces make appearances, nicely hidden from all the promotional hoopla. Noor Nizami as the earnest Pip is hopelessly in love with Firdaus as the cold, curt Estella. Begum Hazrat, staring through her devastatingly opaque eyes is the perfect Miss Havisham. There is much to celebrate in Fitoor – the splendid canvas of Kashmir, Tabu’s brilliance and the music. However, it falters all too frequently and then only patience can keep us going.
The film takes off with promise and all credit goes to the young actors who play the younger versions of Firdaus and Noor. It’s the earnestness of their bond that captivates us for a sizable part of the first half. And it is this chemistry that is strangely missing between the chisel bodied, shirtless painter that Aditya Roy Kapoor portrays and the stunning Katrina’s Estella. It isn’t that Kapoor doesn’t try. He has improved tremendously from that quasi-drunken stupor that he thought was acting in Ashiqui 2 and so he does qualify for some praise.
Katrina’s cold hearted Estella act is also quite convincing. She is a vision of grace, so much so that Noor’s obsession and fascination with her seems cogent but the longing and pain portrayed is so stretched that it feels vacuous. Once Noor is in Delhi to establish himself as an artist of international repute, nursing heartbreak, we are literally left hanging mid-air. Apart from looking great together there is little to tug at our heartstrings. It is then left to Tabu to add soul to the film and dwell on the inner workings of her own mind and the twisted revenge that Begum Hazrat sought to extract.
Overall, Fitoor, despite Kashmir and Katrina’s beauty and Tabu’s prowess, will take a lot of patience to consume without cribbing. Apart from being visually stunning it can only be your loyalty to Aditya Roy Kapoor that makes it a bearable one-time watch.
I’ll have to give it 2.5 QUINTS OUT OF 5. It only scratches the surface of something that required complete and utter surrender and that sadly makes it an average affair!
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