Review of Guzaarish

Guzaarish has a different flavor to add to life. The movie is about quadriplegic filling a petition of mercy killing or euthanasia in court. But on human grounds the court cancels his pledge and says our culture doesn’t permit mercy killing.

Hrithik plays the role of quadriplegic who once was the biggest magician but an accident changed his life and he became a vegetable; a person whose whole body is paralyzed. So the character Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) has lost his sensation and control over his limbs and torso but his mind is still alive, active and thinking. For the past 14 years his life is limited to his bedroom and his caretaker Sofia D'Souza (Ashwarya Rai). Sofia is the person who gives bath to Ethan; changes his dress; gives him food; feeds him food. There is a silent love story which exists between Ethan and Sofia; an emotional bond which has developed and in this love Sofia is ready to do anything; be it reliving Ethan from the pains and sufferings.

Devyani Dutta (Shernaz Patel) is the lawyer of Ethan who files his petition of mercy killing in court but the court rejects his petition. Sofia and Ethan’s doctor, Dr. Nayak (Suhel Seth) are not happy with the idea of Ethan’s pledge for mercy killing. Ethan’s mother Isabel Mascarenhas (Nafisa Ali) says the same thing that even though she has given birth to Ethan she cannot say that she has the right on his life; infact as a mother for her watching her son in pain for past 14 years is a bigger torture than to release his from the pain forever.

Omar Siddiqui (Aditya Roy Kapoor) wishes to learn the magic tricks from Ethan and become the best magician of the world. Omar is the son of Yasser Siddiqui (Ash Chandler); the person because of whom Ethan is today paralyzed.

The movie is good and raises many questions like is it right for someone to ask for death; should death be granted to one quadriplegic when there are so many more like him; for how long can the loved ones see the pain and let the person live on machines. The movie is an emotional drama where many scenes will rip you apart and fill your eyes with tears.

Ethan’s character is shown as strong, jovial, fun loving with good sense of humor. The most touching scene for me is when Ethan’s mother Isabel comes for trial and she says if she had the choice she would take her son’s life away and relief him from pain. Another scene which made me cry was when one night it starts raining and a water drop starts hitting Ethan’s forehead; there is no one to help him and Ethan cant move on his own. The scene where Ethan cant vent out his anger and asks Sofia to vent out his anger will really make you think once why should such a person be alive who cannot do anything on his own; cant even vent out his anger and lead a life like a vegetable.

The chemistry between Hrithik and Ashwarya is good and the silent love story between them is really beautiful. Sanjay Leela Bhansali has tried to bring a very good topic infront of Indian audience. But the movie is such that only when a person will get involved and understand the pain of Ethan will like the movie. Its definitely not meant for those audience who go for movies for timepass, passing comments and having fun; its for a more serious audience. So if you plan to watch this movie then go with a mindset to feel the movie.

I like the songs Sau gram zindagi sung by Kunal Ganjawala and also Tera zikr hai sung by Rakesh Pandit and Shail Handa. Bas itni si guzaarish sung by K.K. and Shail Handa will hopefully register in the minds of audience and the guzaarish would be accepted by the masses.

Over all a good movie but again I will say it is not meant for every audience and if you are not in a serious bent of mind then please don’t watch the movie as you will not like it. My ratings for the movie is 3.8/4.

P.S. I hope Sanjay comes out from black effect and fills up some beautiful colors to his movies.