Yeh Faasley

Too many cooks six scriptwriters clearly spoil a broth that could have been truly taut and thrilling. The plot is interesting,but the script seems to revel in a lethargic pace and dwells too long on many occasions.

Devinder Dua Anupam Kher has lost his 28-year-old wife in a car accident,but their daughter Arunima Tena Desae,who was just two years old when the tragedy happened,is the apple of his eye. Back home after completing college,with a loyal boyfriend in rising lawyer Manu Rushad Rana,Arunima savours every moment of being with her dad,though his occasional outbursts of violent temper against others puzzle her,as does his unwillingness to answer questions about his past and her mother.

Life suddenly takes a turn when Arunima discovers a will made by her mother,who her father had loved deeply. She wonders why her mother would make a will at 28. Then she gets a chain of reasons to realise that her father and mother were not really the ideal couple in love that Devinder has always claimed. A disturbed Arunima sets out to find things,triggered by a white lie that her father tells her. Diggy Pavan Malhotra,a close friend of her mother,also reluctantly tells her certain facts that lead her to believe that her father isnt quite the good soul he is. And then comes the shock: the clear-cut evidence that her father had killed her mother.

Arunima gets her father arrested. Evidence mounts up and after a burst of temper in the court,Devinder is sentenced to be hanged for murder. But Arunima is shattered,torn between conscience and her fathers deep love for her. Her father keeps warning her to stay away from her maternal grandmother Suhasini Mulay. Manu,meanwhile,starts his own investigations,and there are twists and turns. So is Devinder really innocent?

Too many cooks six scriptwriters clearly spoil a broth that could have been truly taut and thrilling. The plot is interesting,and director Yogesh Mittal unravels the layers quite skilfully,but the script seems to revel in a lethargic pace and dwells too long on many occasions. The drama is skilfully built up in the first half,but the second half becomes too monotonous and the solution is too long-winded to be really exciting,with its predictable nature adding to the woes.

Technically,the film scores in its background music Deepak Pandit,Santosh Mulekar though Pandits songs and the lyrics are tepid. The cinematography is erratic and parts of the first half,in particular,seem to have faced lot of budgetary constraints or creative compromises.

While most of the actors have sketchy roles that are competently enacted,Mazhar and Rachita as the young Devinder and his wife,Jagat Rawat as the servant,Pavan Malhotra as Diggy and Rushad Rana as Manu score in their performances. But if Yeh Faasley is still involving fare,it is entirely due to protagonists Anupam and Tena. Anupam underplays the role commendably,letting the intensity take prominence,and matching him frame by frame is Tena,who is very confident and a complete natural. The sequence where she is broken in spirit and remembers the way her dad would talk,sit and speak in the living room,in particular,shows the makings of a brilliant actress. If she selects her projects well,Tena is sure to go places.

Rating:

One star each for Anupam Kher and this seasons best lead debut,Tena Desae.

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