Yaarana - Movie Review

Published: July 13, 2010

By EKTA R. GARG

Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Neetu Singh

How far would you go to help your closest friend? Real-life best friends Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan starred in this sweet movie that shows the extent of a relationship between fictional best friends.

Kishan (Bachchan) and Bishan (Khan) grow up in the village together and are inseparable until the day Bishan’s mother takes her young son to the city for a better education. The friends promise one another to reunite one day, and they fulfill that promise when an adult Bishan returns and insists Kishan return to the city with him to hone his incredible singing talent. Despite his reluctance, Kishan follows Bishan to the city and enrolls in a music academy.

A series of hilarious events ensues during Kishan’s first days in the city. He doesn’t understand how elevators work, mistaking them for a modern machine that transforms young people into the elderly. When a tutor tries to help him elevate his speech from a country bumpkin to a refined city man, Kishan distracts the tutor with a tongue twister to get out of the lesson. A tutorial in dinner table etiquette turns into a humorous game that involves a great deal of hand coordination. Kishan exasperates most of the people at the music academy—including the woman assigned to oversee his grooming. Neetu Singh plays the frustrated overseer who eventually falls in love with Kishan despite his rough edges, and she sees him through the preparations for his first big concert.

Unbeknownst to Kishan, Bishan falls on hard times while trying to finance his friend’s music education, including signing over his house to creditors. His actions cause marital strife between himself and his wife (Tanuja in a small cameo), but Bishan is adamant in his faith in Kishan’s talent. He has no doubt that Kishan will become a major star and literally stakes everything on that faith.

Kishan does, indeed, become a big star, and Bishan’s wife returns to him when the story undergoes a dramatic twist. Suddenly, it’s Kishan’s turn to be the strong friend.

Bachchan plays the country bumpkin to a T. His progression to a sophisticated music star is gradual enough to be believable but not so slow that we’re mired in the details. Khan as a good guy for a change (he usually played villains) is a delight.

The music by Rajesh Roshan is a highlight of the film and gave Bachchan ample scope in his role as a music star. Playback singer Kishore Kumar had some gems: be on the listen for “Chukar Mere Mann Ko” and “Saara Zamanna,” which play in conjunction with one another just before Kishan’s first major concert. The other songs, too, are still hummable thirty years after they first released.

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