i watched Lakhsya today…
After “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Lakshya” keeps up to the expectations from Farhan in more than one way. The direction, the cinematography and the handling of the relationships between Hrithik and his father and Hrithik and Preity.
The movie starts with a breath taking scene with a plane landing in Leh. The backdrop of Himalayas has been captured in a way which was never seen in cinemas before. everynext scene from there on which shows the kargil and the surrounding area makes you say wow! and more than once!
Farhan’s handling of the character of Karan (Hrithik) is exceptional. You can actually see Karan’s maturity growing in the movie, which justifies its punch line - it took him 24 years and 18000 feet to find himself. Also what stands out through out in the movie is that, unlike other war movies, this movie does not indulge in any kind of verbal attack on Pakistan. It puts it as a fact that there is a war and that is that. Period. The director concentrates on what Karan is going through and what he is feeling throughout the movie.
The one thing that I did not like in this movie was that Col Sunil Damle’s (Amitabh Bachchan) character was handled very weekly. It is understandable to an extent that if Col’s character was any stronger it would sideline Karan’s presence on screen. But atleast the character sketch of Col. Sunil Damle should have been more rigid. There are scenes when he is completely un-army-personnel-like - the first scene when Karan meets him. And then there are scenes where he talks to his regiment about the final assignment like the strong headed army Col. Both the scenes give you a completely different picture of his character.
Hrithik has done justice to his character - from the college, carefree, confused rich brat to a mature army lieutenant. His emotional friction with his father is amazingly realistic and many would identify with that. Also the relationship between Karan and Romi (Preity Zinta) is also handled delicately and answered slowly in the span of the whole movie.
Overall, Farhan is now in a really really bad position because now my expectations from him have quadrapled. I’ll wait for his next movie would hate to see him disappoint me. Farhan you are the man!